Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Saturday, January 12, 2013,
In :
Economy
A new chart from The Economist magazine, make it clear just how deficient the U.S. health care system is. Despite spending more on healthcare than the other countries in the study, the U.S. ranks 16th out of 17 in the Death from Injuries and Death from Non-communicable Diseases categories.
On a related note, what is the point of looking at spending through the Healthcare spending as a % of GDP measurement? GDP calculates total spending (not income) from a nearly infinite number of sources, ... Continue reading ...
According to its engineers, this will be the tallest skyscraper in the world by the end of March of 2013. Its name is Sky City, and its 2,749 feet (838 meters) distributed in 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in Changsha city, by the Xiangjiang river. Ninety days!
It's not a joke. According to the construction company, the skyscraper will be... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Saturday, July 21, 2012,
In :
Economy
Nice to hear there are still some CEOs that aren't consumed with greed...I wish I had worked for a CEO like this. Best bonus I ever had was when my old boss Larry gave me a rotten orange,
Lenovo CEO gives his $3 million bonus to 10,000 employees Daily Tech
It will come as no surprise to anyone who follows the technology world that CEOs at major corporations make a ton of money. Often their bonuses are even more than their yearly income. The CEO of Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, recently received a f... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, July 11, 2012,
In :
Economy
Of all the arguments against the gold standard, the most thoughtless (and most popular) is that a gold standard would cause prices to drop and therefore the economy would grind to a halt because: Would you buy something today if you knew it would be cheaper tomorrow?
First off, their argument is wrong. A gold standard would likely cause prices to stay flat, because the gold supply increases about 1.5% per year while productivity improves by 1-2% per year. So, in theory, those two data points ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, April 23, 2012,
In :
Economy
This morning on CNBC's Squawk Box, guest host Ron Paul stated that the U.S. dollar had lost 97% of it's value since the Federal Reserve came into existence. In the following segment, one of the CNBC anchors asked guest Stephen Roach if that 97% figure was correct. Roach, who is an economist, retorted by saying, "No, not even close. I would challenge the congressman's numbers. How we
lost 97% of the purchasing power of the dollar, relative to what?"
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Saturday, April 7, 2012,
In :
Economy
Motley Fool has an interesting post up, with 50 statistics that are surprising, disheartening and/or alarming. Here are a few of my favorites:
The S&P 500 is down 3% from 2000. But a version of the index that holds all 500 companies in equal amounts (rather than skewed by market cap) is up nearly 90%.
In November 2009, the nationwide unemployment was around 10%. But dig into demographics, and the rates are incredibly skewed. The unemployment rate for young, uneducated African-American males wa...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, March 12, 2012,
In :
Economy
If you're thinking about opening an online store in Greece, you might want to reconsider. Or be prepared to provide a stool sample to the Health Department. In all seriousness, any institutions stupid enough to invest in a place with such asinine rules is getting what they deserve...huge losses.
Starting an online store is no easy business by Alexandra Kassimi
It took 10 months, a fat bundle of paperwork, countless certificates,
long hours of haggling with bureaucrats and overcoming myriad ot...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, January 16, 2012,
In :
Economy
Your IPhone Was Built by 13 Year Olds Working 16 Hours a Day, For 70 Cents an Hour by Henry Blodget
We love our iPhones and iPads.
We love the prices of our iPhones and iPads.
We love the super-high profit margins of Apple, Inc., the maker of our iPhones and iPads.
And that's why it's disconcerting to remember that the low prices of
our iPhones and iPads — and the super-high profit margins of Apple — are
only possible because our iPhones and iPads are made with labor
practices that would...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, October 18, 2011,
In :
Economy
Eric Sprott wants to start a bank that operates without leverage,without loans and without fear of losing customer deposits. This is exactly how banks operated two centuries ago when gold was money and this model worked just fine (customers simply stored their gold in banks and paid a small fee for the service). During that amazing American century there were no bubbles, no inflation (prices fell 50% from 1820 - 1900), no FDIC insurance, no taxpayer sponsored bailouts and, most importantly,... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, October 11, 2011,
In :
Economy
For the third straight month single-family home prices increased on a month-to-month basis. According to the Zillow Home Value Index, the average U.S. single-family home rose in value to $174,900 in August compared to $174,600 in July. Of course, the big question is has the bottom been put in. I'm starting to think that it has...one or two months of increases can just be noise but three straight months is definitely a trend.
