Submitted by Econbrowser
As noted by Calculated Risk, global warming or no, the spring selling season for new homes never seemed to arrive this year.
There is a strong seasonal component to new home sales. In a typical year, the number of homes sold each month in March through May would be 40% higher than in December. […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Despite all of the reports about record-high gas and oil prices, we’re still nowhere close to record high gas prices adjusted for the growth in per-capita, disposable income.

The chart above shows the cost of 1,000 gallons of gasoline, as a percent of per-capita disposable income in every month from January 1980 […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Onions have no futures market, yet their recent price volatility makes the swings in oil and corn look tame.
Fortune Magazine — Before the government starts scrutinizing the role that speculators may have played in driving up fuel and food prices, investigators may want to take a look at price swings in a […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Philadelphia – As you might expect, scalping isn’t a term used much anymore. The buzzword is “secondary ticket market,” and all over the entertainment and sports industry, business is booming, turbo-charged by the technological advances of recent years.

Under a new 5-year revenue-sharing agreement between Major League Baseball and StubHub - where […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Now adjourned for its Independence Day recess, the U.S. Congress has convened at least 40 hearings on the issue of skyrocketing energy prices in the first six months of 2008. At least 160 witnesses have been sworn-in and questioned. But, even as consumers suffer, the Congress still has done […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The chart above displays unemployment rates by education level from 1993 to 2005, and shows the averages over this period on the right side of the chart. It’s interesting that there are big differences between a) no high school and high school (3.4% difference in averages), and b) some college and […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - The U.S. energy secretary said Saturday that insufficient oil production, not financial speculation, was driving soaring crude prices.

Secretary Samuel Bodman said that oil production has not kept pace with growing demand, especially from developing countries like China and India.
“Market fundamentals show us that production has not kept […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
By preventing production and through inflationary monetary policy, maybe the government should be blamed for high oil prices, not speculators?

Link.
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Excerpts below from the Fortune Magazine article “Don’t Blame the Oil Speculators: A Campaign in Congress to Punish Traders for Record Oil Prices Reveals a Fundamental Misunderstanding of How Futures Markets Work”:

Here’s a suggestion: The next time a Congressional committee wants to hold a hearing on how “speculators” are driving up oil […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Russia Players Offered Two Girls For Every Goal. Link

HT: Sanil Kori
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