Posts Tagged ‘Graphsandlaughs’
Spectacular Sailing
In a remarkable comeback, Team USA reeled in eight straight wins to capture the America’s Cup competition 9 to 8. They actually won 11 races but were docked two wins for infractions before the series began. The $300 million US entry, Oracle Team USA, which sailed at speeds of 50 mph, was financed by Larry…
Read MorePricey 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 MorePetroleum Pricing
In a sign domestic oil prices are expected to fall in the future, the price of futures contracts on West Texas Intermediate oil are cheaper the further into the future the settlement date. Futures prices are usually higher than current prices because futures prices must include storage, carrying costs and more. Reasons for this inversion…
Read MoreLoathsome Lawmakers
After excluding 590,000 postal employees and 1.4 million active military personnel, that leaves 2.15 million civilian non-defense federal workers. Should the government close, 40% of them, or 860,000, would stay home as they are non-essential. A one month shutdown would probably knock 1% off GDP and a two month shutdown would probably put us back…
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 MorePolitical Pay
The Friday File: To focus Congress on GDP growth, give members incentive pay. Pay them a base of $60,000 (median income) and incentive pay that rises with GDP. No bonus is paid until GDP growth hits 2%. Between 2%-3% they get a 30% bonus, from 3%-4% a 75% bonus, from 4%-5% a 200% bonus and…
Read MoreBold Bernanke
In a surprising but gutsy move, the Fed will not start tapering this month. There are many reasons. The most compelling; the recent rise in interest rates needed to be checked as they harm the slow recovery, Congressional hijinks over the budget and debt ceiling look increasingly worrisome, an inflation rate that is worryingly low…
Read MoreChemical Calculations
By entering into an agreement with Bashar Assad to destroy his chemical weapons, Obama is encouraging dictators to not only develop chemical weapons, but selectively use and trade them for respectability as needed. Moreover, by elevating the regime to that of a partner in a long disarmament process, a dictator that should have been punished…
Read MoreBig Bucks
In 2012, the top 10% (those with incomes above $114,000) collected 50.4% of all pre-tax income, the highest on record and up from 33% in 1977. Most of the gain was because the top 1%, those with incomes above $394,000, saw their income share rise from 8.5% in 1977 to 22.5% today. The share of…
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…
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