Juggling Dynamite

The reality of rapid asset inflation that disconnects prices from economic fundamentals is that the gains are destined for mean reversion because as affordability evaporates, higher prices become the cure for higher prices…

Mortgage rates are barely moving, but demand among mortgage-dependent home buyers is weakening, data show.

Total mortgage application volume fell 3.6 percent on-week for the week ending July 11th on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Here is a direct video link.

Too much sun is clearly a health (and wrinkle) risk, but I have long had a concern that too much sunscreen will also prove detrimental to health. Limiting exposure seems to be the safer plan.

Parents are being warned to stop using spray sunscreens on children following an FDA investigation into potential inhalation risks. Here is a direct video link.

FRONTLINE examines the growing divide in the American school system. On its face this can look like a racial divide, and certainly many racial minorities are found in the group of disadvantaged students. But more than race, this divide is primarily socio-economic. Poor kids of all walks are at greatest risk of growing segregation in our society. This is a complex issue with responsibility and accountability needed on all sides; but the more poor kids are left behind, the more vulnerable and weakened “we” the people.

Sixty years after the Supreme Court declared separate schools for black and white children unconstitutional, school segregation is making a comeback. Here is a direct video link.

For more on the value of good teachers, also see: What teacher’s make