70 Words
The Friday File: The smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup is Iceland, which, with a population of 335,000, will play in 2018. Prior to Iceland, the smallest nation to contend was Trinidad and Tobago, which competed in…
For the first time since 1978, a first-term president hasn’t reappointed the incumbent Fed chair. Instead, President Trump will appoint existing Fed governor Powell. He will continue the process of gradual rate rises established by outgoing chair Yellen, but offer…
Pending home sales were flat in September and that was the highlight of the report. The index is at its lowest level since 1/15, and has declined Y-o-Y in five of the last six months. Moreover, in the Northeast the…
Between 1300 and 1850, 80,000 people were tried for witchcraft in Europe. Half the trials and executions took place between 1560 and 1630, during the Protestant Reformation. On a per capita basis, Switzerland held the most trials, 980/100,000 people, and…
The US economy easily shook off the effects of recent hurricanes and GDP in 17Q3 rose by 3% following a 3.1% rise in 17Q2, the best two-quarter performance since mid-2014. That said, Y-o-Y GDP growth is still just 2.3% and…
The Friday file: It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup, and each tree produces 15 gallons of sap/year. 72% of global maple syrup comes from Quebec, down from 82% in 2003. Trees can only…
New home sales in September came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000, the highest level since 10/07! Sales were up 18.9% from August, the largest monthly percentage gain in almost 28 years. While some of the 26%…
The latest report on the nation’s major entitlement programs, accounting for 42% of all federal government spending, are sobering. The Social Security trust fund will be emptied in 2034 and Medicare (Part A, hospital care) in 2029. 50 million Americans…
In 2015, the top 1% of individual filers, those with AGIs (adjusted gross incomes) of at least $480,930, earned 20.65% of total AGI and paid 39.04% of all federal income taxes. The top 5% had AGIs of $195,778 and paid…
In FY2017, the federal deficit widened to $666 billion or 3.5% of GDP, up from $586 billion or 3.2% of GDP in FY2016. The deficit has averaged 3.1% over the last 40 years. While receipts rose to $3.315 trillion, up…