Archive for December, 2007
« Previous EntriesMusings on Buffett, Mortgage Insurance, and the TAF
Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Occasionally we encounter important information that is not the basis for a full article, but we wish to highlight for our readers. We note these topics in our “musings” series.
Warren Buffett and Mortage Insurance
Since Berkshire Hathaway is in the insurance and reinsurance business, it has been natural for pundits [...]
New Year’s Resolutions for Investors: Recognize “Old News”
Submitted by A Dash of Insight
One of the biggest challenges for the investor is interpreting the constant news flow. One problem is distinguishing fresh news from information that is already widely known. The average investor may read something and act without evaluating what is already reflected in the market.
A Good Example
Suppose our typical [...]
Harley-Davidson To Drive Into the Indian Market
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
NEW DELHI: American cult bike brand Harley-Davidson may finally hit the Indian roads.
Bottom Line: Globalization works both ways. As U.S. companies outsource business processing, research, software development and call centers to India, wealth and prosperity are created there that creates a demand for U.S. products like Harley-Davidsons.
(HT: Sanil Kori)
Visit 1800blogger to [...]
The Coming Oil Glut and $30 Oil, $1.50 Gas?
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The tripling of oil prices since the summer of 2003 has unleashed forces that within the next two or three years will bring oil prices tumbling back down to below $50 a barrel. Looking even further ahead, prices could easily fall to $30 a barrel or even lower.
With prices close to [...]
Away with Sarbanes Oxley?
Submitted by unsettling economics
Whatever happened to the rabid calls for eliminating Sarbanes Oxley? Does anybody even Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, etc? After calls for strong regulation to prevent such things from happening again, we Congress gave us the weak Sarbanes Oxley. Not long after, the business press was squealing about the excessive requirements [...]
Home sales and prices continue to fall
Submitted by Econbrowser
2007 ended like it began, only worse.
The Census Bureau reported on Friday that seasonally adjusted sales of new single-family homes fell 9% between October and November. And I don’t need to remind you that October was very, very bad.
The first five years of the millennium began with a remarkable housing boom, in which [...]
Giving Birth Latest Job Outsourced to India
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The small clinic at Kaival Hospital in Anand, India matches infertile couples with local women, cares for the women during pregnancy and delivery, and counsels them afterward. Anand’s surrogate mothers (pictured above), pioneers in the growing field of outsourced pregnancies, have given birth to roughly 40 babies.
More than 50 women in this [...]
The burden of spending
Submitted by EconWeekly
Over the 12 months to October 2007, home prices in the 20 largest metropolitan areas declined by 6.1 percent. And they have fallen every month since January. With less equity to borrow from, homeowners could cut their spending. As a second whammy, a large volume of adjustable rate mortgages are scheduled to reset [...]
Quote of the Day
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“Easy credit made bad homeowners out of good renters.”
~Los Angeles manager of rental property, from an article in today’s Mpls.-St. Paul Star Tribune
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Global Capitalism Comes to Southeast Asia
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Cheap Chinese products, like motorcycles that sell for only $440, are flooding China’s southern neighbors and consumers in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are laying out the welcome mat.
The products are transforming the lives of some of the poorest people in Asia, whose worldly possessions only a few years ago typically [...]
Putting Subprime Mortgages in Perspective
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
According to Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist for Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong:
The economic repercussions of the housing bust and mortgage woes are limited to a great extent because fewer than half of American families own a home with a mortgage. Almost a third of all families rent their house or [...]
Target Clinics Open in Minnesota and Maryland
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
I have posted previously on low-cost, consumer-friendly, market-driven, walk-in retail health care clinics in retail stores like Walgreens, CVS and Wal-Mart, see here, here, here and here. Now Target has joined the market for retail clinics by opening Target Clinics in Minnesota (18 locations) and Maryland (5 locations).
Target Clinic’s medical professionals can [...]
Really, We Just Can’t Have A President…..
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Peggy Noonan writing in yesterday’s WSJ: We can’t have a president who spent two minutes on YouTube staring in a mirror and poofing his hair. Really, we just can’t.
