A 1972 MIT study predicted that rapid economic growth would lead to societal collapse in the mid 21st century. A new paper shows we’re unfortunately right on schedule.
A remarkable new study by a director at one of the largest accounting firms in the world has found that a famous, decades-old warning from MIT about the risk of industrial civilization collapsing appears to be accurate based on new empirical data
For the first time in 2 years, there’s no major American metro where home prices are falling, per Redfin.
Nationwide, the median sale price rose to a near-record $383,188, up 4.8% year over year. Median monthly housing payment is at a record $2,890, up 15% year over year.
63% of new audits as of Summer 2023 targeted taxpayers with income of less than $200,000, according to figures compiled by The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board
@davidaugust
You're welcome to come to Canada for free medical care but you'll need to hurry. Our wall is going up on Nov 5th. Maybe...Depends on who wins.
The (centrist) Social Market Foundation asked a group of economists to look at the Labour Party's economic policies & see what theorising lies behind them (if anything).
They concluded that pragmatism & small scale/focussed policy interventions seemed to be the driving logic(s) rather than any more general economic theory or position (in this sense they lack the coherence of Biden's policy approach).
@ChrisMayLA6@KimSJ I wonder how knowable some of Labour's planned policies are. There is electorally no benefit to nailing their colours to the mast before the election as that can only damage their appeal with some voter group or another.
I think their biggest challenge will be making their voters feel that something has radically changed for the better in the first 100 days. Only some of that can be achieved with economic policy.
How much that'll affect voting these days, I'm not so sure (back in the day it could decide elections) but they're obviously trying to avoid talking about anything.
Millennials are buying homes with friends by Tom Jones 5/17/24
"...A larger share of millennial homeowners have teamed up with friends...to purchase homes — a trend that housing experts predict will continue amid affordability issues in the housing market and the growing number of single Americans. Ten percent of millennial homeowners have purchased a home with a friend, and 7 percent have bought one with a relative other than their domestic partner or spouse.
...“Affordability is probably the key reason to do that, as well as the types of homes that are available for sale,” Dr. Lautz says. “We traditionally have seen that the most popular type of home purchased is a detached single-family home because that’s the type of inventory that we have in the country. That allows enough space for two people to live independently within that property.”
A new and silent land grab is underway – we must stop it - By Ian Scoones, Angela Serrano, originally published by Open Democracy May 20, 2024
“For us peasants, land is not just an investment or something we own, but is part of our lives and our existence”, said...the Network of Farmers’ Organisations & Agricultural Producers of West Africa at a meeting co-convened by the Land Deal Politics Initiative...and activists concerned about the rise of land, water and green grabs.
...Participants of the meeting agreed that policy debates on land have...been stuck in the hallowed halls of the UN or government bureaucracies, where they are captured by market demands, such as offsetting. The subsequent ‘solutions’ then end up incompatible with local livelihoods, failing to consider food-provisioning, as well as people’s cultures, histories and intimate connections with nature..."
It takes years to go from concept to reality for a new apartment building. But we have been increasing construction, and a number of new units have been coming online this year.
An inflationary spiral based on expectations. It is a very different one from a deflationary one.
In the case of supply chain disruption (think floods and drought) it's a supply shock and at best businesses have to scramble to adapt (invest etc) to get around the problem. But hammering COL demand is perverse.
In all cases, messing around with interest rates is largely an exercise in futility.
Elsewhere the arrival of the Taylor Swift tour has prompted discussion (expectations) of how the tour ticket sales & other expenditure will prompt a focussed economic boomlet....
In the UK, predictions are focussed on the likely expansion of ticketing fraud.
@ChrisMayLA6 the definitiion of ticket fraud has also expanded though. It used to be useless tickets were fraud.
And every empty seat was an opportunity. Now tickets can be tied to a specific person so you could buy a ticket which is valid only if you are that person.
F*** venues, ticket sellers and their whole "business"
I Honestly feel CD's and MP3's are better. Only Vinyl adds some quirky (yet predictable) charm.
No idea why so many waste limited funds fluffing the ego's of "talent"