COMPUTER In 2019, Google’s quantum computer Sycamore reached a milestone. In 200 seconds, the machine performed a mathematically designed calculation so complex that it would take the world’s fastest supercomputer, the IBM Summit, 10,000 years to do it. This makes Google’s quantum computer about 158 million times faster than the world’s supercomputer. (Source: Medium) TWO SUPERPOWERS The United States and China makes up 40% of the world’s gross domestic product. (Source: Barclays Investment … [Read more...]

LESS BABIES The global “total fertility rate” has been cut in half (down 51%) in the last 50 years, falling from 4.992 “births per woman” in 1968 to 2.415 “births per woman” in 2018. (Source: The World Bank) TEN YEARS APART Banks repossessed just 1,428 homes nationwide in January 2021. Banks repossessed 78,133 homes nationwide in January 2011. (Source: Attom Data Solutions) REAL ESTATE AGENTS Today, there are more real estate agents in the U.S. than homes for sale. The National … [Read more...]

PUT IT ON THE CARD In the 1-year since the declaration of a “national emergency” on 3/13/20, the US national debt has increased $4.46 trillion from $23.44 trillion to $27.90 trillion. (Source: Treasury Department) RISING RATES From its all-time closing low of 0.501% on Monday 3/09/20, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has more than tripled to close at 1.634% as of Friday 3/12/21. (Source: Treasury Department) NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE To rank in the top 1% of US taxpayers took $85,428 … [Read more...]

WHO OWNS WHAT 39% of the US government debt that is “held by the public” was foreign owned in 2019 (the most recent year that data is available), down from 48% in 2008. (Source: USA Facts) PAY NOTHING ON APRIL 15th 35% of the 153.8 million tax returns that were filed nationwide for tax year 2018 (the latest year for which data has been released) did not pay any federal income tax, a total of 53.4 million tax returns. 90% of these "non-taxable” returns (48.0 million returns) reported … [Read more...]

HIGHEST NUMBERS EVER Mortgage debt ($10.04 trillion), student loan debt ($1.56 trillion), and auto loan debt ($1.37 trillion) reached all-time record highs as of 12/31/20. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York) ACCURATE? The government surveys 60,000 households each month in order to estimate our nation’s unemployment rate i.e., 60,000 households out of a grand total of 125.8 million households. That means data collected from 1 out of every 2,097 households is the source of our jobless … [Read more...]

MORE OUT THAN IN The 4 largest monthly budget deficits in US history occurred in 2020. The 4 months were June 2020 ($864 billion deficit), April 2020 ($738 billion deficit), May 2020 ($399 billion deficit), and February 2020 ($235 billion deficit). The last month to run a surplus was in September 2019. (Source: Treasury Department) PEOPLE The US population reached 200 million in 1967, 300 million in 2006 (39 years later) and was projected in February 2020 to reach 400 million in 2058. Our … [Read more...]

LET’S SHOOT FOR MORE A 65-year-old American male has a life expectancy of 18.2 years. A 65-year-old American female has a life expectancy of 20.8 years. (Source: National Center of Health Statistics) DREAM HOME Ground was broken in the United States on the construction of 100,200 single-family homes in October 2020, the largest monthly total nationwide since June 2007. (Source: Census Bureau) WE’RE DOWN, THEY’RE DOWN A LOT The US economy fell 3.5% in size during calendar year 2020. The … [Read more...]

THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HIGHER 522,808 Americans filed bankruptcy in 2020, down 30% from 752,160 bankruptcy filings in 2019. (Source: United States Courts, Table F-2, Bankruptcy Filings) WERE YOU IN ON THIS? 5.6 million existing homes were sold in 2020, the highest number recorded in the United States since 2006. (Source: National Association of Realtors) DO THE MATH The S&P 500 is up +4.9% YTD (total return) through last Friday 2/12/21. Since the S&P 500 is cap-weighted index, the … [Read more...]