Two states, New Hamphshire and Hawaii, are now showing a yea...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, September 27, 2011,
In :
Economy
As I document every month, the middle-class is getting squeezed in this country. Between a lack of job opportunities, inflation, and lost home equity it's hard for many families to get by. Stupid governmental policies are to blame for a lot of this. However, one area in particular, the Federal Reserve deserves the most scorn. As Marc Faber famously put it, Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, is murdering the middle-class. Here are five ways the Fed is hurting the middle-class:
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, September 8, 2011,
In :
Economy
For five long, grueling, brutal, horrific, years we've watched national home values fall relentlessly month after month after month. Well, I'm quite pleased to report Zillow's most recent data shows that home prices actually reversed the trend in June and went UP! Even better, their September data shows home values rose in July as well, so we've got ourselves a two-month winning streak. Last month I predicted we were getting close to an uptick in home values and thought we'd see an improve... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, September 6, 2011,
In :
Economy
This is a fun interview with Rick Harrison, star of the History Channel's big hit Pawn Stars. Rick says the item he can't keep on his shelves is gold & silver, they will no longer accept construction tools and, despite the bad economy, 80% of the customers reclaim their pawned items. And the strangest item he's ever pawned? Well you'll have to hear it to believe it.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, August 5, 2011,
In :
Economy
And you thought your portfolio was roughed up this week...
Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man,
lost about $8 billion this week.
The Mexican billionaire’s stock portfolio, measured in U.S.
dollars, has dropped about 11 percent since July 29, before
today, and is valued at about $63 billion, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 7.1 percent slide in
the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
Slim, 71, has taken a hit as Mexico's benchmark IPC index
dropped 7.4 percent and t...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, July 28, 2011,
In :
Economy
A new study from Pew Research shows the wealth gap between white families and black families reached record proportions. In 2009, the median white family had net assets worth $113,000 while black families had a median net worth of just $5,677. In 2005, the median white family net worth was $135,000 and the median black family net worth was $12,124. As such, from 2005 to 2009 a typical white family's net worth dropped 16.3% while black families lost a whopping 53% of their net worth.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, July 13, 2011,
In :
Economy
Zillow's Home Value Index shows single-family home values fell in May
for the 59th straight month. The last time single-family homes rose in
value was June 2006.
The average single-family home is valued
at $171,700, which is .5% lower than April and 7.9% lower than May
2010's value of $186,500. The index peaked in June 2006 at $242,000, so
we're 30% off the peak.
He has also offered a startlingly depressing outlook for the future of humanity.
Grantham concludes that the world has undergone a permanent "paradigm
shift" in which the number of people on planet Earth has finally and
permanently outstripped the planet's ability to support us.
Grantham believes that the trend of the last 100 years, in which the... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, June 7, 2011,
In :
Economy
What's all this talk about a double-dip in housing? According to Zillow, the online real estate tracking company, there hasn't been an increase in housing prices for nearly five years. As such, it's just one long, ongoing, horrific drop in housing prices.
Zillow's Single-Family Home Value Index shows single-family home values fell in April
for the 58th straight month. According to their database, the last time single-family homes rose in
value was June 2006.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, June 1, 2011,
In :
Economy
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation, commonly
known as food stamps, rose to 44,587,328 in March. This is the 30th
straight rise in food stamp usage and represents a 11.1% rise over
March 2010. Even worse, SNAP participation rose by 388,000 vs. February 2011. Last month, as noted here, SNAP participation rose by only 11,000, month-over-month, and it looked like the long, upward trend would start to reverse itself. We can now take that glimmer of hope off the ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, May 17, 2011,
In :
Economy
Last week the St. Louis Federal Reserve, which tracks all manner of economic statistics, provided an update to the Real Retail and Food Service Sales category. At first glance the numbers seemed lower, so I compared them to the numbers I entered in the Reinwasser Middle-Class Index database. Wow, what a complete joke. From January 2010 through March 2011, Real Retail and Food Service Sales were reduced by an astounding $22.8 billion! In other words they miscalculated by $1.5 billion per m... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Sunday, May 15, 2011,
In :
Economy
In this year-end letter, investor Seth Klarman points out that we're living in a Fantasyland, where everyone says deficits, excessive entitlements and stimulus need to be reigned in...but not yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two problems are upon us at once: short-term stimulus that is
unaffordable over the long run and runaway entitlements that must be
reined in. But restoring fiscal sanity will be bad for the eco... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, May 9, 2011,
In :
Economy
Zillow's Home Value Index shows single-family home values fell in March for the 57th straight month. The last time single-family homes rose in value was June 2006.
