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


Federal Reserve Flexibility

08/21/2013

The just-released minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting are a Rorschach test. For those reluctant to taper, there’s a nod to the still struggling labor market and the very low inflation rate. Conversely, others felt that the recent rise…

Read More

Hot Lots

08/20/2013

In a move to streamline operations and cash in on the home building renaissance, Weyerhauser is selling its home-building unit. The prize, 27,000 lots including 18,000 in market-constrained litigation happy California, mostly in L.A. and San Diego. Assuming no goodwill,…

Read More

Fired, Not Hired

08/19/2013

Healthy labor markets consist of many things including low rates of involuntary termination and high rates of hiring. Usually they’re highly correlated. Not now. First time unemployment insurance claims at 332,000/week are at levels last seen in 11/07 before the…

Read More

We’re #2!

08/16/2013

The Friday File: Mexico, where 32.8% of the adult population is obese (BMI of 30 or higher), has edged out the US where 31.8% of the population is obese. The tragedy is that in Mexico, obesity is frequently associated with…

Read More

Mileage Miscalculation

08/15/2013

Automobile regulation that improves fuel efficiency raises the price of new cars. That in turn raises the price of used cars, as some buyers avoid higher new car costs by buying used ones. This unsurprisingly reduces the number of used…

Read More

Fly Away

08/14/2013

Despite allowing Delta to buy Northwest, United to buy Continental, and Southwest to buy AirTran, the Department of Justice has come down hard against the US Airways-American merger. Years ago the industry was hemorrhaging money and it was in everyone’s…

Read More

Declining Deficit

08/13/2013

As of 7/31/13, the FY2013 federal budget deficit was $607 billion, down from $973 billion on 7/31/12, and the full year FY13 deficit is projected to be $759 billion, down from $1.089 trillion last year. Revenues to date are up…

Read More

Manufacturing Work

08/12/2013

Manufacturing employment first hit 10 million in 8/40 and quickly hit a record 16.4 million in 1/44. The next manufacturing employment peak was 18.7 million set in 8/69, then 18.8 million in 12/73. The all-time high was 19.6 million in…

Read More

Hot Rod

08/09/2013

The Friday File: Last month a virtually pristine 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R racing car sold for $29.6 million, shattering the previous record of $16.39 million for the most expensive car ever sold. The car was driven by the late Argentine racing…

Read More

Sick Spending

08/08/2013

Despite spending 18% of GDP on healthcare, or $9,356/person, Americans are falling behind other countries in overall health. In 1990, US life expectancy was 75.2, by 2010 it was 78.2, yet the US ranking fell from 20th to 27th. Worse,…

Read More

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives