With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 132% (third highest in the developed world), a dismal economy, weak banks, a non-functioning euro-skeptic government that wants to vastly increase the deficit, now add the possibility of Quitaly, Italy quitting the euro! The Italian…
The Friday File: 63 years ago Patricia O’Grady moved into a Greenwich Village apartment; the rent was $16/month. And she never moved out. By the time she passed on this past March, her rent had zoomed to $28.43/month, ruled by…
Last week the Supreme Court legalized sports betting. Based on other nations with mature betting markets, this is a $100 billion/year (maybe a $150 billion/year) industry now that no one will be forced into black market offshore wagering and bookies.…
Last year, 3.85 million babies were born, the lowest level since 1987! Moreover, the fertility rate for women age 15 to 44 was 60.2 births/1,000 women, the lowest since this rate was first recorded over a century ago. Only women…
Higher oil prices used to severely depress GDP. That’s no longer so. Household energy spending/GDP has been generally declining for decades and is now near its lowest percentage ever. Thus, the recent price rise will probably knock just a quarter-point…
In 1992, college graduates were 26% of the labor force, those with some college or a technical degree comprised 25%, high school dropouts were 13%, and high school graduates were a whopping 36%. Today, college graduates are 41% and rising,…
The Friday File: The least visited country in the world last year was the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which greeted 2,000 visitors. It was followed by the South Pacific nation of Kiribati, hosting 5,000 visitors. The third least visited…
US rail traffic is outstanding! Railroads originated 1,099,000 intermodal (shipping) containers in April, up 6.8% Y-o-Y and the 15th straight Y-o-Y intermodal increase. Moreover, weekly April volume was the third highest ever, and for the seventh straight month intermodal volume…
Seasonally adjusted annualized April housing starts were 1.287 million. While that is up 10.5% Y-o-Y, and 8% YTD, housing growth is painfully weak, and all because of single-family activity. Multifamily has fully recovered and will henceforth move sideways. However, single-family…
The recent tax cuts and spending increases will push up business and household spending, which will necessarily boost imports, which in turn will hurt our trade deficit. At the same time, these policies will also widen the budget deficit. And,…