Which vehicles are in the shortest supply right now? With $4.00+ gasoline, that is too easy a question...

Many pundits in the economics  blogosphere have pegged $4.00 a gallon as the breaking point for people to seriously start changing their level of gasoline consumption.  It seems as though it has begun in the car market.  Fuel efficient vehicles are in short supply because of increased demand. Below are the cars that are in the shortest supply.  Next to the name of the vehicle is the "time to turn" or the number of days on average the car sits on the lot before it is sold.  In many cases the cars are sold before hitting the lots. The first number is from April of this year. The second number is what the churn time was last April. What a difference a year makes...

BMW X5 16 ,39

Ford Explorer 19, 48

Hyundai Elantra 12, 79

Toyota Prius 20, 36

Porsche Cayenne 18, 91

BMW X3 14, 32

Audi Q7 14, 18

Chevy Equinox 19 14

Audi Q5 16, 16

Chevrolet Volt 18, N/A

GMC Terrain 19, 14

Fiat 500 11, N/A

Nissan Leaf 5, N/A

Lexus CT 200h 11, N/A

Mini Countryman 16, N/A

       ""Which new cars and trucks are most in demand?

One good measure is to see how fast they are flying off sales lots into the hands of buyers. In the auto industry, it's known as "days to turn." Interesting, though, when you look at the Edmunds.com list for April. You'd think the list would be dominated by Japanese models whose production was stopped or reduced because of the March earthquake. And, sure, some are on the list. But it's actually a pretty mixed bag.

If there anything in common, it is that gas savers prevail. A year ago, more SUVs were in short supply.

As for the vehicle in shortest supply, Edmunds.com says it's Nissan's all-electric Leaf. Since all were preordered, all are claimed as soon as they land. The days-to-turn was only five days. Next is Lexus' sharp CT 200h, a small Prius-like hybrid that just went on sale as the Japanese earthquake hit, causing huge production problems and limited supply for the car. It had only an 11-day wait. So, too, did Chrysler Group's new Fiat 500.

Hyundai's new 40-miles-per-gallon (on the highway, anyway) compact Elantra is down to only a 12-day supply, compared with a 79-day supply for the version it replaced last year. BMW's small, hot X3 and Audi's big Q7 crossover SUV tie at 14 days.

While the list includes models that would have been affected by the shortages arising from the earthquake, they don't necessarily dominate the list."" (USA TODAY)

Graphs to help explain the MAIN reasons we will have higher oil and gasoline prices well into the future...





Can you name this "Artwork"???

Go HERE to find out...

HT: Chris Blattman

Panera Bread experiments with "Pay What You Want" pricing...Is this a good idea??

Some restaurants are experimenting with a voluntary payment system for its food---YOU decide how much you want to pay for your meal. Panera Bread is one such chain trying this at select locations. (HT: Carpe Diem)  It is an interesting experiment in behavioral economics.  They find that 80% of customers pay either the "suggested price" for a meal or actually pay more than the suggested price. Only 20% pay less than the suggested prices.

 I think the strategy is interesting. I wonder how the results would change if payment was completely anonymous.  No face to face contact with an employee to make change or process the credit card payment.  I think Panera is well aware that MOST people who visit their stores would not want to appear to be cheap or dishonest in front of another person.  What do you think? Would people, on average, be just as honest or would those percentages flip---only 20% would pay the suggested prices and 80% would pay less?

: USA Today

""USA Today -- "A Pay-what-you-want Panera in Clayton, MO is being called a success. The menu board lists "suggested funding levels," not prices. Payments go into a donation box, though the cashiers provide change and handle credit card payments.


The majority of patrons pay the "suggested funding level" or more. Statistics provided by Panera indicate that roughly 60% leave the suggested amount; 20% leave more; and 20% less. One person paid $500 for a meal, the largest single payment." Source:

Gas taxes levied by various European countries compared to the US. YIKES!!

Below, in dollars, are the amounts levied on a gallon of gasoline in various European countries. The US by far has the smallest level of taxation...This is why the price of gas in Europe is more expensive, not because the gasoline itself is more costly...The US figure is an average. The Federal gas tax is $.20 and each state adds their own amount. 

Belgium             $4.26

France               $4.12

Germany            $4.37

Italy                    $3.95 

Japan                  $2.81 

Netherlands         $4.79 

United Kingdom   $4.47 

United States        $.39 

Data from HERE (HT: Carpe Diem)

The current legal Federal debt ceiling has been reached today...The credit card is maxed out. Will the further credit be extended?

Yes, it will. Congress sets its own credit limit and they will eventually increase the borrowing capacity. As noted in the graphic below, accounting measures are available to officially fund the government at least through August/Sept. 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Informative Graphic on Rising Food Prices around the World...We need to do better...

Source: World Food Progarmme

"Do you want fries with that?" will soon be a phrase of the past...Is this a good thing???

McDonald's is adopting point of sale technology in it's European restaurants that will reduce the need for labor, at the margin.  Touchscreens for ordering and swipe card technology for payment will be installed.  It is inevitable that in the near future we will order our fast food in this manner.  The writing (or source code) is on the wall for low-skilled labor in this country.  The nature of work is changing and I am not sure as a nation we fully get that yet...

