Map of US Home Mortgages That Have Been Renegotiated

There have been many maps, graphs, grids & breakdowns of the housing crash of recent years and the following mad dash to cover losses, limit foreclosures & convert to fixed rate mortgages. This is one that looks at it from the point of view of mortgages that have been renegotiated.

Calling the map the “Map of Misery” it reports that the CA, NV & AZ area is showing the largest grouping of “misery” with FL, WA and the Quad State area of DC, NY, NJ & MD as a close second.

source: Business Week

Economy is Soft but Porn Industry is Flaccid

Till now, porn has been a recession-proof business. As many business watchmen will tell you Porn is often a bell weather industry and right now Porn is on the decline.

The numbers are:

DVD porn is down between 10% and 30%, depending on which genre you scrutinize.

Joy King, executive vice president of Wicked Pictures, says the smallest drop is in “couples-friendly porn” Women account for roughly half of this audience.

“Gonzo” is having some of the biggest loss.

Online Porn which has long held some of the largest viewers but smallest per capita revenue is also on decline.

source: Peter Bart

Price of Oil per Barrel since 1940

Crude Oil prices have been in the news lately and have most recently hit a symbolic high of $114 a barrel. These prices are still lower if you account for inflation compared to during the Iraq/Iran war of 1980. Also the United States still enjoys a import price over the rest of the world of around $5-$7. Still though we are on track to overtake the old record of 1980 by the end of 2Q at the latest if everything stays the same.

Here is a graph posted by the New York Times that breaks down the price of oil adjusted for inflation since 1940.

Also the New York Times gives a audio primer on the actions of American oil consumption and price for the last 70 years.