For the first time since 1949, the U.S. is a net fuel exporter Growth in health-care spending is near a record low The biggest contributor to the budget deficit over the last decade wasn’t stimulus spending, the Bush tax cuts, or two wars. It was tax evasion …Read More
This winter, for most of the country, has been unseasonably warm. In California, it has not only been warm, but it has been very dry through the latter part of fall and so far this winter. For residents of the state, this lack of precipitation spells trouble on the horizon. The lack of a heavy winter snows in the mountain ranges of California will lead to drought conditions this summer as farmers and non-farms find
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If you rely on natural gas for heating your home, you’re in luck this winter. Yet again, consumer natural gas prices are headed downward. This trend is not new. For the last 4 years gas prices have felt the pressure of excess supply. The reason for the supply glut is the result of a revolution that is occurring in gas exploration. A relatively new drilling technique commonly refereed to as fracking (horizontal drilling conducted by
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Over the next decade Brazil is expected to become an agricultural super power, thus making it one of the largest users of potash fertilizers on the planet. Brazil has 500 million hectares of potentially arable land of which 100 million are currently under cultivation. This compares with the United States’ 350 million, Russia’s 300 million, and China’s 200 million if they used every hectare available. Brazil imports 90% of its potash, and is expected to
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What you will find inside…. An investment play that coincides with the growth of Apple’s Siri technology An updated model portfolio Commentary on the American Dream and the delusional state that griped many in the last decade How to improve your personal investment skills through the reduction of noise December 6th, 2011 Newsletter
History could offer a clue. A Wall Street Journal analysis of market data provided by Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton of the London Business School suggests the central-bank intervention might indeed be a turning point for the markets: U.S. and emerging-market stocks may be poised to outperform, while European stocks could be headed for more trouble. There is enough uncertainty to warrant a healthy dollop of Treasurys and cash in investors’ portfolios as
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Black Friday was a huge hit for online retailers – sales rose 26% over last year. Brick-and-mortar stores, meanwhile, lost badly. How do we know that? Because Black Friday sales, overall, were up only 6% from last year. Somebody whiffed and dragged the average down. It wasn’t the online guys…READ MORE. My Take: A very good article in conveying a point that is often lost in discussion…When we hear a statistic through out about X
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The rule of thumb for TV is that you get about $1 per hour per viewer in revenue. A hot show like “NCIS” may have a minimum of 10 million viewers, which gives it an overall budget of $10 million or so per episode. At some point, the networks are going to have to bite the bullet and get that $1 per viewer directly from audiences. Would I pay $1 a week to watch “NCIS”?
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In 2010 the world consumed about 88.2 million barrels of oil per day–2.7 million barrels per day more than in 2009. Whether you look at the incremental increase in demand or the percentage gain, oil demand in 2010 increased at the second-fastest pace in 30 years. Much of this rebound stemmed from the snap-back in consumption that followed the severe 2008-09 recession. But the magnitude of this recovery took many analysts and industry participants by
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