Commentary

Market commentary

Growth in a Time of Debt

14 years ago
in
An interesting paper (pdf) on the relationship between a country’s debt load and future gdp growth.  Here is the abstract. We study economic growth and inflation at different levels of government and external debt. Our analysis is based on new data on forty-four countries spanning about two hundred [...]

Middle class struggle

14 years ago
in
Elizabeth Warren suggests that the American middle class is in decline.  Over the last 40 years the only real income gain for families has come through women entering the workforce (i.e., two income families).  As you would expect childcare costs have mushroomed during that time.  But also home and [...]

Consumer Reports on Cash for Gold

15 years ago
in
Consumer Reports researched the online cash for gold services. They discovered (not a big surprise) that the online services offered some of the lowest rates. You are much better off going to local jewelery stores or pawn shops.  Here is their advice: Call several jewelry stores, coin stores, and [...]

Avoiding Loan Modification Fraud

15 years ago
in
From California’s Office of the Attorney General we get the following tips to avoid being scammed. DON’T pay up-front fees. Foreclosure consultants are prohibited by law from collecting money before services are performed. DON’T ignore letters from your lender or loan servicer. Responding to those [...]

July Real Estate in Graphs

15 years ago
in
Inventories are still high. Low priced homes went higher in the bubble and have been crashing down faster.  The following is the Case-Shiller break down for L.A.  Lower priced homes are expected to hit their price bottoms sooner than the more expensive homes.  While low priced homes have around 9 [...]

State Outlooks

15 years ago
in
While much of the economic attention has been at the federal level, the states are not all suffering equally.  California has been grabbing the healines, but it is not the only state suffering. This graph shows the current unemployment by state (red segments) and the high and low unemployment [...]

Market Capitalization as % of GDP

15 years ago
in
From Ron Griess of The Chart Store we get this wonderful graphic demonstrating just how abnormal historically the last 15 years have been.  Valuations are now the best they have been in over 15 years which means long term expected equity returns are also looking more favorable, but there is clearly [...]

Healthcare’s Future

15 years ago
in
Healthcare reform has entered the limelight again this year and already people are trying to frame the problem as government versus marketplace solutions dividing along traditional liberal/conservative lines.  Unfortunately, this comes at the problem from the wrong direction. From the [...]

Factors in FICO Score

15 years ago
in
Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling provides the following information on FICO scores. Paying your bills on time — 35 percent of your FICO score. Ratio of credit available to credit used (using under 30% is good) — 30 percent. Longevity of credit accounts (longer is [...]

Housing Recovery Not Near

15 years ago
in
Problem Moves to Prime Mortgages To date foreclosures have been concentraded on the lower end of the housing market.  And the lower end could reach a price bottom by next year.  The upper end however is only just now starting to work through its problems. In the chart on the right you can see that [...]
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