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The Friday File: Earlier this week, the “Salvator Mundi” by Da Vinci sold at auction for $400 million, $450 million including fees. This shatters the prior auction price high of $179 million set in 2015 for Picaso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger”,…

With the median house value in the US at $205,000, capping the mortgage interest deduction on loan principal eligible for the deduction to $500,000 from the current $1,000,000 would impact just 5% of home owners. Moreover, just 6.7% of the…

Talk of the UK ending up with “no-deal” on trade from the EU is rising, but it’s rubbish! Absent a deal, the UK would instantly enter a recession, and by 2030 British GDP would be 10% or $8,300/person lower than…

The Congressional budget resolution allowing for tax reform proposes increasing the debt over the next decade by $1.5 trillion on top of the already projected $10.1 trillion debt increase. The argument is that faster growth will pay for itself. I…

While our economy is humming with 3.1% GDP growth in 17Q2 and 3% growth in 17Q3, these rates are unsustainable. That’s because these rates have required such large increases in employment that the unemployment rate declined from a low 4.5%…

The Friday File: 75% of Mississippians pray daily, tops in the US; just 31% of Vermonters do, the smallest percentage. As for believing in Hell, top spot at 77% is held by residents of Mississippi and Tennessee; just 36% of…

While the final Republican tax plan is still a work in progress that may never become law, one thing’s very clear; its philosophy is to tax people, who are relatively immobile, and lower taxes on corporations, which can much more…

Last week the ECB decided to purchase €30 billion/month in bonds, down from the current €60 billion/month, through at least next September rather than a higher amount/month for a shorter period. While seemingly academic, here’s why. Markets must now consider…

As Measured by the Conference Board, October consumer confidence came in at 125.9, the highest reading since 12/00. This elevated level is a result of rising equity and home prices and an unemployment rate of just 4.2%, its best level…

October’s 261,000 net new jobs was good, as were upward revisions to August and September totaling 90,000. Unemployment fell to 4.1%, its lowest level since 12/00, the broadest measure of unemployment fell to 7.9%, tops since 12/06, and job growth…