Are you ready for $50 hamburgers?
Fifty dollars may be an exaggeration, unless you frequent some high-priced restaurants in Manhattan. But consumers should be prepared. Beef prices, for the foreseeable future, will continue to climb. Some cuts of meat are already up 25% from where they were six months ago. As the cook in the house, I usually buy a prime…
By Bill Schmick
February 3, 2022
CAPITAL IDEAS: What a year
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” — Charles Dickens The year 2020 was dreadful. Our neighbors, friends, and family lost jobs as the economy struggled…
By Allen Harris
March 29, 2021
CAPITAL IDEAS: Do you have excess savings?
The U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has almost recovered from its pandemic loss. According to JP Morgan, the last GDP calculation was merely 1.3 percent less than its February 2020 peak. According to the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast, the U.S. economy will surpass its pre-COVID-19 peak this quarter. With the caveat that we’re only about…
By Allen Harris
March 1, 2021
Small town America is in vogue
The on-going coronavirus pandemic has boosted consumer demand for small town real estate. Whether that trend will continue with a vaccine on the horizon is anyone’s guess. In the meantime, it could be a godsend for those looking to retire and possibly downsize during this period. The obvious driver in this trend change has been…
By Bill Schmick
November 12, 2020
Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing?
Can we talk about how crazy the first quarter of 2022 was? From Volodymyr Zelensky to Will Smith. The so-called “Don’t say gay” bill and the woefully mislabeled “Billionaires’ tax.” From the vetting of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Olympics (well, maybe not the Olympics), the world was buzzing about serious news and outright nutso…
By Allen Harris
April 11, 2022