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A Maryland Public Service Commission law designed to promote energy conservation is being redesigned. The law originally allowed public utilities to charge rate-payers a surcharge whenever electricity use fell short. The unintended consequence, utilities had less incentive to quickly restore…
In the 15 presidential elections starting in ’52, the Republicans always lose if the name Bush or Nixon fails to appear on the ticket (’64 (Goldwater/Miller), ’76 (Ford/Dole), ’96 (Dole/Kemp) ’08 (McCain/Palin)). However, the Republicans win nine out of 11…
While bank profits rose 21% in Q2 ’12 compared to a year earlier, looks can be deceiving. Much of the increase is due to one-time releases from loan-loss reserves. Worse, net interest margins fell to 3.46% in Q2 from 3.52%…
The Friday File: 10 million pounds of Quebec maple syrup, street value $40 million, and about 10% of Quebec’s ’12 harvest, has been stolen! Luckily, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, suppliers of 77% of the world’s maple syrup,…
What makes the LIBOR scandal so troubling is that the banks involved deliberately prevented us from understanding how serious the banking and liquidity crisis of ‘08 was. Had we known how high LIBOR rates were, things could have been done…
Greece has been in recession since Q3 ‘08. During that time, new car registrations have fallen 82%, back to where they were in the late ‘80s, and GDP has fallen 18%. Here, at their worst, car sales were down 56%…
104.5 boys are born for every 100 girls to offset boys’ greater probability of dying in infancy. Due to falling fertility, cheap ultrasounds, and son preference, baby girls are, in many parts of the world, rare. In India, the rate…
Last Saturday, NHL owners locked out players (who knew?) following expiration of their contract. The last strike, in 2004, wiped out an entire season and players ultimately agreed to a 24% rollback, reducing their take to 57% of revenues. Owners…
The Friday File: For men using a razor, the average shave takes 2.5 minutes and 200 strokes. 55% of men find shaving the neck the most difficult, followed by the chin (26%), the mustache (17%) and the cheeks (3%). Global…
Analysts expect iPhone 5 sales to reach 30 million by 12/31/12. At $600/phone (less $200 in imported parts), that’s $12 billion in net sales during the last four months of 2012, or $36 billion annualized, a 2% boost to GDP!…