SBA 7(a) Rate Update

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate December 2012 = 3.22%
SBA Fixed Base Rate December 2012 = 4.44%

Lenders can charge up to 2.75% over these indices.

The SBA and sequacious

sequacious

si-KWAY-shuhs

Unthinkingly following others.

From Latin sequax (inclined to follow), from sequi (to follow).

_______________________________________________

TIP OF THE WEEK 

SBA loans posted the second largest dollar volume ever in fiscal year 2012.  That amount was surpassed only by fiscal year 2011, which was heavily boosted by the loan incentives under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.  The totals for fiscal year 2012 include $15.15 billion SBA 7(a) loans. 

Leading the charge were nearly 1,300 new lenders turning to SBA lending.

______________________________________

7(a) Indices:

RIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate November 2012 = 3.21%

SBA Fixed Base Rate November 2012 = 4.51%

________________________________________

504 Debenture Rate for November

The debenture rate is 2.09% but note rate is 2.12771% and effective yield is only 4.171%.

 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 

After sequacious voters re-elected Obama, sequacious investors panicked.

The money flowed into the relative safety of U.S. treasuries.   At an auction the day after the election, Treasury 30-year bond yields fell to a two-month low.   The yield on the current 30-year bond dropped six basis points to 2.77 percent.  The bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with the amount of bonds offered, was 2.77, versus an average of 2.59 for the past 10 sales.

Ever since Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater for the presidency in 1964, yields on long term Treasuries have dropped about 40 basis points in the first month when a Democrat wins, and risen 19 after a Republican victory.

Here is what the 30 year bond has been doing:

2001- 5.49
2002- 5.43
2003- ND
2004- ND
2005- ND
2006- 4.91
2007- 4.84
2008- 4.18
2009- 3.89
2010- 4.61

2011- 2.89

2012- 2.77


What does all this mean?

I don’t know.

Long term interest rates are being held down by Operation Twist.  Under Operation Twist, the Federal Reserve swaps about $45 billion each month of short-term debt and buys the same amount of longer-term Treasuries. 

The Fed by the end of December will have largely exhausted its supply of short-term debt.

Once the Fed runs out of short-term debt, it will have to decide if it wants to make outright purchases of longer term Treasuries.  The new bond buying would further expand the Fed’s balance sheet, which has more than TRIPLED to $2.88 trillion, from less than $900 billion in early 2008.

Keep your eyes and ears open for the Federal Open Market Committee’s last scheduled meeting of the year, December 11^th through the 12^th.

__________________________________________

OFF BASE

Lemmings must be sequacious, right?

The little furry guys plunging off a cliff seem to be the animal kingdom’s living embodiment of being sequacious.    Except that lemmings don’t actually run off cliffs committing mass suicide.   

They’re pushed. 

The 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, staged footage with lemmings jumping to certain death.  These were faked scenes of mass migration.  A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found the lemmings used for White Wilderness did not jump off the cliff, but were in fact launched off the cliff using a turntable.

SBA 504 Debenture Rate

Debenture Rate for November

The debenture rate is 2.09% but note rate is 2.12771% and effective yield is only 4.171%.

SBA 7(a) Rate Update

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate November 2012 = 3.21%
SBA Fixed Base Rate November 2012 = 4.51%

Lenders can charge up to 2.75% over these indices.

The SBA and draconian

draconian

(dray-KO-nee-uhn, druh-)

Unusually harsh.

After Draco (late 7th century BCE), Athenian legislator, noted for the harshness of his code of laws.

Under Draco's laws even trivial offenses, such as idleness, brought capital punishment. When asked why he had instituted the death penalty for most offenses, he supposedly replied that the lesser crimes deserved it and he knew of no greater punishment for more important ones.  His laws were said to be written in blood instead of ink.

_______________________________________________

TIP OF THE WEEK 

The draconian pummeling of commercial real estate is over. 

According to CoStar, prices for commercial real estate are posting significant gains.

The CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices reached its highest level since early 2009. It has now improved by a cumulative 34.1% since the start of 2010.

If you would like a copy of CoStar’s most recent report, let me know.

SBA loans can finance the purchase or refinance of commercial real estate.

______________________________________

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate October 2012 = 3.21%

SBA Fixed Base Rate October 2012 = 4.47%
________________________________________

Debenture Rate for October

The debenture rate is 2.18% but note rate is 2.219% and effective yield is only 4.262%.

 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 

The Federal Reserve met last week and they said that “without sufficient policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions.”

Labor market conditions are atrocious.

Last month, the economy added only 114,000 workers.  That is not even keeping up with growth in population.

On Friday, the Department of Labor will provide its last report on employment before the election.

