E-cigarettes are fun and flirty, hip and tasty! They're diabolical!
After having smoked since high school, I finally gave it up 10 years ago. I broke the habit. I was free. I was sad that I had to give up this comfort, but I was gratified that I had moved on.
Enter e-cigarettes. The moment I first saw someone on TV exhaling a cloud of vapor, a little devil in my brain (or maybe it was an angel who felt deprived of simple pleasures) cried out, "Oh boy!"
It seems like only yesterday that our buying decisions were being manipulated by cynical advertising executives, who used focus groups and psychological research to analyze our aspirations and insecurities.
The November personal income and outlays report shows a 0.5% change in consumer spending, even when adjusted for inflation. This is the highest monthly percentage change in consumer spending adjusted for inflation since February 2012 and is good news for Q4 GDP. October consumer spending was revised up to 0.4% for the month.
It's Official. CBS 60 Minutes has turned into a corporate propaganda show from the long-time original investigative reporting 60 Minutes used to be. Many point to the phony story on the NSA or Benghazi as the turning point for the long time news show but we think there are other stories just as outrageous.
There is yet another outrage against citizens of nations. This time the plan is to allow corporations to sue nation-states when they do not like their labor and environmental laws. This nefarious agenda is currently being negotiated between the United States and the EU. The trade agreements Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, and TAFTA, the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement is where these new corporate powers would be activated.
Q3 2013 real GDP had yet another blow out revision upward and is now 4.1%. Originally GDP was reported to be 2.8% for the third quarter, then it was revised to 3.6%. Now we have another revision showing a whopping large third quarter GDP. This is the largest quarterly economic growth since Q4 2011.
Ho,Ho, Ho, data theft we go. It wasn't just gullible shoppers were in a frenzy on Black Friday. Seems hackers love the marketing hyped retail bonanza as well. Target was hacked and a whopping 40 million credit and debit cards were ripped off from November 27th to December 19th. The speed of the massive theft is unprecedented in cyber-crime history. Target is the second largest generalized merchandise retailer in America.
The NAR reported existing home sales plunged -4.3% from last month and are down -1.2% from last year. This is the first yearly decline in existing home sales since June 2011, a full 29 months ago. Unsold Inventory increased 5.0% from last year and represents a 5.1 months supply at current rates . Volume was an annualized and seasonally adjusted 4.90 million for November 2013.
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