The Friday File: After tweeting/retweeting about 200 times/month in January and February, President Trump’s tweeting fell to a low of 150 in April. Since then, he has upped his game. In July, President Trump’s tweets hit 400 for the first…
This year, the average cost of a full Thanksgiving dinner for 10 persons is $49.12; 75 cents or 1.5% lower than last year, 3% lower inflation-adjusted, and the lowest inflation-adjusted price since 2010. The priciest inflation-adjusted Thanksgiving repast was $62.40…
Last year, 2.6 million Americans died. Of those, 5,219 had estates large enough, greater than $5.49 million/person, to pay estate tax. Doubling the exempted amount to $11 million/person, which the Senate proposes, would reduce the number of taxable estates to…
While housing starts in October rose 13.7% compared to September, they remain 2.9% below the level of 10/16, and are up just 5.8% YTD. Technically, it’s because multifamily activity is down roughly 10% YTD. That’s because multifamily activity has returned…
The Friday File: Earlier this week, the “Salvator Mundi” by Da Vinci sold at auction for $400 million, $450 million including fees. This shatters the prior auction price high of $179 million set in 2015 for Picaso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger”,…
With the median house value in the US at $205,000, capping the mortgage interest deduction on loan principal eligible for the deduction to $500,000 from the current $1,000,000 would impact just 5% of home owners. Moreover, just 6.7% of the…
Talk of the UK ending up with “no-deal” on trade from the EU is rising, but it’s rubbish! Absent a deal, the UK would instantly enter a recession, and by 2030 British GDP would be 10% or $8,300/person lower than…
The Congressional budget resolution allowing for tax reform proposes increasing the debt over the next decade by $1.5 trillion on top of the already projected $10.1 trillion debt increase. The argument is that faster growth will pay for itself. I…
While our economy is humming with 3.1% GDP growth in 17Q2 and 3% growth in 17Q3, these rates are unsustainable. That’s because these rates have required such large increases in employment that the unemployment rate declined from a low 4.5%…
The Friday File: 75% of Mississippians pray daily, tops in the US; just 31% of Vermonters do, the smallest percentage. As for believing in Hell, top spot at 77% is held by residents of Mississippi and Tennessee; just 36% of…