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The Mortgage Interest Deduction is of limited value because of low rates and low house prices. A $300,000 house with a 30-year mortgage at 3.25% pays just $7,800 in mortgage interest, yet the 2012 standard deduction is $11,900 if married…
Read MoreWashington will not solve the Fiscal Cliff during the lame duck session of Congress. Rather, they’ll pass a stop-gap measure raising the debt ceiling and more importantly giving themselves more time to pass revenue-positive tax reform, consisting of broadening the…
Read MoreThe Friday File: Each unexpected gridiron victory by an NCAA division 1-A school (Doug Flutie BC ’88) increases athletic donations by $134,000, college applications by 1% and average SAT scores by 1.8 points. Thus, five extra wins means an extra…
Read MoreShort-term bonds issued by Exxon-Mobile and Johnson & Johnson currently yield a hair less than comparable Treasuries. While historically a very rare phenomenon, this trend may persist and even expand because some corporations have higher credit ratings than Uncle Sam…
Read MoreWhile spending $6 billion for the ‘12 election sounds like a lot, it’s just 0.0375% of our GDP, or just 3.75 cents/$100. It’s about as much as Americans spend renting movies, and it’s less than we spend on Halloween! What’s…
Read MoreBy bailing out large financial institutions and deliberately trying to inflate the value of stocks, bonds, houses and commodities (by driving interest rates down to microscopic levels), central banks around the globe are probably increasing the wealth gap between rich…
Read MoreIf the electoral college is deadlocked at 269 for each candidate, the House elects the president with each state delegation casting one vote. Given that the House will remain Republican, along with the many small-population Red states, Romney will get…
Read MoreThe Friday File: A bidder paid $39,000 for the turquoise wool suit Margaret Thatcher wore when she became leader of the Tories. Six other outfits she wore before she became PM were sold for another $77,000, far exceeding pre-auction estimates…
Read MoreThe economy grew at a rate of just 2% in Q3. The drought subtracted 0.4% from growth, slumping exports clipped 0.2%, and falling business investment took 0.1% off GDP. By contrast, increased consumer spending added 1.4% to growth and increased…
Read MoreHalloween spending is expected to hit $8 billion this year. $6.9 billion was spent in ’11 and the cyclical low of $4.8 billion was in ’09. Spending on pet costumes is way up with $370 million projected to be spent…
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