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,…
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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…
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The ’12 London Summer Olympics will bring little if any net benefits. Sure, 40K athletes and coaches will come, but regular tourists will stay away, bookings are already down, and 20% of locals plan to be out of town to…
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Vaccine shortages; This industry has very high fixed costs to develop a vaccine (labs are costly), high fixed costs to produce a batch (it takes about a year), trivial marginal costs to make an extra dose within a batch (increasing…
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In Europe, Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB, is flooding banks with a $1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) at 1% in an effort to recapitalize them and maintain liquidity. Many banks are using this money to buy sovereign debt…
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The latest Greek bailout is shaping up as a race between a fast shrinking economy and better access to credit and lower interest payments that hopefully encourage private sector growth. The problem is absent rapid growth in exports and tourism,…
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Every penny rise in gas costs the economy $1.8 billion/yr. With gas at $3.65, 40 cents more than a year ago, that’s a $72 billion tax. If prices rise another 40 cents, bringing the price within six cents of the…
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New research shows that a 10% rise in house prices leads to a 1% decrease in births among non-homeowners, who must now save more and do so by delaying having kids. However, this negative effect is more than offset by…
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