Economics

I watched a lot of U.S. Open tennis over the last two weeks and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the U.S. Open had been paying women equal prize money for 50 years, thanks to the efforts of Billie Jean King. The other majors only started equal prize money for men and women this century (Australian Open in 2001; French Open in 2006 for champions and all rounds in 2007; Wimbledon in 2007). Unfortunately, if you are not an elite female tennis player, you are unlikely to earn the

The Augusta Leading Economic Index (LEI) rose 0.4 percent in June, but remains 1.3 percent below its level of June 2022. I use a three-month rolling average to smooth out very volatile local data. For example, residential building permits in the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) have varied between 407 (August 2022) and 213 (December 2022) over the last year, even after seasonal adjustment, an almost 100% swing. In June, residential housing permits fell 10 percent from May. Residential building permits have been lower than the same month, one year earlier

Kevin Hyatt is a walking (and stationary) billboard for his Hyatt Agency, LLC firm. You may have noticed his outdoor billboard while shopping at Costco or noticed him networking at area Chambers of Commerce, on “Thirsty Thursdays” at GreenJackets games, and twice a year at Augusta Business Daily conferences and Expos. That’s where he met the mother and son real estate duo, Shawna and Braydon Woodward of ReMax Reinvented. They each had a booth and Kevin approached the Woodwards and started the process at the ballpark. My service philosophy is