The Relevance Of The Natural Sciences Methods In Economics

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A common belief among economists is that the central bank determines what interest rates should be. But is that accurate? Indeed, there is more to the story.

Where Are Property Taxes Rising The Most?

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Over the past five years, property taxes have gone up in nearly every American metro area, according to a report from Redfin. But one region is getting hit harder than others.

In the southeastern part of the United States, mainly in Florida, the median property tax payment is soaring — the result of a combination of higher home values, escalating natural disasters and population growth, according to Redfin.

To determine where taxes rose the most nationwide, researchers analyzed property tax records and multiple listing service (MLS) statistics in the 50 most populated metropolitan areas, comparing house payment data from 2019 and 2024, through August in both cases.

Overall, Indianapolis saw the greatest percentage increase in property taxes, with homeowners paying a median of $205 a month — up nearly 67 percent from 2019. Next was Atlanta, where property taxes increased by almost 66 percent, to $239 a month. Redfin's analysis found that rising home values and inflation were among the "major drivers" for the higher taxes in both metro areas, adding that Atlanta was also affected by an increase in budgets for parks and city operations.

Extreme Weather Maps: Track the possibility of extreme weather in the places that are important to you .

Freezing Temperatures: A blast of Arctic air can be dangerous, especially when combined with blustery winds. Track cold weather in the United States here .

Hurricane Preparation: When a storm is approaching, you may not have much time before you must head for safer ground. Here are some tips for getting ready .

QuickBooks Online Review 2024

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Running a business without good accounting software is like taking a road trip without a map app — technically possible, but likely to end in frustration and confusion. Intuit's QuickBooks® Online comes with a lot of name recognition, but does the cloud-based software also have the features to keep your small business on track for success? Read CNBC Select 's review to find out.

Tracks your business expenses as they happen, as well as your income. Users can use app to do invoicing, accept payments, manage their cash flow, maximize tax deductions, track travel miles, run reports, send estimates, manage bills and 1099 contractors, plus pay employees

Accessible from any web browser and also offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)

Verisign scanning, password-protected login, firewall protected servers and the same encryption technology (128 bit SSL) used by the world's top banks. QuickBooks also offers multiple permission levels that you can set for additional users' access

QuickBooks currently offers four pricing tiers: Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced. Here's a breakdown of what each of those packages offers.

QuickBooks offers a promotional 50% off for the first three months across all pricing plans. This way, you can try out its features without having to invest too much money right off the bat.

QuickBooks has a slew of useful features for tracking and managing your business' money. Some of the most prominent features across all pricing tiers include:

Of course, more advanced features are available with higher-cost tiers. For instance, the ability to connect QuickBooks to multiple sales channels is only available through the Essentials, Plus and Advanced plans.

TikTok Inside Sales Reps Sue Over Wrongly Denied Overtime Pay

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TikTok sales representatives brought a proposed class action Monday accusing the tech firm of misclassifying them as exempt from federal overtime laws.

The lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California by two salespeople alleged that TikTok and corporate parent ByteDance Inc. improperly exempted them from the overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA requires companies to pay certain employees 1.5 times their hourly wage for work performed above 40 hours per week.

Selena Connell and Jeffrey "Beau" Wengertseek seek to represent a class of "inside" sales employees who primarily sell ...

As Government EV Regulations Rise

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Sonoma, California — Subaru Corp. this fall rolled out its WRX sedan performance lineup for the 2025 model year, and noticeably missing was an updated, $40,000 WRX STI, the Sopwith Camel-winged, 300-plus horsepower hellion. Previous generations of the STI are known for wowing cars 'n' coffee gatherings and speeding past more pricey Porsches at track days.

"In the current regulatory environment, it's not possible to sell a vehicle with that kind of capability," Subaru Product Line Manager Chris Charles said at a Subaru media event here. Automakers are facing federal and state fines if their product lineups don't meet emissions targets.

Not since the 1974 CAFE laws has the U.S. auto industry been under so much government regulatory pressure. Familiar patterns are emerging — Chrysler (now part of Stellantis NV) is in financial duress, regulations have opened the door for low-cost Asian competitors, and low-volume, high-power, internal-combustion-engine enthusiast vehicles are getting the axe.

Subaru, for example, acknowledged the difficulty of meeting current federal regulations but said the larger concern is so-called Section 177 states that have adopted California's tough emissions mandates — states including Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, where foreign makes like Subaru sell well.

Fifty years ago, Detroit muscle cars like the AMC Javelin, Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda and Pontiac GTO were canceled. Fast forward to today, and once again, popular models like undefined, Dodge Charger and Chevy Camaro also have been shelved.

This time, it's not just Detroit performance brands feeling the pain. In addition to Japan's Subaru STI, European performance icons like undefined, Audi TT and ICE Porsche 718 are ending production.

"These performance vehicles aren't coming back, and with regulations in place we don't expect any model changes until after the 2028 model year," said Stephanie Brinley, S&P Global associate director of auto intelligence. "Automakers have to meet emissions requirements 18 months before the model year."

Film Economics 101

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Content is Not King . I have often heard the phrase, "Content is King." Baloney. Due to the law of supply and demand mentioned above, distribution is king. Whoever controls distribution has far more leverage than the legions of producers given the plethora or films looking for limited distribution alternatives. For most of my forty years of practice, the studios were the 800 pound gorillas because they controlled distribution, and they were so cocky that most of their offers were "take it or leave it." Indeed, the head of distribution at one studio once threw a contract I drafted across the room because I had the temerity to think the studio might agree to something fair. But oh, how the mighty have fallen, since streamers now control distribution, and many studios have become the beggar production companies on their knees to the streamers. No wonder that so many studios have been sold.

Implications. The economics discussed above have profound implications for the film industry, including the following:

Projections . You need a jaded eye when reviewing projections of future income. I have not yet seen projections for a new independent production company that did not show a rosy picture of ever-increasing profits. If the projections were based on historical averages, the chart with the projections would be turned 90 degrees clockwise.

Single-Film Investment . You must have a high risk tolerance to invest equity in a single film only, or even in a small slate of films, particularly where the film company does not control distribution.

Tax Planning . You should be wary of spending a lot of time and money setting up a complex international tax plan to shelter all those boatloads of cash that will be rolling in. It would be wiser to spend the time and money setting up a structure that will permit the owners to deduct the tax losses that will likely occur.

5 Trillion In Taxes In 2024

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During the fiscal year, the IRS collected more than $5 trillion in tax revenue, more than $98 billion in enforcement revenue and distributed $553 billion in federal tax refunds.

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