The Bowtie Economist's Daily Dose of 70-Word Wisdom

The Friday File: In March, a Gauguin sold for $300 million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art. Soon after, a Gerhard Richter painting sold for $45 million, the most ever for a living European artist. In…

The US had a staggering $51.4 billion trade deficit in March, the largest since 2008, and up from $35.9 billion in February. Thus Q1 GDP will be revised down from 0.2% to -0.2%. The reasons: the West Coast port dispute…

While the homeownership rate slipped to a 26-year low of 63.8% in Q1/15, it’s now falling for the right reasons. Rather than dropping as homeowners become renters, it’s falling because hordes of new, primarily renter households are being formed. Between…

In 2013, China sent 147,000 immigrants (legal and illegal) to the US, more than any other nation. India was next at 129,000, and in third place was former perennial top-dog Mexico with 126,000. During the first half of the last…

The world’s largest Cinco de Mayo celebration is in Los Angeles and 5/05 is not Mexico’s independence day, that’s 9/16. On Cinco de Mayo, Americans will consume 81 million avocados and eat tortillas from one of 367 American tortilla manufacturing…

The Friday File: Tomorrow’s Mayweather-Pacquiao bout is expected to bring in $300 million in pay-per-view revenue from 3 million viewers, north of $72 million from ticket sales, plus tens of millions more from sponsorships and international broadcast sales. The current…

Although Q1 GDP rose just 0.2%, the labor market continues to improve. First-time claims for unemployment were just 262,000 last week, the lowest level since 4/00, while the less volatile four-week moving average is at a level last seen in…

While the world population of barnyard animals continually grows, the population of whales dwindles. The reason is property rights. Most goats, cows or pigs belong to someone with a strong incentive to protect them. However, whales are owned by no…

In 11/43, manufacturing employment (ME) hit a record 16.6 million and 22 years later in 7/65, hit a new record of 16.7 million. ME then grew and peaked at 19.6 million in 6/79. By the start of the Great Recession…