Everyone has experienced the cost versus value decision. Should I buy the best or the cheapest product that I am looking for? Sure, there are times that buying a lesser quality or last year’s model will have little to no effect on the product you are looking to purchase. If you are buying a…
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As of March 2021, both the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and PPI (Producer Price Index) have shown increases. The CPIs are based on prices for food, clothing, shelter, and fuels; transportation fares; service fees, such as water and sewer service, and sales taxes. The producer price index (PPI) measures the price that industrial producers get…
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There are businesses that do well and prosper during difficult economic time (recession, pandemic, legislative changes, inflation) while other businesses struggle or go out of business. Businesses that experienced an economic upside during the pandemic were real estate, home furnishings, home improvement and technology companies. People moved to the suburbs, set up home offices,…
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As of January 1, 2020, the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. There are numerous states that have set their minimum wages higher than the Federal minimum wage. See the map below for your state’s minimum wage. An employer of tipped employees is only required to pay that employee $2.13 per hour in direct…
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Tax season may have you questioning if the Federal tax burden increasing or decreasing. The chart shows aggregate U.S. Federal tax receipts as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Apart from the large increase during World War II, otherwise there is no real trend. The US uses a progressive income tax rate: As a…
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At the onset of the pandemic, many consumers cancelled personal and business travel plans. Teleconferencing replaced business travel and social gatherings. Between February and May 2020, train and airplane travel declined 96 percent and 91 percent, respectively, while travel by car declined 27 percent. The increase in traveling by car since April 2020 reflects the…
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“Willful Blindness” in a business is the conscious act of avoiding the truth, which gives credence to the knowledge of an issue in question, but never resolving the issue. Willful blindness can be at any level of management or on any type of business issue that needs to be addressed and resolved. A business’s willful…
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What is the path forward into 2021? A strategic plan will make the journey into 2021 easier.
“Business Drift” is a perpetual problem with any business, big or small, in any industry. In the food and distillery industry it is called “Flavor Drift”. In business, “Drift” is the act of slowly drifting away from the core business. This can either be intentional or unintentional. Businesses that avoid “Drift” are emphatic about…
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Monetary policy affects interest rates, which affect mortgages, which affect decisions in the housing market. The red line in the graph is the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (right axis) from July 1974 to July 2020. The blue line in the graph is the ratio of housing starts built by contractors over housing starts built by…
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