It’s 9:30 PM in Phoenix and it’s a balmy 108 degrees which is a relief given we topped out at 119 degrees, just a few short of a record. I normally shrug it off, but when you wake up in the morning and your air conditioning unit has ceased to operate it does get under […]
Archive for June, 2013
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Training Student Messengers
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 27th, 2013
From Reason 24/7: The Los Angeles Unified School District will use a state grant to train teens to promote ObamaCare to family members. Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, announced grants of $37 million on May 14 to promote the nationally unpopular law. LAUSD will receive $990,000. The district listed as a primary outcome […]
The Reluctant Consumer
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 26th, 2013
John Carney suggests that the downward GDP revision was basically a self-inflicted wound. The main culprit behind the consumer pullback seems to be what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke calls “fiscal headwinds.” Specifically, the end of the payroll tax holiday left less money in the hands of consumers to spend. We taxed ourselves out of growth. “The lower […]
ARM Revival
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 26th, 2013
Diana Olick notes that borrowers seem to be turning to ARMs as interest rates move up. After hovering around record lows for the past few years, mortgage rates are rising dramatically. That has consumers not only shopping more but also considering adjustable rate mortgages, which offer lower rates and lower monthly payments. Unfortunately she only […]
A Lousy Economy Lifts All Boats
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 26th, 2013
Headlines that make you shake your head. Stocks advanced for a second straight day on Wednesday as a broad measure of economic growth was revised down, easing investors’ concerns that the Federal Reserve would begin to withdraw its stimulus early. That’s from Yahoo Finance and was followed by this article essentially making the point of […]
Randoms
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 23rd, 2013
Global Warming Back In The News Tuesday President Obama announces steps to address global warming. The Economist, a magazine which has heretofore been an advocate of drastic action, suggests that less convincing evidence of rising temperatures may make political acceptance of new initiatives a tough sell. Cohn does his best to affirm that the urgent […]
Government Gremlins
Posted by Tom Lindmark on June 21st, 2013
The Fiscal Times recounting of the state of the government’s process for granting security clearances is like taking a trip back in time. It eerily reminds me of industrial America in the 1970s, a time when product quality and design were abysmal. The automobile industry, for example, was notorious for barely finished cars, autos with […]
