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...]

NOT DONE YET In 2008-2009, the Congress authorized spending of $983 billion to alleviate the impact of the global mortgage crisis, an amount equal to 6% of the size of the US economy. In 2020, the Congress authorized spending of $3.7 trillion to alleviate the impact of the global pandemic, an amount equal to 17% the size of the US economy. (Source: BTN Research) NOW WHAT DO I DO? 82% of 2020 college graduates did not have a full-time job in place on the day they graduated last year. … [Read more...]

GOT A LOWER RATE Through 9/30/20, 65% of the mortgages that were originated in the United states TYD were refis of existing mortgages. (Source: Inside Mortgage Finance) IS IT A BUBBLE? The US stock market was worth $42.6 trillion as of the close of trading on 1/22/21, 2.0 times the size of our $21.2 trillion economy. At the peak of the dot-com stock bubble in March 2000, the US stock market was worth 1.4 times the size of the US economy. (Source: Fund Manager Julien Bittel) RED AND BLUE … [Read more...]

NFL In 2020, eleven of the top 15 U.S. TV broadcasts were NFL games. (Source: Axios) POPULATION Last year, California’s population contracted by 69,532, shrinking for the first time as far back as records go. (Source: The Wall Street Journal) OUR PART OF THE WORLD The US stock market had a total capitalization of $41 trillion as of 12/31/20. 39% of the world’s $104 trillion stock market capitalization. (Source: S&P) DEBT The USA increased its national debt by $7.77 trillion in … [Read more...]

JOBLESS The lowest (3.5%) and the highest (14.7%) unemployment rates in the United States in the last 50 years (since 1970) both occurred in 2020, and they took place just 2 months apart. (Source: Department of Labor) TEN-YEAR TREASURY NOTE The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ended 2020 at 0.91%, its lowest calendar year close ever and down 1 percentage point from its 12/31/19 close of 1.91%. The 10-year Treasury note yield was 0.50% on Monday 03/09/2020, its lowest closing yield ever. … [Read more...]

RAINING NOW All 50 US states maintain a “rainy day” fund that may be accessed as a result of an economic emergency. As of 7/01/19, California had $19.2 billion set aside, Texas had $7.8 billion, New York had $2.5 billion while Illinois had just $4 million. (Source: National Association of State Budget Officers) JUST HERE FOR THE DAY 48% of hospital revenue in 2018 came from outpatient procedures. (Source: Deloitte Center for Health Solutions) BIRTHS It is estimated that there will be … [Read more...]

ALTERNATIVE POWER SOURCE Wind, solar, and hydro accounted for nearly 90% of new electricity infrastructure installed in 2020. The average cost of onshore wind is about $26 a megawatt-hour and solar is $29. That means that building new wind and solar power generation is now cheaper than keeping many of the world’s existing gas plants running. (Source: Lazard) ALL THE OTHER STUFF Administrative costs make up 34% of total US health care expenditures (i.e., expenses not related to direct … [Read more...]

IT HAS BEEN AWHILE Congress has passed 4 separate bills providing $2.8 trillion of pandemic relief, but the last of the 4 bills (HR 6312) was signed into law on 4/24/20 or nearly 8 months ago. (Source: Congress) SUGAR Between 1970 and 2000, the amount of added sugar in the American food supply rose by 25%, or about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day. (Source: CNBC) LUMBER Lumber is the most reported material shortage among commercial contractors and the problem is getting worse. The … [Read more...]

LESS TAXES $250,000 of taxable income on a joint return in 2020 creates $48,159 of federal income tax, $250,000 of taxable income on a joint return in 2010 created $60,281 of federal income tax. (Source: IRS) HONEST? The government projects that an average US taxpayer pays 84% of his/her total federal income tax bill (mostly driven by unreported income), creating an estimated $441 billion annual “tax gap,” i.e., the difference between what all taxpayers should have paid compared to what … [Read more...]

JUST ONE MONTH The budget deficit for the US government for the first month of fiscal year 2021, i.e., October 2020, was $284 billion. As recently as fiscal year 2007, the budget deficit for the entire fiscal year was $161 billion or a smaller deficit than October’s deficit. (Source: Treasury Department) AMAZON Amazon added 427,300 employees between January and October, pushing its workforce to more than 1.2 million people globally. The number of workers at Amazon is now approaching the … [Read more...]

HISTORICALLY LOW The yield on the 10-year Treasury note closed Friday 11/20/20 at 0.83%, its 170th consecutive trading day of closing below 1%, i.e., occurring every trading day since 3/19/20. The yield on the 10-year note dropped below 1% for the first time ever on 3/03/20. 10-year notes have been traded in the USA since 1790, i.e., 230 year of trading. (Source: Treasury Department) USE TIME TO YOUR ADVANTAGE $522 invested at the beginning of every month for 40 years earning 6% per year … [Read more...]