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


Out of Gas

03/20/2012

While gasoline prices have risen dramatically, and now average $3.80 a gallon, its impact has been muted. This is because natural gas prices have collapsed, falling 42% from a year ago, due to abundant supply and an unusually warm winter.…

Read More

Mixed Data

03/19/2012

Recent economic data are mixed. On one hand, the job market is doing well, bank lending is rising, and car sales are zooming. But, gasoline prices are up, real after-tax incomes are almost flat — causing consumer spending to grow…

Read More

Pucker Up!

03/16/2012

The Friday File: When it comes to makeup, spending cycles back and forth between lips and eyes. A fall in colored lipstick sales from ’07 through ’09 was offset by a rise in “smokey eye” which then morphed into volumizing…

Read More

Bigger Than You Think!

03/15/2012

How big is the US welfare state? Bigger than you think! In Europe, governments subsidize industry, and provide healthcare and day-care, through high taxes. Here we do the same thing, but with special (charitable, medical) deductions, (childcare) tax credits and…

Read More

Psychology of Terrorism

03/14/2012

A recent paper by three economists shows that Palestinian terrorist attacks that killed Jewish Israelis (civilian and military, in Israel the West Bank and Gaza) between ’02 and ‘04 had no effect, immediate or delayed, on the happiness of Jewish…

Read More

Oil is OK

03/13/2012

West Texas Intermediate crude sells for $106/barrel while North Sea Brent sells for $125. Normally, they are similarly priced. The current gap exists because of a lack of pipeline capacity out of Cushing, OK. (where physical delivery of oil occurs).…

Read More

Helping Can Hurt

03/12/2012

The share of the unemployed out of work six months or longer has been stuck above 40% for two years. Therefore, some states are considering legislation making it illegal for firms to discriminate against the unemployed. This well-intended approach will…

Read More

Bad Seeds

03/09/2012

The Friday File: Opium production in Afghanistan jumped 61% in ’11 to 5,800 metric tons. The farm value is $1.4 billion, 9% of GDP! The street value, which includes profits for the Taliban, refiners, warlords, politicians and cartels, is much…

Read More

Unemployment is not the Story!

03/08/2012

The unemployment rate is falling fast, but for the wrong reasons. In 1/12 the labor force participation rate was 63.7%, the lowest level since ’82 and way below the 66% when the recession began. Had the LFPR rate not fallen,…

Read More

Romney Gets Republican Nod

03/07/2012

Romney will win the Republican nomination. So far, 582 delegates (25% of the 2,286 total) have been awarded. Romney has won 331, or 57%, while Santorum has picked up 139, or 24%. With 1,704 delegates left to award, Santorum must…

Read More

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives