Archive for December, 2008

An interesting interactive/drill-down chart showing how the US CPI is calculated:

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Floyd Norris — NYT
December 10, 2008, 11:31 am
Shareholder Value

Three numbers, courtesy of Howard Silverblatt of Standard & Poor’s, shed some light on what companies did with their cash during boom times:

Over the last four years, since the buyback boom began, from the fourth quarter of 2004 through the third quarter of 2008, companies in the S.&P. 500 showed:

Reported earnings: $2.42 trillion
Stock buybacks: $1.73 trillion
Dividends: $0.91 trillion

As a group, every dime they made, and more, went to shareholders. Roughly $2 went to shareholders who sold out for every $1 that was paid in dividends to shareholders who held on to their shares.

article and discussion: http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/shareholder-value/

It’s a bit off-topic, but this is a beautiful example of an interactive drill-down map, from Mother Jones.

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