McDonald’s to shake up food ordering system

""McDonald’s is to change the way customers order its meals in Europe, partly replacing cashiers and the use of banknotes at its 7,000 fast-food restaurants in the region with touchscreen terminals and swipe cards.

Mr Easterbrook said that the changes would make life easier for consumers as well as improve efficiency, with average transactions three to four seconds shorter for each customer. McDonald’s European stores serve 2m customers a day.

Weiky Filho, a student enjoying a burger at McDonald’s in Wimbledon, London, was in favour of the changes. “You don’t need to communicate with staff and it would be much quicker,” he said.

But Joe Surkitz, 21, was less convinced. “I’m looking for work and if there’s more machines doing jobs I’ll find it harder. Plus you won’t get service with a smile.”

Disney Trademarks "Seal Team 6"---I CANNOT wait for THAT interactive exhibit at DisneyWorld!!

Disney Trademarks “Seal Team 6″

""In a perfect example of a big media company looking to capitalize on current events, The Walt Disney Company has trademarked “Seal Team 6,” which also happens to be the name of the elite special forces team that killed Osama Bin Laden. The trademark applications came on May 3rd, two days after the operation that killed Bin Laden… and two days after “Seal Team 6″ was included in thousands of news articles and TV programs focusing on the operation. Disney’s trademark applications for “Seal Team 6″ cover clothing, footwear, headwear, toys, games and “entertainment and education services,” among other things.""

Manufacturing jobs DOWN, Manufacturing Output UP! How can THAT happen?



Source: LA TIMES

 The above graphic shows the decline in manufacturing jobs in the US. This is only half the story.  True,  employment in this sector is decreasing, but our actual manufacturing output per person is INCREASING:


Souce: Carpe Diem

This is production domestically in the US, not including "off-shored" production.  How can we have more output with fewer workers?  The use of technology in just about all phases of production is the primary culprit. Have you ever watched an episode of "How It Is Made" on The Science Channel? View some of the clips at the site and look to see how many workers there are (relatively few) and at the technology/processes that are used to perform tasks that only a few years ago required many workers to do.  The jobs lost in American manufacturing in many cases were good paying jobs that allowed for a middle-class level standard of living for millions of Americans.   

Watch these two short videos and count the number of production workers...It won't take long.

Perhaps we should not judge Bin Laden...

Source: Signe Wilkinson

Another Population Pyramid...Longevity will be the death of us!!

 

Source: The Economist

  ""THE world’s population will reach 7 billion by the end of October, according to the latest projections from the United Nations. For the first time the UN has attempted to look as far ahead as 2100, using various assumptions about how fertility and mortality rates might change over the years. The average of these estimates suggests that the global population will cross 10 billion by 2085. By 2100, 22.3% of people will be aged 65 or over, up from just 7.6% in 2010. The bulk of population growth is expected to come from the developing world. Africa’s population will rise from 1 billion in 2010 to 3.6 billion in 2100. In 1950, 32% of the world’s people lived in today’s rich countries. By 2100, only 13% will.""

Nice interactive graph showing US population shift from 1790 to 2010...I think the invention of air conditioning can explain this...

Why have LCD TV's come down in price so much and so fast? Nice Graphics here showing why...

This graphic shows the change in price of various widths of LCD TV screens since their introduction into the marketplace.  It is quite remarkable how the price of the larger screens have decreased the point where price is somewhat irrelevant. The only decision you face is how big you want your TV to be. 


Source: Wired

The primary reason is illustrated in this next graphic.  Since 2007 the widths of screens, the most expensive component, have increased significantly because of a technological break-through in the production of the LCD screens themselves. Note the dramatic increase in widths during the 2007-09 period:

Source: Wired



""Like multicore computer chips, Android smartphones, and Starbucks coffee, LCD TVs are getting cheaper—and bigger—all the time. Inevitably, your brother-in-law’s new 55-inch TV cost less than the 48-inch model you bought two years ago. Why? Science! See, flat-panel displays are made by machines that print arrays of circuits on sheets of glass and then slice those sheets into screens like high tech brownies. And since 1999, those machines have increased in size by 800 percent. Thus, the Law of Big Glass: The larger the glass printer, the cheaper—or bigger—the TV.

In 1993, the industry-standard tool for “printing” display circuitry, a TFT-LCD deposition machine, could work with glass no bigger than about 18 inches square. Today, they can handle sheets that are 11 feet on a side—the size of a garage door—and just a millimeter thick. A 20-inch flatscreen TV cost $1,200 in 1999; it costs just $84 today.

The law applies to organic LED displays, too—which is great, since they’re brighter and more energy-efficient than LCDs. OLED screens use a related manufacturing process, and right now they’re printed on 4 x 5-foot sheets. But the Law of Big Glass says 55-inch OLEDs will someday go for less than $1,000 at Costco. By then you’ll probably want a tiny, ridiculously expensive holodeck""

What is the World's Worst Dictator biggest crime against humanity? Genocide? Torture? No, it is an economic term that harkens back to the 1970's...

This came from Parade Magazine. They profile the World's Worst Dictators.  They give a one line overview of their "crimes against humanity".  As a teacher of economics, I am glad to see that Stagflation is number 1 on the list of high crimes...