Latest GDP Forecast - Down To 2.7% -- June 30, 2017

GDP Now link here. Latest forecast: 2.7 percent — June 30, 2017.

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2017 is 2.7 percent on June 30, down from 2.9 percent on June 26.

The forecast of the contribution of net exports to second-quarter real GDP growth fell from –0.34 percentage points to –0.51 percentage points after Wednesday's advance release on inventories and international trade in goods from the U.S. Census Bureau.

****************************** 

Rich States, Poor States

My favorite bedtime reading: rich states, poor states, 10th edition. At the link, click on the "report icon" for a PDF to download. Why would folks be fleeing Illinois? Look at estate taxes: Illinois is ranked dead last, #50, among the US states when it comes to estate taxes. Others tied at #50: New York, Delaware, Connecticut, Oregon. This surprised me: (sort of) no estate taxes in California; ranked #1 (along with others, of course, including North Dakota).

****************************** 

Camelot

What presidents do best: foreign travel.

President Trump apparently will visit Paris this summer and now it appears he has accepted South Korea's invitation to visit their country.

I love to see President Trump traveling. Gets him out of the swamp.

*************************

140 Characters

The other day President Trump tweeted that Amazon did not charge sales tax. Of course, he was wrong, and he was taken to task for that. But he was not entirely wrong: remember, unlike an Obama speech in which there are 25,634 words to explain something, President Trump uses less than 140 characters to make a point. If shipped from Amazon, taxes are due, because Amazon has a footprint in most states. However, if something is sold through a third party (something Target, Wal-Mart, others tend not to do), then taxes may not be due if the third party does not have a physical presence in any particular state. Here is an excellent example:

(You may have to click on the graphic to better see what the "arrow" is pointing at.)

Right, wrong, or indifferent, all things being equal, I would rather read a 140-character tweet from President Trump than listen to a 25,634-word speech by President Obama.

By the way, this product sells for $119 at Lego but is temporarily out of stock. Lego will eventually be selling it again. Meanwhile, if you can't wait that long, you can spend twice that amount ($198 + $20 shipping) to get the item now.