Econ70

Poor and Getting Poorer

12/21/2011

Census reports that 97.3 million Americans are now classified as low-income; earning between 100% and 199% of the poverty level. Together with the 49.1 million who are at or below the poverty level, these groups total 146.4 million Americans; 48%…

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Let’s Make a Deal!

12/20/2011

On 1/1/13 $1.2 trillion in spending cuts commence, the $3.8 trillion Bush tax cuts end and if the 2% Social Security payroll tax holiday is extended, it too will end. Including reduced interest costs these events reduce the deficit by…

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Guns and Butter

12/19/2011

With the troops all out of Iraq, we can now ask what the war cost. While not easy to estimate, if you include spending to date, VA costs, veterans disability payments, interest on the war debt, foreign assistance, future medical…

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Royal Pain

12/16/2011

The Friday File: Times are so tough the Queen of England is feeling it. She is set to receive £30 million/year for the next several years, down from the £77.3 million she received some time ago. Worse, Prince Charles who…

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Royal Pain

12/16/2011

The Friday File: Times are so tough the Queen of England is feeling it. She is set to receive £30 million/year for the next several years, down from the £77.3 million she received some time ago. Worse, Prince Charles who…

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Budgeting Math

12/15/2011

Since the Super Committee failed $1.2 trillion in mandatory budgets cuts, starting in ’13 and running through ’21, will commence. But, the $1.2 trillion in cuts are actually only $984 billion! The law assumed that by not borrowing $984 billion,…

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Taxing License

12/14/2011

In DC there are 8,600 cabs for 600K people; plenty of cabs and a hacker license is cheap. In Chicago there are restrictions; only 6,951 cabs for a population of 3 million, and a license costs $200,000. In Boston, there…

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Shop or Drop?

12/13/2011

Consumers are spending but for how much longer? Over the past year disposable income is down, savings has fallen from 5.3% to 3.5%, household net worth has fallen by $2.4 trillion as house prices keep falling and credit card debt…

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Where are My Wages?

12/12/2011

Over the six quarters ’09Q2 through ’10Q4 corporate profits captured 88% ($464 billion) of the growth in real national income ($528 billion) while wages and salaries accounted for slightly more than 1% of the growth ($7 billion). Through ’11Q1 corporate…

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Packing it in!

12/09/2011

The Friday File: Where to invest? The S&P has been marking time for over a decade, Europe is in recession, Treasuries can only go down as yields rise, and gold looks pricey at $1,700. The answer, buy stock in the…

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