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


Casino Economy

02/21/2012

Gamblers bet more in ’11 than in ’10, the first increase since ’07. Through the first 11 months of ’11 revenues were up 2.3% to $32.6 billion. NV saw a rise of 2.8% to $10.7 billion but, the #2 casino…

Read More

Going to the Dogs

02/17/2012

The Friday File: The most costly dog in the world, a Tibetan Mastiff, was recently sold for $1.5 million. Usually that breed (the 7th most expensive) sells for between 2K and 7K. The 3rd most expensive breed, the Samoyed, can…

Read More

Recessionary Austerity

02/16/2012

The deep recession in Greece and the milder one in Portugal don’t matter to the overall performance of the euro-zone, as they are less than 5% of the area. They are, proof that during a recession repeated government spending cuts…

Read More

Honey, Where are the Kids?

02/15/2012

According to the Census Bureau, the number of people under 18 fell by 260,000 between 7/1/10 and 7/1/11. The last decline in the child population was in the 70s when the boomers were no longer teens but not yet adults.…

Read More

Love is Priceless!

02/14/2012

Valentine’s Day spending this year is expected to reach an all-time high of $17.6 billion. Among the 140 million Americans planning to celebrate, average spending will be $126.03, up 8.5% over last year. The average male will spend $168.74 the…

Read More

Moooove Over

02/13/2012

The combination of high agricultural land values, competition for land from corn, soybeans and other crops, severe drought, the high price of feed and surging exports have raised live cattle prices to a record $1.26 per pound. Yet, farmers continue…

Read More

Love Someone

02/10/2012

The Friday File: Economists find that an underdog tennis player is more likely to win if the winner of that match must then play a top ranked opponent. The highly ranked next opponent causes both players to “save” themselves so…

Read More

Costly Unemployment

02/09/2012

As Congress considers–and eventually extends–a temporary payroll tax cut and extended unemployment benefits past 2/12, it should note that if both lapse GDP in ’12 would be reduced by 1%, when GDP growth is only 2%. They might also note…

Read More

The Unparticipation Rate

02/08/2012

The latest employment report was great, but a little perspective, please. The labor force participation rate is now 63.7% it lowest level since 5/83! (The all-time high was 67.3% in 3/00). Worse, since the recession ended in 6/09, rather than…

Read More

Creditless-Default Swaps?

02/07/2012

As the Greek government defaults on its bonds, holders of Greek credit-default swaps will probably get nothing as the default will be “selective” and will thus not officially trigger a default. This not only hurts banks who thought they were…

Read More

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives