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I am sure you will be delighted to learn that US banks earned profits of $35 billion in Q3 ’11, their best showing since before the recession. The up-tick is primarily due to banks putting aside less to cover bad…
Farmland prices have doubled since ’06. The cost per acre in IA is now almost $7,000/acre up 32% since ’10. Inflation adjusted prices are higher now than in the late ‘70s which precipitated the farm bust of the 80s. Prices…
Census reports that 97.3 million Americans are now classified as low-income; earning between 100% and 199% of the poverty level. Together with the 49.1 million who are at or below the poverty level, these groups total 146.4 million Americans; 48%…
On 1/1/13 $1.2 trillion in spending cuts commence, the $3.8 trillion Bush tax cuts end and if the 2% Social Security payroll tax holiday is extended, it too will end. Including reduced interest costs these events reduce the deficit by…
With the troops all out of Iraq, we can now ask what the war cost. While not easy to estimate, if you include spending to date, VA costs, veterans disability payments, interest on the war debt, foreign assistance, future medical…
The Friday File: Times are so tough the Queen of England is feeling it. She is set to receive £30 million/year for the next several years, down from the £77.3 million she received some time ago. Worse, Prince Charles who…
The Friday File: Times are so tough the Queen of England is feeling it. She is set to receive £30 million/year for the next several years, down from the £77.3 million she received some time ago. Worse, Prince Charles who…
Since the Super Committee failed $1.2 trillion in mandatory budgets cuts, starting in ’13 and running through ’21, will commence. But, the $1.2 trillion in cuts are actually only $984 billion! The law assumed that by not borrowing $984 billion,…
In DC there are 8,600 cabs for 600K people; plenty of cabs and a hacker license is cheap. In Chicago there are restrictions; only 6,951 cabs for a population of 3 million, and a license costs $200,000. In Boston, there…
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…