Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - October 12, 2014
Podcast: Updated weekly in the wee hours of Sunday night/Monday morning. Subscribe on Stitcher, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or iHeartRadio
Please note: These show notes may be in various stages of completion -- ranging from brainstormed notes through to well-polished monologues. Please excuse anything that may seem rough around the edges, as it may only be a first draft of a thought and not be fully representative of what was said on the air.
The economy as we know it
- Interest rates are in the tank, so bonds aren't earning any significant return.
- Stocks are priced high in comparison to their intrinsic value
- Balance sheets are very strong for lots of companies, but their earnings aren't so hot
- Most companies have cut about as much as they can
- We generally need some spending to go around
- The velocity of money is still incredibly low
- When that velocity speeds up, inflation will become a serious risk unless the Federal Reserve can pull that money off the table and raise interest rates
- If interest rates rise, investors (particularly older ones) may sell stocks and put that money into the "security" of bonds
- Foreign investors want to buy
- Millennials and other young workers are unhealthily skeptical of the stock market
- Baby Boomers are shifting heavily into an asset-sale period of life
- Long-building trade deficits mean that foreign investors have a lot of American cash burning a hole in their pockets
- Global political and legal uncertainty makes the United States even more attractive to the rest of the world's investors
- The energy boom being experienced right now is artificially cushioning our economy -- purely by luck
In the news this week
A completely ridiculous building
A Park Avenue building in New York will be the second-tallest tower in the city (second only to the new One World Trade Center), but its highest occupied floor will actually be the tallest. It's to be 1,396 feet tall and Crain's New York Business says the apartments inside are selling for $4,000 per square foot. So if you're looking to blow upwards of $75 million on your "home", operators are standing by. The ultra-thin, ultra-tall blueprint seems terribly disproportionate, but the time-lapse video of construction is worth a look.
Instagram and Twitter overtake Facebook among teen users
According to research by Piper Jaffray
Conclusive proof that red-light cameras aren't used to improve public safety
Chicago authorities gave out tickets for drivers at intersections with short-cycled yellow lights. It's quite simple: If you want to cut down on red-light running and consequent crashes, you lengthen yellow lights and increase the gap between the red in one direction and the onset of green in the other. At least, that's what you'd do if safety were your priority.
In case you missed it
- Podcast of this episode
- Link to the official station page for this episode