Posts Tagged ‘Graphsandlaughs’
Unhedged Is Best
In 2012, hedge funds rose an average of 3% compared to 13.4% for the unmanaged S&P 500. Worse, over the past decade a portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% sovereign bonds returned 90%, while hedge funds eked out a measly 17% gain. While some hedge funds do extraordinarily well, that’s inevitable with 8,000 funds! But…
Read MoreNutty Situation
The Friday File: Skippy Peanut butter, first sold in 1933, has been bought by Hormel Foods of MN from Unilever for $700 million in cash. Skippy, with an 18% market share, is the number two peanut butter brand in the US, sandwiched between Jif (at 34%) and Peter Pan. Skippy had $370 million in sales,…
Read MoreCongressional Cowards
Only by pushing off all hard decisions was Congress able to prevent us from going over the fiscal cliff. Now we face Debt Ceiling Battle II which must be resolved by March, a fight over annual spending cuts of $100 billion which after being postponed now commence in March, and a government budget that expires…
Read MoreThou Shalt Not Steal
Between 1992 and 2011, violent crime fell by 38%, and the violent crime rate, that is crimes per 100,000 persons, fell by 50%. Similarly, property crimes fell by 27.5% and the property crime rate fell by almost 41%. Motor vehicle theft led the way falling by 55%, with the rate declining by an eye-popping 64%!…
Read MoreMilky Mess
If Congress doesn’t extend the existing farm bill or pass a new one, milk prices will double. This is because price supports would be based on the 1949 Agriculture Act and would be $38/hundred-weight, as opposed to $20.83 now. Should this happen, expect plunging short-term consumer demand and massive imports of dairy products from abroad,…
Read MoreShop Till You Drop
The largest US mall is the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN with 4.2 million square feet (msqft). Next comes the Eastwood Mall Complex in Niles, OH with 3.2 msqft. Rounding out the top five are the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA with 2.7 msqft, the King of Prussia Mall in King of…
Read MoreCost-Benefit Analysis
Higher taxes on the rich will reduce their incentives to work, save and invest, clipping maybe 0.5% off of GDP. But that’s not the end of the story. The relevant question is: will the benefit to society of redistributing some income from rich to poor (which will hopefully result in better trained workers, improved high-school…
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