70 Words
Befuddling BMI
The Friday File: Researchers find that being overweight (BMI between 25 and 30) surprisingly lowers risk of death by 6%, and having a BMI between 30 and 35, by 5%! While no one knows why, health experts are spinning like bad economists. Maybe BMI is flawed or maybe by setting the normal category between 18.5…
Read MoreDeath of a Giant
James McGill Buchannan, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in economics, died earlier this week. He was best known for promoting public choice theory, an approach which treats politicians and bureaucrats as utility-maximizing economic agents motivated by self-interest. Rather than making more money, bureaucrats and politicians aim to win reelection, gain more power, more budget…
Read MoreMoney in my Pocket
Total debt service payments as percentage of disposable income have fallen from a peak of 14.1% in 7/07 to just 10.6% today, a level last seen in 10/93; a decline of 25%. This is due to a combination of low interest rates, rising disposable income, and lots of mortgage defaults, which have reduced household debt…
Read MoreDeclining Deductions
With passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the fiscal cliff bill), the residential real estate industry dodged a bullet. While Schedule A deductions are phased out for couples with incomes above $300,000, the phaseout is mild. A couple with $500,000 of income would be $200,000 over the $300,000 limit. Thus, their deductions…
Read MoreUnhedged Is Best
In 2012, hedge funds rose an average of 3% compared to 13.4% for the unmanaged S&P 500. Worse, over the past decade a portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% sovereign bonds returned 90%, while hedge funds eked out a measly 17% gain. While some hedge funds do extraordinarily well, that’s inevitable with 8,000 funds! But…
Read MoreNutty Situation
The Friday File: Skippy Peanut butter, first sold in 1933, has been bought by Hormel Foods of MN from Unilever for $700 million in cash. Skippy, with an 18% market share, is the number two peanut butter brand in the US, sandwiched between Jif (at 34%) and Peter Pan. Skippy had $370 million in sales,…
Read MoreCongressional Cowards
Only by pushing off all hard decisions was Congress able to prevent us from going over the fiscal cliff. Now we face Debt Ceiling Battle II which must be resolved by March, a fight over annual spending cuts of $100 billion which after being postponed now commence in March, and a government budget that expires…
Read MoreThou Shalt Not Steal
Between 1992 and 2011, violent crime fell by 38%, and the violent crime rate, that is crimes per 100,000 persons, fell by 50%. Similarly, property crimes fell by 27.5% and the property crime rate fell by almost 41%. Motor vehicle theft led the way falling by 55%, with the rate declining by an eye-popping 64%!…
Read MoreThank You!
Thank You! I want to take this opportunity to thank you all very much for your interest in my daily blog. I wish you and yours all the best for 2013. May it be a year full of employment, good decisions, health, joy, love, laughter and prosperity — in risk adjusted terms, of course!
Read MoreLove To Live
The Friday File: Contrary to popular myth, suicide rates actually fall during the holiday season. In 2010, there were 38,364 suicides, making it the 10th leading cause of death with an average of about 105/day. July was the month with the highest average at 111.3/day. The rate was actually lowest in December, yes December, at…
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