Archive for May, 2008
« Previous EntriesGas Prices Drive Geo Metros From Clunkers to Chic
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The 1995 Geo Metro pictured above (92,800 miles) has a Kelly Blue Book Retail Value of $1,790 and a Private Party Value of just $1,335, but it just sold on Ebay for $5,200 (with 34 bids).
Reason? Great, gas mileage (50 mpg), rivaling the hybrid Prius.
According to CNN, a 1996 Geo Metro [...]
What the Administration Considered Too Dangerous to Release for Four Years
Submitted by Econbrowser
And released only under threat of a court order: “Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States” (summary).
From Reuters:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration released a climate change assessment on Thursday — four years late and pushed forward by a court order — that said human-induced global warming [...]
The Ultimate Salvation: Environmentalism; And The Ultimate Commandment: Carbon Chastity
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
For a century, an ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous knowledge class — social planners, scientists, intellectuals, experts and their left-wing political allies — arrogated to themselves the right to rule either in the name of the oppressed working class (communism) or, in its more benign form, by virtue of their superior expertise in achieving [...]
Quote of the Day
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism.
~Czech President Vaclav Klaus
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Let The Good Times Roll in Russia: Unprecedented Possibility to Live a Free Private Life
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
What did Putin do right in his eight years in office? Under him Russians acquired the unprecedented possibility to live a free private life. Private life was never an open theme of the Putin era. Yet it was, and is, omnipresent.
Private life is the restaurants full to capacity across the country; it [...]
World Stock Market Value Increases By $4T in April, The Largest Monthly Gain in History
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
According to data obtained from the World Federation of Exchanges, the world stock market capitalization increased by more than $4 trillion in April (see chart above, click to enlarge), the largest monthly gain ever (monthly data became available starting in 1995). The record 7.6% monthly gain, to almost $58 trillion of stock [...]
World’s Most Worthless Currency
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The Zimbabwe 10 million dollar note pictured above, is currently worth about only $4 (USD) on the black market. See more examples here of the “World’s Most Worthless Money
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Look Out Craigslist
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Here comes Wal-Mart’s free classified ads.
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Kroger Joins Wal-Mart, Target, CVS and Walgreens
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Nashville, TN — Kroger Co. says it has made a “significant” investment in The Little Clinic LLC to support a rollout of the in-store health centers across its locations nationwide.
Currently, Little Clinic operates 26 walk-in clinics inside Kroger-owned stores. The clinics handle minor illnesses and injuries like bronchitis, sinus infections and [...]
Quotes of the Day
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
~P.J. O’Rourke
I love to go to Washington, if only to be near my money.
~Bob Hope
Visit [...]
THE REALITY OF ZERO
Submitted by The Capital Spectator
You can slice it, you can dice it. You can even massage it and look on the bright side. But you still can’t get blood out of a stone or, it seems, inflation-adjusted increases in consumer spending.
Real personal consumption expenditures were flat in April, down from a slight 0.1% increase in [...]
Commodity futures speculation
Submitted by Econbrowser
More on the possible contribution of index fund investment to recent commodity price moves.
We and many others have been discussing whether the surge in investment fund purchases of long positions in commodity futures contracts may have been a factor contributing to the spot prices of those commodities beyond what would be warranted by [...]
Real GDP Growth: Percent Change from Year Ago
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From Greg Mankiw (Note: Greg shows real GNP growth, the chart above is real GDP growth, both on an annual percent change basis from a year ago. Both graphs tell the same story).
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Moscow Now Has More Billionaires than NYC
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
World Billionaires By City
Despite all the squabbling between New York and London for bragging rights, neither is actually home to the largest number of billionaires in 2008 according to Forbes. That honor belongs to Moscow (see chart above).
The Russian capital is home to 74 billionaires, with an average net worth of $5.9 [...]
Real Disposable Income Growth Highest in 2008
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Buried inside today’s BEA report on April Personal Income (tables available here, see Table 10) is the statistic that “Real Disposable Personal Income” grew at an annual rate of 1.82% in April 2008 compared to April 2007, the highest rate of growth since December 2007 (see chart above). This will probably [...]
Comparing Data Interpretation
Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Explaining and displaying data combines art and science. The information itself is objective, as are calculations of trends and changes. Despite this, there is an element of artistry.
A professor leading a class is motivated to help students find the truth. One of our old professors described a certain statistical technique [...]
Real Gas Prices Now At All-Time High, But Will Fall
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
It’s now official: Real, inflation-adjusted gasoline prices in the U.S. are at an all-time, according to data from the EIA (see chart above). The previous high was $3.426 per gallon in March 1981 (in today’s dollars), which was exceeded in April ($3.466 per gallon) and May ($3.671 per gallon) of this year.
The [...]
Index Funds Consistently Outperform Actively Managed Mutual Funds
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
1. The S&P 500 Index consistently outperformed 98% of mutual fund managers over the past three years and 97% over the past 10 years, ending October 2004. In two 30-year studies, the S&P 500 outperformed 97% and 94% of managers. In addition, only about 12% of the top 100 of managers repeat [...]
Government Debt: Defaults through Repudiation and Inflation
Submitted by Businomics Blog
There’s nothing like a good financial crisis to make me yearn for historical perspective. I got just that in a paper called “This Time Is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises” by Carmen Reinhard (University of Maryland) and Kenneth Rogoff (Harvard).
Countries default on their debt fairly often when [...]
Wait Times at Traditional MDs vs. Retail Clinics: 3 Months vs. Today, Seems Like a Real Nobrainer
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Take Care Health Clinics, which began operation in 2005, has 28 clinics inside Walgreens stores in the Chicago area. The newest opened yesterday in Rockford. Take Care isn’t alone in the rapidly growing retail health-care market, however. The Chicago area has 24 MinuteClinics, each inside a CVS pharmacy, and Wal-Mart has also [...]
Futures 101
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Walter Williams explains why the futures market, which takes into account both the present and the future availability of goods, is a vital part of a smoothly functioning economy.
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Cartoon of the Day: Sorry, There’s Nothing There
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
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Investigate Big Congress, Not Big Oil
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The simple fact is that the prices of oil and gasoline are determined by supply and demand—which neither private oil companies nor speculators have any power to dictate in their favor. If they had such market mastery, then why didn’t they use it in the 1990s, when gasoline was selling at a [...]
Housing Affordabilty Remains High in April
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The National Association of Realtors released its latest report today on the Housing Affordability Index (HAI) for April, showing a slight decline to 129.4 from the March level of 130 (see chart above) due to a slight increase in median-price home in April.
A composite HAI of 129.4 means that a [...]
BOND MARKET BLUES
Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Reports of rising inflation are everywhere, and the bond market is paying attention.
As evidence, we turn to Exhibit A–the 10-year Treasury yield, which closed above 4% for the first time since December 31, 2007. Rising yields are present in other maturities, too, including the 2-year Note, which yesterday settled at 2.62%, [...]
