Archive for December 2017

In 1960, in 14.6% of marriages husbands had more education than wives. The reverse was the case 7.1% of the time. The remaining 78.3% of marriages had spouses of equal education. This imbalance peaked in 1980 when in 23% of marriages husbands were better educated while in 11% the wife was. Now, in 25.3% of…

The number of times the Fed boosts rates a quarter-point in 2018 will depend entirely on GDP growth and inflation. If both perk up, expect four hikes, if they both remain weak, expect two. The low and falling unemployment rate suggests that inflationary pressures should build. However, researchers find that declines in the unemployment rate…

With competition already brutal in the ride-hailing sector – Uber lost almost $1.5 billion in 17Q3 – competition looks to get still more intense. Google is planning to employ as many as 24,000 autonomous vehicles, while GM and other big automakers are planning similar offerings. With so many large, deep-pocketed firms fighting hard in the…

Employment growth was 228,000 in November and is averaging 170,000 jobs since August. The key takeaways: the job market is very strong, and growth is well distributed with solid gains across all education levels! The hurricanes have left no traces, and while wage growth is hardly Bitcoinesque at just 2.5% Y-o-Y, an increase in the…

The Friday File: This week, the World Memory Championships are being held. The reigning world champion is American Alex Mullen. He holds the world record for the longest sequence of numbers memorized in an hour at 3,029, cards in an hour at 1,626, and numbers in five minutes at 520. Marwin Wallonius holds the record…

As of 2015, there were 13 states that sent more money to Washington than they received in federal spending. The sums include federal salaries, military contracts, Social Security payments, Medicaid, corporate and personal taxes and so on. The biggest loser, NJ at -$3,478/person, followed by CT at -$2,763, and NY at -$2,425. The biggest winner,…

Shipments of recreational vehicles, towable or motorized, hit a then record 390,000/year in 1978. In the double-dip recession of the early 1980s, they cratered to 108,000. They then slowly rose again, reaching 390,000 in 2006, the peak of the Housing Boom, only to crash to 166,000 in 2009. Since then shipments have boomed. Through 10/17…

OPEC, Russia, and other countries controlling 60% of global crude production have extended their withholding of 1.8 million bbl/day of oil, 2% of output, from 3/31/18 to 12/31/18. The forces at play here are threefold; rising global GDP boosting demand by 500,000 bbl/day, declining production in Venezuela and Kurdistan due to political and economic factors,…

Over the weekend, Bitcoin hit $11,780/coin. Bitcoin finished 2016 at $968.23, and YTD is up 1,200%, yes, twelve mindboggling hundred percent. In terms of currency in circulation, the US dollar leads with $1.5 trillion, followed by the euro at $1.2 trillion, the Chinese yuan at $1 trillion, the Japanese yen at $900 billion and then,…

The Friday File: Of the 195 nations on Earth, 33% get their name from some older group of persons. For example, France is named after the Franks. 25% are named from an aspect of the land; Costa Rica means “the rich coast.” 13% are named for their location; Australia means southern in Latin. And, another…