Posts Tagged ‘elliot eisenberg and graphsandlaughs’
Pool Anyone?
The Friday File: In August, houses with pools sell for about 0.2% more than homes without pools while in May, June and July pools add just 0.1%, half as much. Conversely, from November through March, swimming pools reduce house prices by about 0.15% while in April, September and October pools have no impact. Even at…
Read MorePoor Peso
Running low on foreign reserves, Argentina is making it increasingly difficult for Argentines to purchase US dollars, which has widened the gap between the official exchange-rate and the black-market rate. And that has caused Argentines to make offshore purchases with credit-cards at the cheaper official rate. In response, the government has raised taxes on offshore…
Read MoreRenovation Run
Despite residential construction being on the mend, its contribution to GDP is tiny. During Q1 2013, the value of new single family construction was just $157 billion, or 0.98% of GDP, while residential improvements contributed $161 billion or 1%. This was the 18th straight quarter where spending on improvements exceeded new single family construction! All…
Read MoreUNINSPIRING
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 (Russia) are not bound by it, and do you really think regimes that survive by…
Read MoreArbitrage
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 back stock with, perhaps, a 4% dividend. And since interest is tax deductible, the borrowing…
Read MoreEat What?
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 at 1.464 million SHU only to be quickly passed to the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion at…
Read MoreTax Trivia
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 40% in 1943 and are now 10%, while excise taxes have fallen from 46% to…
Read MoreSouring Cyprus
The recent $13 billion bailout (60% of GDP) made by the IMF, ECB, and European Commission to Cyprus does not solve problems, it just delays them. With a post bailout debt-to-GDP burden of 140%, an economy that will shrink 20% over the next two years, the gutting of its huge financial sector, and a promise…
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