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In a very close election, Brazilians recently re-elected Dilma Rouseff. The result: the Brazilian real fell 2% and is near a 10-year low, and the stock market fell almost 3%. Worse, Brazilian sovereign debt is close to being downgraded to…

There are currently 18 million male veterans, 15.6% of the male population, and 1.6 million female veterans. 7 million served in Vietnam, 5.2 million served in the Gulf War Era (8/90 through today), 1.3 million in WWII, 2.1 million in…

Because the US still imports 5 million barrels/day of oil, and consumers spend a substantial share of income on energy, cheaper oil boosts GDP. Every $10/bbl decline shaves 25 cents off the price/gallon of gas and reduces oil imports by…

The Friday File: Monday marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart” aka the Berlin Wall. The Wall was 96 miles long, and before the border was sealed on 8/13/1961, only after a Berlin railway bypass…

With Republicans running Capitol Hill, there is renewed hope that bills dealing with corporate taxes, trade and maybe even immigration become law this session. There is also hope that some small parts of Dodd-Frank and the Affordable Care Act get…

The 2014 mid-term elections were the costliest mid-terms ever with total spending hitting $3.67 billion or $44/voter! The most expensive race was the NC senate race at $113 million, followed by the CO senate race at $97 million, the IA…

GDP grew by a healthy 3.5% in Q3, but better yet the employment-cost index, a broad measure of wages and benefits, rose by 0.7% in Q2 and in Q3 its best performance since 2008. Wages and salaries rose by over…

The Commerce Department reported that September new home sales increased 0.2% from August. The problem is the report has a reported margin of error of +/- 15.7%. September sales could have been up as much as 15.9% or down by…

The Friday File: Halloween is the 4th biggest annual retail event, with total spending expected to total $7.4 billion (more than the GDP of Barbados), behind Christmas at $620 billion, back to school/college at $73 billion and Mother’s Day at…

Oil’s price decline is due to relentless increases in supply and slightly declining demand due to weakening global growth. It’s also because Saudi Arabia hasn’t cut production. That’s because the Saudi’s are squeezing their enemies, Iran, Iraq and Russia which…