Posts Tagged ‘Elliot eisenberg’
Finally!
Next week the European Central Bank will finally lower its key interest by a quarter-point to 0.5%, as the euro-region recession continues. Most importantly, Germany, Europe’s largest economy, may now officially be in recession and business confidence is slumping. Meanwhile, across Europe, purchasing managers are indicating continued contraction and exports to China are slowing. While…
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 MoreHappy Housing
In yet another sign the housing market is strengthening, the number of distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) has declined dramatically. Moreover, short sales now generally outnumber foreclosures in most cities, a far cry from the situation just last year. Even if existing home sales don’t increase much in 2013, the fact that distressed sales…
Read MoreHousing Finance
With the mortgage refinancing wave largely over, mortgage originations will decline considerably in 2013, perhaps by as much as 50%. That said, home equity lines of credit will become increasingly popular as homeowners struggle to extract cash from their homes, yet preserve their 3% 30-year mortgage. Also, if the immigration bill moving through Congress changes…
Read MoreDown Data
Retail sales fell a surprisingly large 0.4% in March, the biggest decline since 6/12 and the preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment declined to 72.3 in April from 78.6 in March. Worse, February retail sales were cut by 0.1% and January sales by 0.3%. This shows that the payroll tax increase is starting…
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 MoreMasterful Musicians
The Friday File: On 12/5/12, jazz great Dave Brubeck died at age 91 and on 2/27/13 Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr. known best as Van Cliburn passed at age 78. Brubeck’s 1959 album “Time Out” was the first jazz album to sell over a million copies, while Cliburn’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1 in 1958,…
Read MoreNo Shoot
Rather than requiring gun-training, fingerprinting, outlawing assault weapons or “large” ammunition magazines or limiting the number of guns you can buy/day, instead require gun buyers to post a $10,000 bond for each gun purchased, and if the gun is involved in a crime, the bond is forfeited. This gives gun buyers strong incentives not to…
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