Posts Tagged ‘graphsandlaughs and eisenberg’
Pricey Policy
To save lives, Congress requires all new cars and trucks to have backup warning systems to prevent the killing or injuring of pedestrians while driving in reverse. If installing a camera (the cheapest solution) costs $75/vehicle, the cost/life saved is $65 million!! It’s so expensive because all 250 million cars will need a camera before…
Read MoreManufacturing Mojo
While the number of manufacturing jobs in the US is rising, it’s primarily in sectors where plant is expensive, labor cost/item is low, and energy and transportation costs are high such as autos, chemicals, energy and refineries. However, where labor is a high percentage of total cost and energy and shipping costs per item are…
Read MoreFed Head Fiasco
The biggest loser in the current Fed Chairman Sweepstakes is the Fed. Simply considering Summers for the head Fed job politicizes a job that should be non-partisan. Arthur Burns, appointed by Nixon in 1970, was the last Chairman that was closely identified with one political party and he was a disaster. All evidence overwhelmingly shows…
Read MoreGoing, Going, Gone!
The Friday File: After travelling for 36 years and 12 billion miles, NASA just confirmed that on August 25, 2012 (yes 2012), Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to depart the solar system. It’s so far from earth it takes 17 hours travelling at the speed of light to send/receive signals from Voyager. To…
Read MoreShrinking Middle
Middle class is defined as adults with household incomes between two-thirds and twice the national median, or between $40,000 and $120,000 today. In 1971, 61% of adults were middle class, 14% were upper class and 25% were lower class. Today, just 51% are middle class, 20% are now upper class, and 29% lower class. Even…
Read MoreAccidental Growth
While Congress will inevitably pass a Continuing Resolution to fund the government beyond 9/30/13 when the current CR expires, a key question is at what spending level. If current funding levels are carried into FY14, as is usually the case for short term CRs (but maybe not this time), they would exceed the 2014 budget…
Read MoreHot Lots
In a move to streamline operations and cash in on the home building renaissance, Weyerhauser is selling its home-building unit. The prize, 27,000 lots including 18,000 in market-constrained litigation happy California, mostly in L.A. and San Diego. Assuming no goodwill, if the home-building unit sells for $3 billion, that’s just $110,000/lot. At $4 billion it’s…
Read MoreFired, Not Hired
Healthy labor markets consist of many things including low rates of involuntary termination and high rates of hiring. Usually they’re highly correlated. Not now. First time unemployment insurance claims at 332,000/week are at levels last seen in 11/07 before the Great Recession. Yet total hires at 4.2 million in June are now where they were…
Read MoreWe’re #2!
The Friday File: Mexico, where 32.8% of the adult population is obese (BMI of 30 or higher), has edged out the US where 31.8% of the population is obese. The tragedy is that in Mexico, obesity is frequently associated with malnourishment. On the other end of the scale is Japan, where just 4.5% of adults…
Read MoreSick Spending
Despite spending 18% of GDP on healthcare, or $9,356/person, Americans are falling behind other countries in overall health. In 1990, US life expectancy was 75.2, by 2010 it was 78.2, yet the US ranking fell from 20th to 27th. Worse, from 1990 through 2010, the average number of years Americans live with chronic disease rose…
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