The best investment? U.S. home prices crashed 43% between 2005 and 2012, yet polls find that the vast majority of Americans still consider home ownership to be a good idea and the best way for average people to build wealth. But is it? For more than 40 million households—or half of the nation’s current homeowners—the answer is no, according to a new study by HelloWallet, a firm that works with employers to provide online financial planning services to workers. The Washington Post has the full story.
On track: Those hoping for natural gas-powered car fleets on the nation’s highways might want to first look to railroads, where analysts say there’s a more compelling case to pioneer natural gas-pulled trains. The switch to natural gas as a transportation fuel has been driven by the fuel’s continued low price compared to diesel. Garry Hart, of engineering and consulting company Black & Veatch, estimated that switching just 200 locomotives to LNG fuel would cut $60 million to $80 million from a railroad’s annual fuel budget. If everything was switched, the benefits could be even greater, according to an analysis by Nicholas Chase with the U.S. Energy Information Administration. FuelFix.com has the full story.
Looking far off into the East: When Xi Jinping took the reins of a booming China two years ago, President Barack Obama saw an opportunity to remake America’s relationship with the Asian power. But even after Obama’s unusually robust efforts to forge personal ties with Xi, The Associated Press reports, the two leaders are meeting in Beijing amid significant tensions, both old and new. At the opening of talks today, Obama declared he wanted to take U.S.-China relations to a “new level.” The leaders planned to meet again on Wednesday and then make public statements. Read the full story.
