70 Words
The cost of down is up from $12/lb in ’09 to almost $30/lb today, while duck down has risen from $10/lb to $19/lb over the same period. Diet and urbanization are primarily why. As the Chinese become wealthier city-dwellers, fewer…
The $2 billion blunder by J.P. Morgan, while not pretty, is no clarion call for added regulation. Rather, it shows that with enough capital mistakes of this magnitude can be easily absorbed. That is, while regulations can be skirted, and…
What’s going between Greece and the rest of the Eurozone is a game of chicken. The Greeks think that if they quit the Euro, the pain for the rest of the Eurozone will be so severe everyone will, again, bail…
The Friday File: Obesity rates (BMI above 29) in the US vary from a low of 21% in CO to a high of 34% in MS. The South has the highest prevalence of obesity (29.4%) followed by the Midwest (28.7%),…
During 3/12 ND passed AK to become the number two oil producing state with 575,000 barrels a day (bbl/d) compared to AK’s 567K bbl/d. TX holds down the top spot with 1.7 million bbl/d. CA is fourth with 230K bbl/d…
Some argue that the unemployed have skills that are simply not needed. Thus, deficit spending will not get us out of this “structural” recession. But, if this were a “structural” problem, the unemployment rate for recent college grads would be…
The European Stability and Growth Pact, that Germany is insisting on –-which requires governments to keep deficits to no more than 3% of GDP — is nuts. In good times, it promotes increased government spending but forces cuts in recessions.…
Over the next 20 years, 10K baby boomers turn 65 daily, doubling the number of Medicare enrollees. In part, that’s why annual Medicare spending is expected to reach an unsustainable $1 trillion by ’21; 20% of all government spending. While…
The Friday File: Twin births in the US are soaring. In ’09, 1 in 30 babies born was a twin. In ’80 it was just 1 in 53! Why? Women in their 30s just have fraternal twins more often and…
Antibiotics (ABs) work against bacteria, not viruses. Yet out of ignorance, patients press doctors to prescribe ABs for viruses. Doctors do it to please ill-informed patients. Regrettably, this results in drug resistant bacteria; a terrifying public health hazard. The dilemma…