A bill supported by Obama and introduced by Senator Rubio exempting Olympians from paying taxes on their prize winnings, is emblematic of all that ails Washington! These folks don’t deserve special treatment! Our taxes must rise to make up the…
A glance at the employment-to-population ratio (EPR) is all it takes to see how poorly our economy and job market are performing. The EPR peaked at 64.7% in 4/00, and now sits at just 58.4% – a fall of 6.3…
A new CBO report shows that over the past thirty years, 72.5% of all income growth for the middle quintile of the population (households earning $50,000), came from increased government payments (social security, food stamps…) and reduced federal taxes. In…
Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) initially require borrowers to only pay interest, but that period will soon end for most borrowers. A government study shows that 58% of all HELOC balances will be required to start making principal and…
The Friday File: Despite Sunday being the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, she’s as popular as ever. In ’10, $25 million was spent to purchase her name and likeness, and last year Monroe ranked #3 on the list of…
A healthy economy exhibits many things including steady growth in median (and mean) income. Unfortunately, after peaking in ‘99 at $53,252, inflation adjusted median income in the US is now $49,445 – almost $4,000 lower than in ’99 and back…
Despite crippling drought, US food prices will rise little as only 15% of each food dollar is attributable to farm products. Thus, even a 100% rise in corn prices would lift the CPI by 1.5%. And if this drought is…
On 7/5/12 the ECB reduced to zero the rate it pays banks that park excess reserves with it. The Fed is now considering following suit. There are $1.5 trillion of excess reserves at the Fed which if loaned, would help…
Despite inevitably higher food prices starting this fall, stemming from a severe drought, the Fed will ignore this when they launch a third round of Quantitative Easing in September. It’s because the drought is a short-term event that will probably…
The Friday File: Turns out people who eat chocolate on a regular basis (five or more times a week), tend to weigh about 5 to 7 pounds less than those who don’t. The key finding from a recent study was…