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Growing Jobs and Income disparity

14 years ago
in
Today, I want to look at some of the structural changes that have occurred and what that might mean for the US. I don’t have any answers, but I think its important to notice that the culture in the US may undergo a substantial shift in the next decade or two. Or to prevent that shift we would [...]

Flash Crash Explanation

14 years ago
in
Last weeks 1000 point dive in the Dow was pretty scary and people are still trying to figure out what happened.  Here is my best guess. First a quick review on how markets work. In the good old days of the stock “specialist”, he (and it was almost always a he) would be responsible for making a [...]

Laptop Reliability

14 years ago
in
Something to consider the next time you are in the market for a laptop. Looking at the first 3 years of ownership, 31% of laptop owners reported a failure to SquareTrade. Two-thirds of this failure (20.4%) came from hardware malfunctions, and one-third (10.6%) was reported as accidental damage.

Financial Education Doesn’t Work (cont)

14 years ago
in
I come back to this theme because it goes so strongly against what I wish to be true. Research continues to dribble in that financial education does not help people make better financial decisions. Lauren Willis in Against Financial Literacy Education puts it this way: “The gulf between the [...]

China and India Parity with the West

15 years ago
in
First the punchline. China and India will achieve economic parity (i.e., average income per person) with the US in 2048 (i.e., around 40 years).  Hans Rosling (someone who knows how to use Powerpoint the right way) delivers a great talk on how he arrives at that number and a insightful look at the [...]

Market Capitalization as % of GDP

15 years ago
in
It has been a while since I posted a valuation chart.  Here is one that goes from 1924 to the present.

Stamp Prices Increasing on Monday

15 years ago
in
On Monday, May 11th postage rates are increasing.  This means any mail dropped off after the last pick up this weekend will be charged the new rate.  First class letter postage will be increasing from $0.42 to $0.44.  If you have forever stamps, they will be still be good at the new rate (hence the [...]

Gone Skiing

15 years ago
in
Taking the family skiing.  Wont be back until next month.

Who Qualifies for Homeowner Stability Plan

15 years ago
in
President Obama has released the Homeowner affordability and stability plan.  Here is a quick guide on who it helps and how. Refinancing If you have a loan that is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and your mortgage is for more than 80% and less than 105% of the current home value, you will be [...]

2/9 Economic News in Graphs

15 years ago
in
People were supplementing their disposible income to the tune of 5% to 9% during the housing bubble.  This means $400 billion to $800 billion of annual spending that occurred from 2002 – 2007 has now been withdrawn from the economy. Job losses haven’t gotten as bad as the early eighties yet, but [...]
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