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


Burning Down the House

11/20/2012

The worst year for forest fires was 2006 when 9.87 million acres burned, with 2007 a close second at 9.33 million acres. This year, 9.10 million acres, an area roughly half the size of SC, have burned making it the…

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Euro-Zoned Out!

11/19/2012

Due to German-inspired excessively speedy austerity in Greece, Spain and Portugal, (GSP) the Euro-zone economy is quickly entering a needless recession. Worse, the GSP economies are shrinking by more than the spending cuts and tax increases they’re imposing, thus worsening…

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Ding Dong for Twinkies

11/16/2012

The Friday File: Invented in 1930 and manufactured at the rate of 1,000 per minute, the Twinkie is going bye-bye. A victim of health consciousness and bad management, Archie Bunker will need to slip something else into his lunchbox. Between…

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Asian Ascent

11/15/2012

By 2060, India and China are each projected to have economies larger than that of the US, and collectively 46% of world GDP, compared to 24% today. By contrast, the developed economies of Europe, North America and Japan will account…

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Tax Shelter

11/14/2012

The Mortgage Interest Deduction is of limited value because of low rates and low house prices. A $300,000 house with a 30-year mortgage at 3.25% pays just $7,800 in mortgage interest, yet the 2012 standard deduction is $11,900 if married…

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Cliff-Hanger

11/13/2012

Washington will not solve the Fiscal Cliff during the lame duck session of Congress. Rather, they’ll pass a stop-gap measure raising the debt ceiling and more importantly giving themselves more time to pass revenue-positive tax reform, consisting of broadening the…

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Gridiron Green

11/09/2012

The Friday File: Each unexpected gridiron victory by an NCAA division 1-A school (Doug Flutie BC ’88) increases athletic donations by $134,000, college applications by 1% and average SAT scores by 1.8 points. Thus, five extra wins means an extra…

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Treasuries Tripped

11/08/2012

Short-term bonds issued by Exxon-Mobile and Johnson & Johnson currently yield a hair less than comparable Treasuries. While historically a very rare phenomenon, this trend may persist and even expand because some corporations have higher credit ratings than Uncle Sam…

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Money For Nothing

11/07/2012

While spending $6 billion for the ‘12 election sounds like a lot, it’s just 0.0375% of our GDP, or just 3.75 cents/$100. It’s about as much as Americans spend renting movies, and it’s less than we spend on Halloween! What’s…

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Trickle Down Economics

11/06/2012

By bailing out large financial institutions and deliberately trying to inflate the value of stocks, bonds, houses and commodities (by driving interest rates down to microscopic levels), central banks around the globe are probably increasing the wealth gap between rich…

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