A Tale of Two Markets

[william the wie]

Rising SALT taxes and increasingly stagnant real estate markets in some states and roughly comparable states doing well is an old story but the contrast appears to be going hyperbolic. ND/MN is the most striking contrast, where the comparable state is low tax and has a booming real estate market. FL and CA or TX and NY do not adjoin each other but also provide stark contrasts. This means that fiscal and monetary policies increasingly have very different effects in different parts of the country.

High tech is changing meaning. Apple is increasingly in trouble over its integrated computer/phone empire. Amazon too is spawning more competitors. Facebook, Twitter et al are having problems too. Path dependence does not just refer to titans of the past like Commodore or the dearly departed of 1998-2003 it also applies to current titans.

Expect to see a lot of shake outs and the creation of a lot of new industries the unguided missile has launched.

 

[Moonglow]

People are drawn to areas of growth or expected growth in economic factors like jobs and cost of living. What is not reassuring about the so-called economic boom is the pages and pages of foreclosed mortgages that appear in newspapers and these are "good" times.....