The Friday File: Among adult Americans, 40% set a morning alarm but do not hit snooze. It is, however, highly correlated with age. Among those 18-24 just 25% don’t hit snooze. Amongst persons 25-34, the percentage of non-snoozers is 32%.…
While the US national debt just surpassed $30 trillion, the public debt, on which we pay interest, is $24 trillion. The other $6 trillion is Social Security and other such intragovernmental debt owed ourselves that Congress can alter. Moreover, it’s…
Of all food/beverage sales in retail stores, 21% and rising due to inflation and the loss of stimulus money, are store brands, which are less expensive. 63% of frozen seafood sales are store brands, followed by frozen vegetables at 50%.…
The US economy picked up steam in 21Q4, growing at a strong 6.9% annualized rate, up from a 2.3% annualized rate in 21Q3, GDP’s best quarterly showing since 2000Q2. While consumer spending grew 3.3% in the quarter, inventory growth was…
Because investment in physical plant as a percent of GDP has fallen over time, the impact of higher interest rates now primarily works through new home construction and net exports. Thus, higher rates may now be necessary than before to…
The Friday File: While bigger northern nations win more Olympic medals, a fairer comparison is per capita medal wins. Looking at results from the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang this way, Liechtenstein, with one medal, placed first with a population/medal…
Inflation is usually a monetary phenomenon and while the American Rescue Plan included huge dollars, it alone has not caused inflation. Rather, aggregate demand has been very strong, and supply-chains have broken down. In time the private sector should fix…
Today, unsurprisingly, the Fed told us they will start raising rates on 3/16/22. Powell was careful to say the rate hikes are designed to reduce inflation, and hopefully not hurt labor markets. With labor supply so tight that should be…
During the four calendar years ending 2019, 5.5 million employed persons/day didn’t go to work. In 2020, the year Covid-19 arrived, the number jumped to 6.9 million persons/day. In 2021, it fortunately declined to a still elevated 6 million/day, with…
In 2020, single-family housing starts totaled 1,004,000 and multifamily starts were 392,800, for a total of 1,396,800. During 2021, rents and home prices skyrocketed. One would thus expect huge increases in both sectors. Multifamily activity increased to 471,500, a Y-o-Y…