Pennies From Heaven Exxon There’s a gas station in my neighborhood that’s been lowering the price of gas in 2¢ increments every few days for the last week. So, first the posted price was $3.89 per gallon, then it was $3.87, then $3.85, then $3.83. Which is certainly interesting, given that the current price of a barrel...Read More
Three Reasons Investors Are in a Funk Gauging from investors’ current bleak mood, you’d guess that the Dow Jones was down horrifically — to 6,000 or 7,000 or even lower. Instead, while recent volatility has admittedly been through the roof, the Dow has “only” dropped to just below 11,000, as of this morning. That’s less than 15%...Read More
Pro Rating Government Fees, or “Rounding Up Down” If you started a one year newspaper subscription on, say, March 7, the one year anniversary would be . . . March 7, right? And if you joined Sam’s Club on October 14, your one year anniversary would be — yup — October 14. (Bear with me, these aren’t...Read More
Except to acknowledge what is foremost in many people’s minds today, I really have little to add, except perhaps this: how especially sad that, for millions of schoolchildren annually, 9/11 is now inextricably linked with what otherwise is an especially hopeful and auspicious time of year for them — specifically, the excitement, anticipation, and novelty associated with...Read More
No, I didn’t catch Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke when he was in town Thursday. But I’m pretty sure I just passed Thomas L. Friedman walking around the south end of Lake Calhoun about an hour ago. A St. Louis Park native, Friedman must have known that the terrific weather this weekend made it an opportune...Read More
“Please Stand By” Sorry to anyone trying to access this blog earlier today (that included me, trying to post!). The company hosting City Lakes Real Estate has become increasingly unreliable the last few weeks — so much so that I’m switching to another vendor this weekend (or more accurately, this blog’s ace Web developer, Tim Elliott, is executing the...Read More