The average single-family home is valued at $171,800, which is 1% lower than February and 8.4% lower than March 2010's value of $187,600. The index peaked in June 2006 at $242,000, so we're 30% off the peak.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, May 4, 2011,
In :
Economy
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation, commonly known as food stamps, rose to 44,199,391 in February. This is the 29th straight rise in food stamp usage and represents a 11.6% rise over February 2010. On a somewhat positive note, SNAP usage rose by "only" 11,000 vs. January 2011. This compares to an average month-over-month rise of 396,000 over the past year.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, May 3, 2011,
In :
Economy
Niall Ferguson sets the record straight on what real inflation rates are doing to ordinary Americans. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I can’t eat an iPad.” This could go down in history as the line that launched the great inflation of the 2010s.
Back in March, the president of the
New York Federal Reserve, William Dudley, was trying to explain to the
citizens of Queens, N.Y., why ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, April 29, 2011,
In :
Economy
If anyone tries to tell you the deficit/debt is caused by too few taxes give 'em this chart...the real problem is a government (republicans & democrats share the blame equally) that's totally out-of-control:
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, April 22, 2011,
In :
Economy
U.S. based readers might be shocked to learn that there are countries where government spending is limited, debt is rarely used and counter-cyclical measures are utilized to end the boom and bust cycles...also known as saving for a rainy day. Today, Jim Jubak outlines the brilliant policies of Chile and Norway, two countries with a bright future. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be You... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, April 12, 2011,
In :
Economy
In this article, Simon Black informs us that the IRS is considering new technology that pre-calculates your federal income taxes. If your actual return differs significantly from their expectations, the IRS will reject it. However, there's more to this article than just pointing out continued IRS thuggery. It seems to me that almost every policy change the U.S. government makes is not only wrong, it's the exact opposite of the right thing to do. Washington's "solution" to endless wars, ba... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, April 5, 2011,
In :
Economy
This housing article takes a look at the shadow inventory of homes for sale. I'll add one thing, it doesn't include all the homeowners who would like to sell but are praying for waiting for higher prices. Interesting chart at the bottom showing the shadow inventory by state. It's very surprising to see Arizona in the bottom-half of this list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why The Housing ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Saturday, April 2, 2011,
In :
Economy
We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers by Stephen Moore
If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to
Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy,
consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly
twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in
all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of
the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in
manufacturing and ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, April 1, 2011,
In :
Economy
Matt Taibbi and Senator Bernie Sanders have a question. Why are we bailing out Libya and allowing their banks to operate in the U.S.? ---------------------------------
Barack Obama recently issued an executive order
imposing a wave of sanctions against Libya, not only freezing Libyan
assets, but barring Americans from having business dealings with Libyan
banks.
So raise your hand if you knew that the United States has been
extending billions of dollars in aid to Qaddafi and to the Centra...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, April 1, 2011,
In :
Economy
January 2011 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation rose to 44,187,831, which is a 12% rise over January 2010. SNAP usage has risen for 28 straight months!
Until SNAP participation begins to fall, I fail to see how the economy could possibly be improving for the average American family. While those at the top of the economic pyramid are clearly doing better, a good portion of everyone else is struggling to make it. Thanks in part to stagnant wages, rising prices, a ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, March 30, 2011,
In :
Economy
Alan Greenspan thinks the "skill" of banking executives justifies their outsized compensation. Editorializing in today's Financial Times, Greenspan writes:
The
act’s most surprising failure to rein in supposed market-determined
excess may be its stance towards the outsized (to some, egregious) bankers’ pay packages.
Small differences in the skill level of senior bankers tend to
translate into large differences in the bank’s bottom line. Competition
for even the slightly more skille... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, March 14, 2011,
In :
Economy
This video shows the Japanese Earthquake warning system in action. As I understand it, the alert goes out through the radio, TV, internet and text messaging. I hope it saved a few lives...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, March 11, 2011,
In :
Economy
This is tremendous, a church group rolled-up on JPMorgan Chase's headquarters and asked the almighty Gods to "chase the demons out of Chase". My favorite part is at the 1:00 minute mark when they start sprinkling tap holy water on the building. I guess this is what happens when you illegally foreclose on military homes, rack up 10,000 lawsuits, manipulate the silver market, and steal money from the taxpayers. Otherwise, they're doing a top-notch job...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, March 11, 2011,
In :
Economy
Further proof the economy isn't improving much for the middle-class:
Jobs Returning - but good ones not so much By Zachary Roth
When it comes to jobs, it's not just quantity that matters--it's also quality. It's great news that the economy is finally producing jobs again--even
if it'll take another few years of this kind of growth to get us back
to where we were before the Great Recession. But that also means it's
now time to ask what kind of jobs are being created. And on that front, things ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, March 9, 2011,
In :
Economy
While housing prices continue to fall in most of America, prices for luxury homes in places like Aspen forge ahead. This is further proof that the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing rapidly. A lethal mix of corporatocracy, bail-outs and money printing, combined with a lack of opportunity for the middle-class leads to stories like this...
