Change is constant: How ‘bout U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion? (Let’s not forget that GM and Ford have been dwarfed by Tesla, Mercedes, Toyota, and even Volvo.) I had my share of “hard hat” jobs growing up, so I noticed OSHA announcing a switch from traditional hard hats to safety helmets. Is that the politically correct term now? Speaking of terms, “smishing” is a term that combines “SMS” and “phishing” where hackers try to get your personal and banking information through unsolicited text messages on mobile devices by pretending to be government agencies, companies that you might have done business with, or a package delivery service. They’ll say something to get your urgent attention like a text about a free gift that you have to pay a small
Today is 092023 and I head to Savannah, GA for the SECUREN (credit union) conference. Did you know that the last day of 2023 is 123123? In other “fun with numbers,” as a stockholder in a lender, how’d you like $5 million because your company couldn’t keep its costs down? The median sale price per square foot in Savannah is $197, up 13 percent since last year, if you believe Redfin. Want to build wealth? The median sale price per square foot for new single-family homes in the U.S. has increased a whopping 368 percent since 1980. Additionally, the median square footage for homes in the U.S. has increased 52 percent since 1980, while the median sale price has increased 609 percent. Compared to 2008, the peak financial crisis, home buyers today face an 85% higher median sale price per square foot of homes. California is the most expensive state when looking at price per square foot. Highest and lowest cities? San Jose at $845 per square foot, Cleveland at $133 p
It isn’t as if building or lending products, or ways of doing business, were handed down by Trappist monks. Change is always afoot, for better or worse. What is old is new again. Teachers are moving to oral exams to counteract AI and ChatGPT, similar to ancient Greek and Roman times. In the West and Southwest, adequate water rights and supplies have always been contentious but have resurfaced (get it?) with news that may impact other cities and towns: Arizona began limiting approvals for new developments within the Phoenix area. It’s hard to build large affordable housing developments or swaths of housing in general if there is no water. Or road or sewage capacity. For fans of tiny homes, what is old is new again, and the Sears catalog kit houses (sold between 1908 and 1942) of old are back at Home Depot: Here’s 837 square feet for $43,000, 540 square feet for $44,000, and 444 square feet for $32k. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is