70 Words

Milky Mess

12/27/2012

If Congress doesn’t extend the existing farm bill or pass a new one, milk prices will double. This is because price supports would be based on the 1949 Agriculture Act and would be $38/hundred-weight, as opposed to $20.83 now. Should…

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Shop Till You Drop

12/26/2012

The largest US mall is the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN with 4.2 million square feet (msqft). Next comes the Eastwood Mall Complex in Niles, OH with 3.2 msqft. Rounding out the top five are the South Coast Plaza…

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Christmas Costs

12/25/2012

Inflation, as measured by the Christmas Index, based on purchasing all 12 items in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, rose 4.8% in 2012 and now stands at $25,431.18. The index rose 3.5% in 2011 and 9.2% in 2010. The most…

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Salad Days

12/21/2012

The Friday file: Chop and combine 5,000 pounds of watermelon, 1,300 pounds of cantaloupe, 1,000 pounds of honeydew, 2,250 pounds of pineapple, 200 pounds of apples and 360 pounds of strawberries and you have the world’s largest fruit salad weighing…

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Oh Canada!

12/20/2012

Having largely sidestepped the Great Recession, Canada is starting to look slightly shaky. House prices rose for the 19th straight month in October (been there) and household debt/GDP is 90% in Hockey Country while here it’s 77% after topping 90%…

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Criminal Incentives

12/19/2012

Last week, HSBC paid a $1.92 billion penalty for laundering money for murderers. Today, UBS is fined $1.5 billion for its part in rigging LIBOR over a multiyear period! While these banks will now “beef up their compliance procedures” and…

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Hooray for Housing!

12/18/2012

After a 15% rise in September, housing starts climbed less than 4% in October, with the entire rise due to a 12% jump in multifamily starts; single-family activity was unchanged. November starts are likely to be flat to marginally down…

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Week in Review

12/17/2012

Small business became much more pessimistic in November with the major small business index tumbling 5.6 points, the steepest one-month decline in history! Consumers are slightly more optimistic with retail sales climbing 0.3% in November, offsetting the 0.3% decline in…

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‘Mazing Messi

12/14/2012

The Friday File: Lionel Messi recently set a record by scoring his 86th goal in a calendar year for Barcelona and the Argentine national team combined. This broke the record of 85 set by West Germany’s Gerd Muller in 1972,…

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Angry in Athens

12/13/2012

By 12/31/13 the Greek economy will be 30% smaller than it was in 2008! And, it may not be done shrinking. Thus, the most recent Greek bailout is simply the latest “fix” with more to come! Worse, this tragedy becomes…

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