The Friday File: An Italian artist just had an immaterial sculpture, an artwork of literally nothing, auctioned for $18,300. In February, the same artist exhibited another immaterial sculpture in Milan demarcated by a square of tape on a walkway. Since, he’s installed Afrodite Cries in NYC, … [Read more...]

China’s 2020 population hit 1.41 billion. While up slightly from 1.34 billion in 2010, it has peaked and will now start falling. China’s working age population has been declining since 2011. The percentage of the population over 60 has risen from 10.4% in 2000, to 18.7% in 2020, and is projected to … [Read more...]

In 1959, US household energy spending was 7.3% of after-tax income. It then steadily declined, and outside the 1973 and 1980 Arab oil shocks when it peaked at 9.5%, it bottomed at 4% in 2002. At the height of the last commodity boom it hit 7%. Then came the Housing Bust and it steadily fell to an … [Read more...]

Inflation, as measured by the CPI, is up 4.2% Y-o-Y. However, a year ago Covid-19 had our economy reeling and the prices for things like oil and car rentals collapsing. To bypass the impacts of Sars-Cov-2 on prices, compare to what they were two years ago. On average, prices have risen 3.5% … [Read more...]

Employers created 559,000 net new jobs in May, dropping the unemployment rate to 5.8%, its average rate since modern data collection began in 1948. From 1980-1999 the average was 6.5%, from 2000-2019 it was 5.9%. Prior to Sars-Cov-2 it was 3.5%, and the jobs deficit remains 7.6 million short of the … [Read more...]

Fed purchases of Treasuries drives down rates and drives up the price of financial assets like stocks/bonds and real assets like houses. If banks are reluctant to lend, as they currently are, the money the Fed pays the banks for Treasuries isn’t lent. Thus, increased demand for goods and services by … [Read more...]

To enhance diversity (and cope with Covid-19), many colleges no longer require SAT/ACT scores from applicants. Unfortunately, admission counselors must now rely more on other aspects of applications like essays, which also advantage the wealthy. Even extra-curricular activities are biased. Poorer … [Read more...]

In 1/20, prior to Covid-19, annualized US household spending on goods was $4.59 trillion/year. Last month, spending was a staggering $5.45 trillion, up 18.7%. Conversely, during 1/20, annualized spending on services totaled $10.29 trillion, it’s now at its post-pandemic high of $10.11 trillion, … [Read more...]

Originally known as Decoration Day, as Americans would decorate graves of Civil War soldiers and celebrated on 5/30, Memorial Day became an official national holiday, and its date was changed to the last Monday in May effective 1971. This year, 37.1 million Americans will travel, up from 23.1 … [Read more...]