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Only 2 Out of 54 Economists Expect ‘08 Recession
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
For 2008, the economic outlook is Topic No. 1 for almost all investors. Stock prices and bond yields already reflect recession worries, but an actual downturn would hit portfolios hard. To help get a handle on what to expect, BusinessWeek asked 54 forecasters for their views on everything from housing and the [...]
Higher State Taxes = Lower Population Growth
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The chart above shows graphically the negative relationship between state population growth using Census data available from the WSJ here, and state tax burden data available from The Tax Foundation here, both for 2007.
The OLS regression results above further verify that the negative relationship between state population growth and state tax burden [...]
Andrew Carneie
Submitted by unsettling economics
I have just finished an interesting new book: Nasaw, David. 2007. Andrew Carnegie (New York: Penguin), which caused me a bit of embarrassment.
In Railroading Economics, I emphasized Andrew Carnegie’s role in paying careful attention to the production process of steel in contrast to they banker-like perspective of the Morgan crew, which took [...]
Reacting to Events Follow-up: A Lesson from the Master
Submitted by A Dash of Insight
In yesterday’s article we covered one of the biggest challenges in trading and investing: How to react when there is dramatic news. We took the Bhutto assassination as an important example.
While we (atypically) missed Art Cashin’s observations on CNBC, our analysis drew heavily from watching him and reading [...]
Starbucks Strategy: Trial and Error at the Beginning
Submitted by Businomics Blog
Starbucks began with a willingness to experiment, according to Taylor Clark’s new book, Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture. The book begins with a story from when the company had only eleven stores. The Vancouver BC store was at capacity, and another location in the city [...]
Economic Forecast for 2008 and 2009: Better than I Expected
Submitted by Businomics Blog
In updating my economic forecast for the new year, I surprised myself. I walked into the spreadsheet moderately gloomy (I thought) and plugged in conservative numbers. Out came a fairly pleasant forecast:
There’s weakness in the current (fourth) quarter, and then things look better. I did put some dreadful numbers [...]
Reacting to Events
Submitted by A Dash of Insight
The market reacts to events. Should you?
The assassination of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, is a loss for Pakistan and a blow to the transition to democracy taking place there. While investors and fund managers may have sympathy for those with personal stakes in these events, these thoughts [...]
Q: Who Creates More Minority Wealth Than US?
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
A: Nobody.
From George Will’s most recent column:
McDonald’s exemplifies the role of small businesses in Americans’ upward mobility. The company is largely a confederation of small businesses: 85% of its U.S. restaurants — average annual sales, $2.2 million — are owned by franchisees. McDonald’s has made more millionaires, and especially black and [...]
Businomics: Resources for Teachers
Submitted by Businomics Blog
Professors who use Businomics in their classes have a new resource: a set of Power Point slides created by Professor Tom Potiowsky of Portland State University (who is now returning to serve as Oregon’s state economist.) The deck can be downloaded from the Resources for Teachers page.
Thank you Tom.
Visit 1800blogger to see [...]
Index Mutual Funds: An Interview with Paul Merriman
Submitted by Businomics Blog
Paul Merriman is a guru of investing with index funds. I interviewed him for the Businomics Audio Magazine. You can listen to his insights here.
Also available on the interviews page: Marsha Egan on email productivity, Mish on the economic outlook for 2008, Mark Sanborn on leadership, Dan Harris on China, [...]
H.S. Diploma in 1970 = 2+ Years of College Today
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From the article: “More Grads, But Cognitive Ability Declines: Degrees and diplomas may not translate to on-the-job success,” in a recent edition of InsideRecruiting, a recruiting industry trade publication:
The good news: recruiters should see an increase in applicants with college degrees and high school diplomas; the bad news is that those applicants [...]
Dr. No
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From John Stossell in today’s NY Sun:
U.S. Congressional representative and Republican presidential contender Ron Paul has been called “Dr. No” because he repeatedly votes against legislation he believes gives government too much power. If it’s not in the Constitution, he says, the federal government has no business doing it. He even [...]
