Gifts, Inflation, Apple
Birds will call, ladies will dance, and lords will leap because the cost of buying all the gifts in the classic holiday song “The 12 Days of Christmas” inched just 0.6% higher this year, less than the 2.2% rise in the Consumer Price Index. The estimated price tag for the 12 gifts totals $34,558.65, compared with $34,363.49 last year. PNC Financial Services Group
The last time this many U.S. Lawmakers resigned at once, it was over slavery. The Washington Post, December 8, 2017
Research found that online price competition may be subtracting as much as a tenth of a percentage point from core inflation and a quarter of a percentage point from core-goods inflation. It may not sound like much but with annual core inflation at just 1.4% in October, it is significant. The Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2018
There are roughly more than 500 million visits to Apple retail stores per year, which is roughly equivalent to the population of the European Union. MarketWatch, December 6, 2017
In the US, 99.7% of all businesses have fewer than 500 employees. Of those, nearly 80%, or more than 23 million, are one-person operations. The New York Times, November 22, 2017
The total value of companies listed on the world’s stock markets is currently $98,750,067,000,000- the first time the figure has been within touching distance of $100 trillion. This time last year, the figure was just over $66 trillion. Bloomberg.com, December 4, 2017
“If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If neither are on your side, pound on the table.” Anonymous
