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The Friday File: The most popular condiment in the US is mayonnaise, and by a wide margin. Last year mayo sales totaled $2 billion. Ketchup was a distant second at $800 million, followed by soy sauce at $725 million, barbecue…
The proposed budget released by the White House shows the deficit declining to 1.9% of GDP in 2018 and a microscopic 1.6% of GDP by 2024. Don’t believe it. The budget fails to tackle entitlement reform, the Republicans will never…
With growth in China slowing substantially and Chinese leaders still slavishly forecasting 7.5% GDP growth, expect Beijing to step in and support the economy with aggressive fiscal stimulus. The problem, increased reliance on debt and infrastructure spending along with the…
In another nod to technological innovation, several of the largest US banks will soon allow their large depositors to print money directly on their home printers. While the Fed has remained mum on the subject, the U.S. Secret Service, the…
In an attempt to prevent deflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) is actively considering charging banks, rather than paying banks interest on deposits. Doing this, it’s hoped, will encourage bank lending to private firms, which will lower their borrowing costs.…
The Friday File: After controlling for the location from which the basketball is released and the location of defenders, it turns out there is a small but yet statistically significant “hot hand” effect. When a basketball player is “feeling it”…
The percentage of workers who voluntarily quit their jobs fell to 1.7% of employed workers in January from 1.8% in December, the first decline since 3/13. The number is way up from a low of 1.3% in late 2009 but…
While many fret that existing housing sales have recently been slumping, the angst is misplaced. Since early last year sales have declined 7%, but distressed sales as a percentage of all sales have fallen from 25% of sales to just…
In 2013 the Fed earned interest income of $51.6 billion from its vast holdings of Treasury securities, $36.6 billion in interest from its portfolio of mortgage backed-securities and another $2.2 billion from miscellaneous sources. After paying for its own expenses…
The most interesting thing to come out of last week’s Fed statement wasn’t that the Fed Funds rate will start rising in 2015 or that the unemployment rate isn’t the single most important number, but that the Fed expects the…