MicroWave

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

In a clash of opposing forces, the U.S. housing market finds itself embroiled in a fierce battle. On one side, deteriorated affordability resulting from a spike in mortgage rates from 3% to over 6% in 2022, just after national home prices surged by more than 40% during the Pandemic Housing Boom, is exerting downward pressure on home prices. On the other side, the scarcity of existing inventory, exacerbated by the “lock-in effect,” as many homeowners are reluctant to sell and buy anew, fearing the tradeoff from a 2% or 3% mortgage rate to one in the 6% to 7% range, is exerting upward pressure on home prices.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

The past 15 years have also witnessed a decline in the amount of money Americans must set aside to service their debt. The household debt servicing ratio has fallen steadily from 13.2% of disposable income in 2007 to 9.6% at the end of the first quarter of 2023. While falling interest rates have been important to that outcome, they only account for part of the decline in debt-servicing costs. To wit, as the Fed raised rates by five percentage points over the past 18 months, household debt-servicing costs only rose by 1.5 percentage points of disposable income. That is considerably less than would have been the case if the total stock of debt were at pre-2008 levels and if the fraction of adjustable-rate borrowings had not fallen sharply oversince.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

Some good news

Raises for lower-income workers were particularly strong in early 2023. Restaurants, hotels and similar businesses hired at a brisk pace to cater to customers eager for services that were limited initially in the Covid-19 pandemic. While leisure and hospitality employment gains have slowed in recent months, workers in the industry saw their hourly pay rise faster than overall wage growth and inflation.

Wages for manufacturing and business-services workers are also outpacing inflation. Pay gains have been narrower in the tech-heavy information sector, where several large companies have cut staff.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

On Monday, Phoenix reached a miserable milestone: It was the first time since 1974 that it had 18 days in a row of 110-degree or more temperatures. On Tuesday, it was poised to break that 49-year-old record and hit Day 19. The forecast called for a high of 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

People in the Southwest are used to brutal summers. Phoenix has had plenty of days that soar past 100 degrees. Water misters spritz patios, and neighborhoods and playgrounds clear out in the midday sun. Monsoons usually sweep through with refreshing relief. But this stagnant summer is testing even the hardiest, and putting many more people at risk.

MicroWave , 1 year ago

Why would anyone downvote this?

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

At issue during Tuesday’s arguments is a 1980 law known as the Classified Information Procedures Act. That statute governs how classified information is handled by the parties in a criminal prosecution. It’s meant to balance a defendant’s right to access evidence that prosecutors intend to use in a case against the government’s interest in safeguarding sensitive and secret information.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

The new jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing would be the third highest in U.S. history and will keep growing until someone wins. Ticket buyers have a chance at $1 billion paid out in yearly increments or a $516.8 million one-time lump sum before taxes.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

Random but your Netscape avatar is awesome.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

The Biden Administration is unveiling a new cybersecurity label for smart devices today. In a press briefing, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the new label, called the US Cyber Trust Mark, will signify that devices bearing it meet security standards based on those established in a report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The voluntary program is expected to be in place in 2024, with the labels hitting devices “soon after.”

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

Tesla Inc’s directors will return $735m to the company to settle claims they grossly overpaid themselves in one of the largest shareholder settlements of its kind, according to a Monday filing in a Delaware court.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

A Post investigation — based on government documents and interviews with public officials, ranchers in the valley, farmworkers, and townspeople who live near the alfalfa fields — found that Arizona’s lax regulatory environment and sophisticated lobbying by the Saudi-owned company allowed a scarce American resource to flow unchecked to a foreign corporation. To advance its interests before the state, Fondomonte hired an influential Republican lawyer as well as a former member of Congress. And it sought to win over its rural neighbors, providing a high school with donations that included Fondomonte-sponsored sports bags and face masks emblazoned with the company logo to protect students from covid.

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

On the other hand, reflexive contrarianism is, as the economist Adam Ozimek puts it, a “brain rotting drug.” Those who succumb to that drug “lose the ability to judge others they consider contrarian, become unable to tell good evidence from bad, a total unanchoring of belief that leads them to cling to low quality contrarian fads.”

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago)

Appreciate the kind words. Yeah, the real world sure is a crazy and interesting place, isn’t it :)

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

True. I couldn’t find a more appropriate place to post this article. Suggestions are welcome!

MicroWave OP , 1 year ago

I haven’t run into the same issues as you, but the prices are just silly now. Seriously, why am I shelling out for cleaning fees at a place where I still gotta do half the housework? Meanwhile, hotels pretty much got it all covered for about the same price. It just doesn’t make sense.