Dollar Standard, Mortgage Rates, Home Values, Tariffs
Dollar Standard – for decades the dollar has been the world’s dependable financial standard with nearly 90% of all foreign exchange transactions making it the world’s ‘reserve currency’. When Tariffs were announced last month, a phenomenon happened where the stock market crashed, and money did not go into US Treasury bonds, causing many economists to […]
OIRA? Rate, Inflation, and Retail Sales Update
OIRA – The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, heard of? Me neither. It is an office with the Office of Management and Budget and it oversees government agencies including, Homeland security, State Department, Small Business Administration, EPA and the commerce department. It helps improve communication while minimizing conflicts and duplications. As part of the […]
Tariffs, Manufacturing Index, Jobs Report
Tariffs on Wednesday the President unveiled new tariffs on imports to the US starting with a baseline of 10%. The method for the reciprocal tariffs was determined not by matching the percentage other countries are charging us but by taking our trade deficit with the country and dividing it by how much we import from […]
Diamond Markets, Home Values, and Fed’s Favorite Inflation Index
Diamond Prices on lab-grown diamonds are way down, and they aren’t fakes. Recent technology has made it so you can easily ‘grow’ diamonds. You can now purchase a one carat diamond with perfect quality (real diamond) for a wholesale price of $100. If you go to Alibaba, you can purchase them for $120-$150. In fact, […]
Who’s the Global Trade Ref? Fed and Home Sales Update
Who Referee’s World Trade? There is a Global mediator of sorts, the World Trade Organization, but it is essentially a lame duck. The US has been blocking it, and this goes back to the Obama administration. The WTO was founded by global agreement back in 1995 with the goal of having countries follow the same […]
Interested in Starting a Bank? Job Reports and Cuts, Home Values
Curious about what it takes to start a bank? This story follows 2 women who started Fortuna (Roman Goddess of fortune) in Columbus Ohio. Of the 4,000 banks in this country 20 of them are woman owned. In 2024 only six banks were created a steep decline from pre-crash when 100 banks were opening every […]
What Down Payment Assistance Programs Does Oregon Offer?
Oregon housing and Community Services (OHCS) offers many programs for first-time home buyers, renters, homeowners, homeless, and developers. As a result of statewide funding and action between July 2019 and July 2024: – 1,668 permanent supportive housing units were created – 28,389 affordable rental homes are built or are in the pipeline – 3,368 households […]
Inflation Resistant Fruit, Inflation Update, Loan Performance
Ever wonder why bananas are inflation resistant, what a flat-rate income tax would look like or if we should move to 24-hour trading? This article discusses these topics. Spoiler – the flat rate income tax would be balanced by eliminating some of the major credits and deductions. Mortgage Rates improved again this week as the […]
OHCS Flex FirstHome Program, Home Sales and Equity
OHCS sunsets their Oregon Bond Program and is updating their flex program adding significant improvements! This program is great for low to moderate income earners. While being a first-time homebuyer is not required it does improve the program. Currently first-time homebuyers that make less than $125,000 annually can purchase a primary single-family home (condo, townhome, pud, and […]
CFPB, Retail Sales, Inflation, Mortgage Rates
The main U.S. agency that oversees financial products in services in the US is currently shutdown. Born of the 2008 financial crisis the CFPB has recouped nearly $20B for 195M American consumers and brought enforcement actions against 377 businesses operating illegally. Some of the largest wins have been capping and limiting overdraft fees, as well […]