Did you know that 45 years after his death, the King of Rock N' Roll is still an economic powerhouse? Elvis’ estate generated $110 million in income as of 2022. The lion’s share was made from box office and merchandise sales at Graceland, Presley’s Memphis home, while a paltry $5 million of that came from rights for 'Elvis,' the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic.

In today's episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied discuss a Forbes article on the the highest-paid (dead) celebrities of 2022. They also look at crashing house prices, inflation and other economic matters - things that affect those of us still among the living.

They discuss a recent report from the National Association of Realtors indicating that pending home sales suffered a worse decline than expected from August to September, as mortgage rates surged. Economists had predicted a 4% drop, however sales were down 31% year over year.

Chris and Saied look at recent comments from Janet Yellen, 15th chair for the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, who admitted she had been wrong about the path inflation would take. Her comments are particularly surprising considering how rare it is for someone from Washington to admit they were wrong in such an honest, public way.

They also discuss a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis stating that the core personal consumption expenditures price index - an economic gauge that the Federal Reserve follows closely - increased 0.5% in September from the previous month and 5.1% from a year ago.

Join Chris and Saied for this fascinating conversation.

Enjoy!

What You’ll Learn in this Show:

• The reasons why pending home sales fell 10% in September, and why the drop is much worse than expected.
• Credit Suisse's bold new restructuring plan designed to begin repairing their reputation.
• Why the Federal Reserve really doesn't care about the economy.
• Elon Musk's plans to make Twitter's 'blue checkmark' more accessible to everyone.
• And so much more...

Resources:

Adam Schafer's Instagram

"Pending home sales fell 10% in September, much worse than expected" (article from CNBC)

"Homebuilders say they’re on the edge of a steeper downturn as buyers pull back" (article from CNBC)

"Moody’s: Home prices to crash 20% in Nashville—here’s the revised forecast for the nation’s 322 largest housing markets" (article from Fortune)

"Janet Yellen said she doesn’t see signs of a recession, but Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman argues the worst is yet to come" (article from Fortune)

Janet Yellen (via Wikipedia)

"Yellen's words on inflation won't end America's price hikes" (article from CNN)

"How Did They Get Inflation So Wrong?" (article from The Atlantic)

"The Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities Of 2022—A Writer Earns Half-A-Billion From The Great Beyond" (article from Forbes)

"These Are the World’s Richest Families" (article from Bloomberg)

"Key inflation gauge for the Fed rose 0.5% in September, in line with expectations" (article from CNBC)