Toll should be in jail for the manipulations he’s pulled over the last couple of years.
1.9%! But I suspect there is a lot more in the DIY industry. Both our local Home Depot and Lowes have plenty of customers there everytime I go in and hiring signs out. Maybe it is just the Pittsburgh area, but a lot of people tell me when the economy sucks, people put more work and material into improving where they live.
Capital goods fall into two broad categories: production and consumption. I may not be using the proper economic terms.
Production goods are things like computers (used for business), factories, machinery, etc. When money is invested in them, it creates a return by generating new revenue. They are used to create new goods and services.
Consumption goods are things we use for enjoyment or comfort, but which aren’t used to create new wealth. Examples include housing, personal automobiles and computers, artwork, etc.
Enormous confusion has been created in the economy and in people’s minds by confusing these two categories. When money is invested in commercial real estate, machinery, and other production goods, it is used to generate new production. While efficiency of the investment varies, there is some inherent value of the investment based on the new income it generates.
When money is invested in consumption capital goods, it becomes static. Any potential return on investment is based not on what the item purchased generates in revenue, since it doesn’t generate any, but on the “greater fool” theory. Some person in the future will be willing to pay even more for the item. As we have recently learned with regard to housing, this is not always the case.
In some sense, only money invested in production goods is actually an investment.