Population Trends In Popular Format If you like numbers, and population trends presented in an entertaining way, check out this video. For example, India has more “honor roll” kids than the United States has kids!

The other day my 14-yr old daughter told me that she had decided to become a vegetarian. I told her, “Well, that’s too bad. I guess that you’ll miss eating Animal Crackers in your lunch.” She is still puzzling over that one.

Q. What’s the difference between a mortgage and a Beanie Baby? A. You can still find a buyer for a Beanie Baby.

Credit Spreads What is a “credit spread”? It is a yield difference, usually compared to a US Treasury security with a similar maturity, which reflects the issuer’s credit quality. One indicator that the bank could be in trouble is the widening of its credit spreads, evidence that investors believe the debt is riskier. Washington Mutual’s [...]

Many WWII vets, hung over from celebrating VE Day yesterday (Victory in Europe, May 8th, 1945) woke up this morning to find oil is near $126/barrel. Think gas is expensive? On a per-gallon basis Diet Snapple is $10.32 per gallon, Lipton Ice Tea is $9.52 per gallon, Gatorade $10.17 per gallon, Brake Fluid $33.60 per [...]

I was reading the fine print in my retirement benefits plan the other day, and ran across this: If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago you would have $49.00 left.

Hi everyone, welcome to my first WeeklyBasis of 2007. There’s not much spread between longer-term fixed and shorter-term ARM rates. This is because the Fed Funds Rate – an overnight rate that’s a benchmark for shorter-term loans – is currently higher than mortgage and Treasury bond yields which serve as benchmarks for longer-term loans. The [...]

We’re up another .125% on fixed and ARM rates this week, bringing the four-week increase to about .5%. Jobs growth came in weaker on Friday (which is usually good for rates), but wages came in higher. This was interpreted as another inflation signal, and rates rose accordingly. On Tuesday, the Fed made it’s twelfth .25% [...]

Rates increased by about 20 basis points Friday on news that unemployment held at 6.1% (instead of the predicted increase to 6.2%). This indication that the job market could be stabilizing caused investors to sell bonds in favor of stocks, driving yields up. However, this was more of a trading phenomenon than a fundamental shift. [...]