The lowest-priced single-family home on the market in Aspen is listed for $559,000. It's located in a trailer park.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, March 4, 2011,
In :
Economy
In yet another sign the U.S. economy isn't nearly as strong as the government and the clueless mainstream media would like you to believe, the food stamp program now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reported that 44,082,324 persons participated in December 2010. The December figure is a 1.1% month-over-month rise and an astounding 13% rise compared to December 2009.
If you just listened to the mainstream media or watched the stock market
you'd think everything w... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, February 24, 2011,
In :
Economy
That dubious honor belongs to President Obama. Speaking at the Council of Jobs and Competitiveness, President Obama said U.S. companies shouldn't worry about inflation if they're planning on expanding their business.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the cost of nearly every commodity has gone through the roof. Since July 2010, here is the percentage rise in a variety of commodities:
Bank foreclosure sales jumped 56.2% in Arizona from December to January, according to ForeclosureRadar.
Bank foreclosure sales jumped 51.2% in California. Oregon and
Washington also recorded back-to-bank foreclosure spikes of 33% and 54%.
Other regions were not measured by ForeclosureRadar.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, February 8, 2011,
In :
Economy
Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the
Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, according to an analysis from
real-estate portal Zillow.com. In the fourth quarter of 2006, they
represented just 13% of deals. Meanwhile, downtown Miami prices rose 15%
in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the Miami Downtown
Development Authority.
The percentage of buyers in Phoenix paying cash hit 42% in 2010—more
than triple the rate in 2008, according to Raymond James's eq...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, February 2, 2011,
In :
Economy
The U.S. food stamp program, now called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), had 43.6 million participants in November 2010. That's a 5.3 million (14.3%) increase over last year. If you just listened to main stream media or watched the stock market you'd think everything was going great and the 2008/2009 recession was in the rear-view mirror. And it is, if you're a Wall Street banker, corporate executive or have a large net worth invested in stocks, commodities or precious meta... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, January 12, 2011,
In :
Economy
It was just a matter of time...according to a Zillow study average US home values have dropped 26% since June 2006. That's slightly more than the 25.9% decline from 1928 to 1933. Unfortunately, the housing market continues to face strong headwinds: mortgage ARM resets won't peak until 2012, interest rates are on the rise and there is a massive supply of homes available for sale. I expect home prices to continue to fall for at least two more years.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, January 6, 2011,
In :
Economy
Not in the U.S. of course, that would make too much sense after the 2008 financial meltdown. Rather, the European Commission has unveiled a sweeping plan to ensure private European banks never again put European citizens in a position where they're forced to bail-out the banks.
According to Michael Barneir a European Commissioner, "Banks will fail in the future and must be able to do so without bringing
down the whole financial system." Exactly. What I don't understand is why this is s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, December 10, 2010,
In :
Economy
File this one under "Why Am I Not Surprised". The insolvent bank, Allied Irish, has decided to pay $40 million Euro in bonuses because of "contractual entitlements arising from the business's performance in 2008". To recap, Allied Irish Bank made a bunch of bad loans, became insolvent and should have gone bankrupt. Instead, the Irish government decided to bailout Allied Irish Bank by borrowing billions of dollars. To pay for the massive increase in debt, the government reduced state servi... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, December 9, 2010,
In :
Economy
Ten years ago, the Nigerian Criminal Mastermind (allegedly) Dick Cheney told Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that "Deficits Don't Matter". This piece of economic garbage was used to fiscally justify the cost of everything from the Bush tax cuts to the war in Iraq. Apparently, Cheney believed the United States was immune from the pernicious economic impact caused by reckless spending because Washington controls the US Dollar, the reserve currency of the world. Either that or he was lying, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, December 7, 2010,
In :
Economy
Last month, I wrote about a fledgling European bank revolution led by the now retired Manchester United soccer player Eric Cantona. Today was the day millions of people across Europe were going to head to their banks, withdraw all their money and crash the entire banking system. How did it go? A total failure. Officials report no excessive withdrawal demands in either Europe or France. Even Eric Cantona didn't bother to participate, despite several journalists waiting for him at his loca... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, December 3, 2010,
In :
Economy
This morning the BLS reported a modest increase in the number of jobs created in November: 39,000. Unfortunately, the "experts" predicted an increase of 160,000, so this was a very disappointing number. It is also frustrating that only 39K jobs were added given that 172K were added in the previous month.
To keep up with population growth, the US needs to add approximately 100K - 125K jobs every month. As such, the 39K jobs added in November fell far short of keeping up with population gr... Continue reading ...
