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


Wrong at the Reserve

01/18/2012

If you didn’t predict the housing bust, don’t feel bad, the Fed totally blew it too. Reading just released minutes from the ’06 meetings, is hysterically funny were it not so tragically sad. Bernanke was confident of a soft landing…

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It’s All Greek

01/17/2012

Greece is adopting severe austerity measures yet is not making enough structural changes to its economy to boost log-run growth to “grow out” of its problems. If Greek growth remains weak, and with Europe in a recession bank on it,…

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The Sound of Music

01/13/2012

The Friday File: US album sales rose 3% in ’11, to 458 million; the first rise since ’04. Digital sales are why. They rose 20% (or by 20 million) to 103 million albums while CD sales fell 6% (14 million)…

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Delayed Demography

01/12/2012

As standards of living in industrializing nations improve, their population soars. Here’s why. As better sanitation, food and healthcare are introduced death rates in industrializing countries rapidly fall. But, birth rates remain stubbornly unchanged as it usually takes at least…

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Money for Nothing

01/11/2012

The Federal Reserve transferred all $76.9 billion of its profit to the Treasury in ’11 down from the record $79.3 billion in ’10. The Fed is profitable because rather than borrowing money, it simply creates what it needs. Thus all…

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Lobbying Pays

01/10/2012

There are tons of lobbyists in DC because it pays to lobby. A paper out of the University of Kansas shows that lobbying for The American Jobs Creation Act of ‘04, which reduced taxes to 5.25% from 35% on repatriated…

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Keystone Pipeline is Key

01/09/2012

Because demand creates supply building the Keystone XL pipeline makes sense. If we don’t build it Canada will build a pipeline to the BC coast and sell its energy to Asia, leaving us increasingly reliant on OPEC. Worse, the oil…

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Worth More than Diamonds

01/06/2012

The Friday File: Psychology moves markets yet economists and others don’t appreciate it. Last month Liz Taylor’s spectacular jewelry collection went to auction and took in $116 million, five times pre-auction estimates. The auction more than doubled the record for…

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Not all Debt is Equal

01/05/2012

While being in debt is not so great for a household–because interest payments leave the household and go to a bank, or credit card company, debt can be tolerable for a country. If the debt is largely internally held (Japan),…

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Killer Cars

01/04/2012

Heavier cars are safer for their occupants, but more dangerous for all others. The baseline chance of being killed, given that you are in a collision, is one in 500. If you now increase the weight of one of the…

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