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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…