70 Words
Consumers are spending but for how much longer? Over the past year disposable income is down, savings has fallen from 5.3% to 3.5%, household net worth has fallen by $2.4 trillion as house prices keep falling and credit card debt…
Read MoreOver the six quarters ’09Q2 through ’10Q4 corporate profits captured 88% ($464 billion) of the growth in real national income ($528 billion) while wages and salaries accounted for slightly more than 1% of the growth ($7 billion). Through ’11Q1 corporate…
Read MoreDue to Dodd-Frank, the Fed capped fees merchants pay credit card companies (CCCs) on debit cards (DCs) to about 21 cents from about 44 cents. When the fee was 44 cents, CCCs often reduced DC fees on small transactions; less…
Read MoreEager to take advantage of fat margins dairy farmers around the world ramped up production in response to high prices. But, those same record prices weakened consumer demand for milk (down 4%), cheese (1.5%) and butter (2.5%). Now, the increased…
Read MoreDuring Q3 ‘11 U.S. GDP finally exceeded the real pre-recession peak of total economic output recorded in Q4 ‘07. It took 15 quarters to offset the 5.1% decline in output during the Great Recession, 3 times the average number of…
Read MoreAuthorities recently found 32 tons of pot after stumbling on a well built cross-border tunnel linking San Diego and Tijuana. The agents who made the discovery were surprised. I wonder why; they have found over 70 such tunnels since 10/08,…
Read MoreThe Friday File: What do the involuntary unemployed do with their free time? Researchers find that about 40% of their “free” time is spent working in the home which includes cooking, doing laundry, shopping, home improvement projects, caring for elder…
Read MoreUnless Congress acts by 1/27/12, doctors treating Medicare patients will suffer a 27% fee cut. Last year, and every year since ’03, Congress passes a temporary “Doc Fix.” Problem is, every year, the size of the “Fix” gets bigger. The…
Read MoreIn October ’08 European banks looked pretty healthy; they held few toxic US mortgage backed securities. But, this strength was a fiction. European banks met their Waterloo in large holdings of euro-denominated sovereign debt of the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy,…
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