Per NY Daily News:
A palatial apartment on 57th St.’s so-called ‘Billionaires’ Row’ has broken the record for the most expensive apartment ever sold in Manhattan.
A buyer dropped a staggering $100.47 million on the apartment, which occupies the entire 89th and 90th floors of One57, the high-end apartment tower overlooking Central Park at 157 W. 57th St., according to city records.
The property is the first single-family home to sell for an excess of $100 million in the city’s history.
Inflation is more often associated with the price of a product going up. But inflation is also measured by a product being produced in a smaller size but staying the same on price. Girl Scout cookies fall into both of those categories.
First, lets look at the price of buying Girl Scout cookies. The 2015 price per box according to the Girl Scout website is now $5. In 2009 the price of a box was $3.50 and faced the other side of inflation, downsizing the product. The website popsugar.com noted the downsize:
According to the organization, the cost of flour rose by 30 percent, assorted cooking oils by 40 percent, and cocoa by at least 20 percent. The company felt this was the best method of dealing with increasing raw material prices. Alternatively, Girl Scouts could have used cheaper ingredients, or raised cookie prices from their current price of $3.50 per box.
Second downsizing of the product happened in 2011 as noted by OCWEEKLY blogs:
The Girl Scouts announced earlier this week that both the size and quantity of some remaining flavors will also dwindle slightly–as of now, only the Lemon Chalet Cremes are reducing in size, while the downsized quantities include Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Shortbread Cookies, DoSiDos and Trefoils (up to four fewer cookies per box).
The reasons behind these changes? A rise in both transportation and baking costs. As a result, the agreed-upon course of action was to “lower the net weight of our cookie boxes slightly rather than ask our customers to pay a higher per-package price during these difficult times,” Girl Scouts spokesperson Michelle Tompkins told CNN.
Girl Scout cookies are shrinking in product serving and have spiked in price by almost 45%.
Food stamp usage is on the rise again in America. Rough estimate of what the federal government spends is around $77 Billion a year. What makes this news worthy is it conflicts with the notion that the economy is in great shape. Another problem is the program is very lax on rules and has become a new “social justice” program.
Here is more from CNSNews.com
The number of beneficiaries on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—AKA food stamps–has topped 46,000,000 for 38th straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In October 2014, the latest month reported, there were 46,674,364 Americans on food stamps. Food stamp recipients have exceeded 46 million since September 2011.
If you don’t believe this program isn’t somewhat over used, let this stat sink in:
In 1969, the average participation in the SNAP program stood at 2,878,000. In 2014, average participation grew to 46,536,000 showing an increase of 1516.96 percent.
Back in July I wrote about beer going up on sale and regular prices. Now the complete increase has taken affect. I took this photo today at the same Meijer’s I always shop at:
Case of beer is now hitting almost $20 warm. For many months the sale price ran $16.50.
Janet Yellen has her foot on the printing presses from most recent money supply data and consumers are spending more. Watch for more price increases over the next few months.
Hoosier Ag reporter Cayla McLeland is reporting pork will be on the rise in the near future for the consumer.
Purdue Extension Ag Economist, Dr. Chris Hurt, says expansion could reach seven percent higher by the end of this year.
“Breeding herd has grown by over 212,000 animals over the last year and that’s mostly in the center of the country. The western corn belt breeding herd increased by 105,000 head with Missouri rising by 55,000 animals. Iowa by 40,000 and Minnesota by 10,000 head. The second-largest growth region was down in the southern plains and they’re still recovering, of course, from the long-term drought. Both Texas and Oklahoma have added 20,000 animals to the breeding herd over the last year.”
Consumers faced higher prices a few years back due to farmers thinning herds from the drought and the the PED virus hitting hard last winter.
Read the rest of the article here.
One city in Indiana is announcing it has no debt. Mishawaka, IN is now claiming it has paid off all its loans and is completely debt free.
Mayor Dave Wood announced today that The City of Mishawaka is debt free! For the first time in over 100 years, Mishawaka begins 2015 with no general obligation bond debt after making final bond payments in late December. The City’s latest bonds, originally issued between 2005-2007 for $12.3 million to finance various projects such as the City’s radio communication system and major park improvements were paid off several years early.
Back in 2012, Mayor Wood announced one of the major initiatives of his administration was the ambitious goal of paying off debt early to becoming debt free as a means of helping to insulate the city against unforeseen circumstances such as economic downturns, emergencies, and state funding source changes. Mayor Wood stated: “The City’s debt free status is not only rare, but it’s an obvious indicator of our ongoing, strong commitment to fiscal responsibility. This was only possible based on our ability to work together as a team. Clearly, this wouldn’t have been possible without the work of our Department Heads and the Common Council.”
You can read the rest here.
Via @USGovtInterest Twitter page:
Month of December Interest on Debt payment $86,460,237,565.98
Fiscal YTD payments $118,589,429,039.05
Via CBCNEWS –
According to BBC News, a man from Norfolk, England recently paid £300 (about $540 Cdn) to have his sick goldfish treated a local veterinarian’s office.
Vet Faye Bethell of Toll Barn Veterinary Centre in North Walsham, England, examined the fish when it was brought it in and determined that constipation was the problem.
After consulting with the pet’s owner to be sure he wanted to shell out for the procedure, Bethell performed an hour-long surgery on the fish to remove “a lump blocking its bottom” with the help of two veterinary nurses.
Crime against retailers is a high cost that gets absorbed either through higher prices for the consumer or loss of profit for the retailer. Not much is talked about this cost and some recent numbers shed some light on the issue. The National Retail Federation did a study in the spring of 2014 and here is what they found:
A decade has passed since NRF first surveyed its community of loss prevention and security executives about the impact organized retail crime has on their company, and with the release of the 2014 survey, it’s evident that the $30 billion a year problem still threatens retailers of all sizes throughout the country. According to the National Retail Federation’s 10th annual Organized Retail Crime Survey, which polled 76 senior retail loss prevention executives, eight in 10 (88.2%) retailers report that they have been a victim of ORC in the past year, down slightly from 93.5 percent last year.
New data also rolled in on states that helped retailers prosecute criminals:
According to the survey, three in 10 (30.6%) of those polled said they have noticed a reduction in ORC activity in states where laws are present. Additionally, of those retailers who have a presence in states with existing ORC laws, more than half (52.1%) noticed a positive impact on their ability to prosecute ORC offenders more effectively; nine in 10 (88.5%) said they have noticed an increase in support from law enforcement agencies when actively investigating organized retail crime cases. Specifically, 51.9 percent said they’ve noticed an increase in support from local/county law enforcement, 26.9 percent said state law enforcement and 9.6 percent said federal law enforcement. In states without ORC laws and where retailers have a presence, six in 10 (63.5%) say they haven’t noticed any changes in support from law enforcement.
You can read the rest of the report here.
With President Obama having a disastrous 4 years of losing Democrats in the House and Senate, he will now have to face his opponents in the federal budget ring. The media and his supporters have given him a pass on not getting a budget implemented in the last six years. This year will be different with the House/Senate being revamped with budget conscious members.
Rebecca Shabad at TheHill.com has an excellent timeline of what the President faces in the next coming months regarding the 2016 budget. I suggest taking a look at the article for the detailed write up after each date listed.
February 2: Obama’s budget deadline
February 27: DHS funding runs out
March 15: Debt limit suspension expires
April 1: GOP budget resolution?
September 30: Shutdown deadline
October 1: Fiscal 2016 begins
Hoosier Econ 