70 Words
The Friday File: Every percentage point increase in state income taxes faced by free-agent baseball players raises their salary by $22,500/year. By contrast, the same tax increase reduces slightly the average skill level of free-agent basketball player signings. It’s because…
Since 3/12 the unemployment rate has fallen 0.6%, and the labor-force participation rate (LFPR) has fallen by 0.5%. If by 3/14 the LFPR falls another 0.5%, it would take only 107,000 new jobs/month to get the unemployment rate down another…
Next week the European Central Bank will finally lower its key interest by a quarter-point to 0.5%, as the euro-region recession continues. Most importantly, Germany, Europe’s largest economy, may now officially be in recession and business confidence is slumping. Meanwhile,…
Three weeks ago, the United Nations voted to link arms sales to the human rights record of the buyers. While superficially appealing, this treaty is worthless. The treaty only covers exports (not imports), countries that didn’t vote for the treaty…
One reason the stock market is doing so well is due to stock buybacks. Despite high share prices, for dividend-paying firms with top-notch credit ratings, interest rates have never been lower. These firms are borrowing long-term at 2% to buy…
The Friday File: A jalapeno pepper registers 6,200 Scoville heat units (SHU), a Habanero 350,000 SHU, and a Naga Viper 1.382 million SHU which made it the world’s hottest pepper. The title recently transferred to the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T…
In yet another sign the housing market is strengthening, the number of distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) has declined dramatically. Moreover, short sales now generally outnumber foreclosures in most cities, a far cry from the situation just last year.…
With the mortgage refinancing wave largely over, mortgage originations will decline considerably in 2013, perhaps by as much as 50%. That said, home equity lines of credit will become increasingly popular as homeowners struggle to extract cash from their homes,…
Retail sales fell a surprisingly large 0.4% in March, the biggest decline since 6/12 and the preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment declined to 72.3 in April from 78.6 in March. Worse, February retail sales were cut by…
In 1934, individual income taxes were 14% of tax receipts, today they’re 47%. Similarly, social insurance and retirement receipts were just 1% but are 35% today. By contrast, corporate income taxes were just 12% in 1934, reached a high of…