Here is a summary of net monthly payroll employment and this week’s interesting little table of data:

September 114,000

August 142,000

July 181,000

June 45,000

May 77,000

April 68,000

March 143,000

February 240,000

January 243,000

2011

December 203,000

November 157,000

October 112,000

September 158,000

August 104,000

July 127,000

June 20,000

May 25,000

April 232,000

March 194,000

February 235,000

January 68,000

2010

December 121,000

November 93,000

October 210,000

September (41,000)

August (1,000)

July (66,000)

June (175,000)

May 431,000

April 218,000

March 230,000

February (36,000)

January (26,000)

2009

December (150,000)

November (11,000)

October (111,000)

September (215,000)

August (201,000)

July (304,000)

June (443,000)

May (322,000)

April (504,000)

March (699,000)

February (651,000)

January (655,000)

2008

December (681,000)

November (597,000)

October (423,000)

September (403,000)

August (127,000)

July (67,000)

June (100,000)

May (47,000)

April (67,000)

March (88,000)

February- (83,000)

January- (76,000)

What does all this mean?

I don’t know.

Only one president, Ronald Reagan, has been re-elected since World War II with unemployment above 6 percent. On Election Day 1984, the rate was at 7.2 percent, having fallen almost THREE percentage points in the previous 18 months. 

The unemployment rate now is at 7.8 percent.  It has fallen only 1.2 percentage points in the last eighteen months.

The Federal Reserve will have to keep interest rates low, as they have stated, until at least the middle of 2015.

The Federal Reserve will also need to decide by the end of December whether to continue with Treasury purchases after the expiration that month of so-called Operation Twist. Under that program, the central bank swaps about $45 billion each month of short-term debt and buys the same amount of longer-term Treasuries.  Operation Twist has kept longer term interest rates lower.  The Fed by the end of December will have largely exhausted its supply of short-term debt.

Something draconian needs to be done.

__________________________________________

OFF BASE

Making the wrong choice can have draconian consequences. 

For example, let’s say you win the coin toss before a college football game.  What do you pick?  Kickoff or receive? 

Turns out you actually have more than just two choices.

The visiting team calls the toss. The winner of the toss may defer their choice to the start of the second half, or they may take first choice of:

-Receiving the kickoff to start the game, or kicking off to start the game

-Choosing an end of the field to defend in the first quarter

The loser of the toss gets the remaining option.

At the start of the second half, the team that did not choose first (either because they deferred their choice or because they lost the toss) gets the first choice of options.

A mistake before their game against Arizona State nearly cost UCLA.  At the time of the coin flip, UCLA captains were not yet on the field and punter Jeff Locke, who was out on the field warming up, was left to make the call on the toss.

UCLA won the toss, but Locke chose to kick off -- instead of deferring the ability to receive until the second half. That meant Arizona State took the ball to open the game, and then got to take the ball again to start the third quarter.  ASU got an extra possession.

UCLA freshman Ka'imi Fairbairn had to then kick a 33-yard field goal as time expired to give the visiting Bruins a 45-43 road victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils.  Ka”imi was 0 for 5 on field goals beyond 36 yards.

Ka’imi, by the way, is short for Ka iminoeauloameka ikeokekumupa a. 

If you feel like you are in the dark now, you really will be next week.  Daylight Saving Time ends November 4^th.    A few days later is Election day.  Hopefully you won’t be using a coin toss to help you decide.   Fortunately a three day weekend follows with the Veterans Day holiday (It is Daylight Saving not savingS and it is Veterans Day without the apostrophe).

SBA 504 Debenture Rate for October

Debenture Rate for October

The debenture rate is 2.18% but note rate is 2.219% and effective yield is only 4.262%.

The SBA and cunctator

cunctator

(kungk-TAY-tuhr)

One who hesitates; a procrastinator or delayer.

From Latin cunctari (to hesitate, delay).

_______________________________________________

TIP OF THE WEEK 

The SBA, being the cunctators that they are, will not be releasing updated Standard Operating Procedures for awhile.  The once annual reshuffling of the rules has been cunctated.

They have however recently released a new policy notice revising the definition of "Rentable Property".

Policy Notice 5000-1252 allows rentable property to also include exterior space (except parking areas).  Except parking areas are allowed when it is a parking lot business.

______________________________________

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate October 2012 = 3.21%

SBA Fixed Base Rate October 2012 = 4.47%
________________________________________

Debenture Rate for September

The debenture rate is 2.20% but note rate is 2.23936% and effective yield is only 4.279%.

 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 

Employers are still cunctating.

The economy added only 114,000 workers last month after a revised 142,000 gain in August.  The revised August gain reflected a surge in the hiring of teachers.

Speaking of teachers, here is the lesson:   only one president, Ronald Reagan, has been re-elected since World War II with unemployment above 6 percent. On Election Day 1984, the rate was at 7.2 percent, having fallen almost three percentage points in the previous 18 months.  The unemployment rate now is at 7.8 percent, the lowest since President Obama took office in January 2009.  Unemployment had been higher than 8 percent since February 2009, the longest stretch since monthly jobless figures were first compiled in 1948. 

This 7.8 percent unemployment rate matches the January 2009 figure.

