That’s the Federal debt. It crossed that threshold around the time this issue went to print and is a grim milestone to say the least. I wonder if we can just put it on a credit card and be done with it?
Read More$40 Trillion
Author: Pierre G. Villere
Tailwinds to Tropical Winds
I won’t make apologies for my unusual fixation with the economic engine that is being propelled by artificial intelligence. Some of you may have heard me speak at industry conferences over the last year, where I have made around a dozen presentations to national and state associations.
Read MoreAffordability Trickery
Hand it to great Yankee ingenuity to find a way around the affordability issue facing homebuyers, and many other segments of the economy, to give consumers a break. An example is the newfound way automobile manufacturers are addressing the new car affordability challenge, a trend that could soon spill over into the home mortgage market. The vast majority of new…
Read MoreChicken Littles
Here We Go Again. The Sky Is Falling.
Read MoreThe Pendulum Swings Farther
Back in the fall of 2022, I wrote a couple of columns about the employment challenges that existed before Covid, challenges that grew exponentially during and after the pandemic.
Read MoreIs New Home Construction About to Boom?
I travel the country in connection with our clients’ business, but also to make presentations to state and national associations within the construction materials industry, including ready mixed concrete, aggregates, and precast groups. Over the course of the last 18 months, in reviewing the financial performance of each of these industries, I have noted that the new home construction industry…
Read MoreThe Coming Insurance State
Fifty billion dollars. That is 50,000 million dollars. I like to use that analogy so that readers can understand the magnitude of a billion dollars, which is 1,000 million dollars. That is the estimate for what the devastation in southern California’s recent fires will ultimately cost private and public property owners.
Read MoreOffice to Residential Building Conversion Metrics
Last summer, I wrote about the contraction in office space occupancy as the cultural shift of Work from Home tightens its grip on America’s office space industry, despite efforts by high-profile employers to corral their far-flung workforces and bring them back to the office in hopes of greater collaboration and efficiency. Some like J.P. Morgan Chase and Walmart have basically…
Read MoreAs Predicted: All the News is Good
There is a series of metrics and indicators that point to continuing strength in the economy, with arrows from every imaginable direction pointing upward.
Read MoreSome of the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong
Some of the brightest minds in the economic research area are on Wall Street, working for either major investment banks or business news services with a global following. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, they were issuing research that warned of a slowdown coming in the economy. One began their note by saying that after having boomed its…
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