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


Tie to Romney

11/05/2012

If the electoral college is deadlocked at 269 for each candidate, the House elects the president with each state delegation casting one vote. Given that the House will remain Republican, along with the many small-population Red states, Romney will get…

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Thatcher’s Suits Sell

11/02/2012

The Friday File: A bidder paid $39,000 for the turquoise wool suit Margaret Thatcher wore when she became leader of the Tories. Six other outfits she wore before she became PM were sold for another $77,000, far exceeding pre-auction estimates…

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Feeble GDP

11/01/2012

The economy grew at a rate of just 2% in Q3. The drought subtracted 0.4% from growth, slumping exports clipped 0.2%, and falling business investment took 0.1% off GDP. By contrast, increased consumer spending added 1.4% to growth and increased…

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Happy Halloween

10/31/2012

Halloween spending is expected to hit $8 billion this year. $6.9 billion was spent in ’11 and the cyclical low of $4.8 billion was in ’09. Spending on pet costumes is way up with $370 million projected to be spent…

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Sandy’s Sting

10/30/2012

With Sandy disrupting 25% of the population for roughly three-quarters of a percent of the year, its maximum impact shouldn’t exceed $30 billion. But it’s probably less due to heavy telecommuting, Netflix and Amazon! Had Sandy hit an oil refinery…

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Chinese Currency Controls

10/29/2012

By setting the value of the Renminbi unfairly low, Chinese exports are made artificially cheap, while (American) imports are artificially expensive. Normally, this would lead to a large increase in the money supply which would drive up domestic prices and…

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Babes, Bullets and Booze

10/26/2012

The Friday File: Of the six actors who have played James Bond, Pierce Brosan was the most violent, knocking off an average of 19 people per film. The short lived George Lazenby, had the most conquests, beating out Sean Connery…

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Costlier Healthcare, Lower Productivity

10/25/2012

As healthcare co-payments rise, labor productivity drops as, unsurprisingly, employees buy fewer prescription drugs. For example, employees with chronic pain had 76.7 hours absent from work. But, for every $5 rise in their co-payment, absenteeism increased 1.3% to 3.1%, or…

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Bernanke Boost

10/24/2012

While the economy is hardly roaring, Q3 GDP growth will be 2%, which is pretty good compared to month or two ago when 1.5% is what I would have predicted. Moreover, QE3 should boost Q4 GDP. That’s because the promise…

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Hold the Healthcare

10/23/2012

24 million workers work 30 hours/week or less. For the purpose of Obamacare, these are part-timers and need not receive employer provide healthcare. Another 10 million workers work between 30 and 35 hours/week. If employers can hold those 10 million…

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