Here is a summary of net monthly payroll employment and this week’s interesting little table of data:

September 114,000

August 142,000

July 181,000

June 45,000

May 77,000

April 68,000

March 143,000

February 240,000

January 243,000

2011

December 203,000

November 157,000

October 112,000

September 158,000

August 104,000

July 127,000

June 20,000

May 25,000

April 232,000

March 194,000

February 235,000

January 68,000

2010

December 121,000

November 93,000

October 210,000

September (41,000)

August (1,000)

July (66,000)

June (175,000)

May 431,000

April 218,000

March 230,000

February (36,000)

January (26,000)

2009

December (150,000)

November (11,000)

October (111,000)

September (215,000)

August (201,000)

July (304,000)

June (443,000)

May (322,000)

April (504,000)

March (699,000)

February (651,000)

January (655,000)

2008

December (681,000)

November (597,000)

October (423,000)

September (403,000)

August (127,000)

July (67,000)

June (100,000)

May (47,000)

April (67,000)

March (88,000)

February- (83,000)

January- (76,000)

What does all this mean?

I don’t know.

The economy has only added 1.3 million payroll jobs over the first nine months of the year. At this pace, the economy would only add around 1.8 million private sector jobs in 2012; less than the 2.1 million added in 2011.

Keep your eyes and ears open for Thursday’s $13 billion sale of 30 year Treasury bonds.  At last month’s sale, the yield was up to 2.896% while the month before it was at 2.825%. 

On Friday, the 30 year Treasury yield was up to 2.97%. 

Over the past month, the yield curve has steepened somewhat. 

The slope of the yield curve—the difference between the yields on short- and long-term maturity bonds—has achieved some notoriety as a simple forecaster of economic growth.  A steeper yield curve indicates strong growth.  According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, projecting forward using past values of the slope of the yield curve and GDP growth suggests that real GDP will grow at about a 0.6 percent rate over the next year.  Using the yield curve to predict whether or not the economy will be in recession in the future, they estimate that the expected chance of the economy being in a recession next September is 8.1 percent, down from July’s 11.7 percent.

So although their approach is somewhat pessimistic as regards to the level of growth over the next year, it is quite optimistic about the recovery continuing.

__________________________________________

OFF BASE

I stumbled across some old Peanuts comic strips.

Charlie Brown and Linus sit silently for the first three panels before Charlie Brown screams, "WHY COULDN'T McCOVEY HAVE HIT THE BALL JUST THREE FEET HIGHER?"

A month later, another one appears.  Charlie Brown and Linus sit silently for the first three panels until Charlie Brown screams, "OR WHY COULDN'T McCOVEY HAVE HIT THE BALL EVEN TWO FEET HIGHER?"

In Game 7 of the 1962 World Series, the Yankees led 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth.  With two outs and a runner on third and second, Willy McCovey came to the plate.  Instead of walking him to load the bases, pitcher Ralph Terry pitches.  McCovey rips a screaming line drive towards right field.  No cunctator, second baseman Bobby Richardson does not even have to move has he gloves the ball for the final out of the World Series.

Many people think this was the only time Charles Schulz ever referred to a real life current event in Peanuts.

Almost a year later, Sally Brown comes up behind her brother, who’s watching TV, and nonchalantly says, “Guess what?” After Charlie Brown takes the bait and asks “What?” she carefully looks around the house, and drags her big brother behind the sofa where she’s sure that no one will hear her, and whispers, “We prayed in school today.”

The SBA and overslaugh

overslaugh

(O-vuhr-slaw)

1. To pass over someone in favor of another, as in a promotion.

2. To bar or to hinder.

From Dutch overslaan (to pass over, omit), from over + slaan (to strike).

_______________________________________________

TIP OF THE WEEK 

The SBA has not been overslaughed.

Congress increased the federal subsidy for Small Business Administration loans in the bill that funds the government for the next six months, a rare case of an agency getting more money than it had this year.

The SBA fared better than most agencies, because Congress increased the subsidy it needs to guarantee loans to small businesses from $210 million this year to $333 million next year.

That means the SBA should be able to back up to $16 billion in loans next year with SBA 7(a) loans.

SBA 7(a) loans can be used for real estate purchase, real estate debt refinance, business debt refinance, business acquisition, working capital, and equipment purchase.

______________________________________

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate September 2012 = 3.23%

SBA Fixed Base Rate September 2012 = 4.47%
________________________________________

Debenture Rate for September

The debenture rate is 2.20% but note rate is 2.23936% and effective yield is only 4.279%.

 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 

No overslaugh from the Federal Reserve.

At the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting, the Federal Reserve committed to maintaining a highly accommodative monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve also updated its projections of future growth of Gross Domestic Product.

Some people are high-fiving each other now that the Fed is predicting growth of 1.70 to 2.0% this year, and 2.5 to 3.0% next year, which is up from the 1.7% growth recorded in 2011.

This is not something to cheer about.

How bad are we doing? If our economy's projected growth rate doubles to 4% it would still be 30% behind its growth rate from before the recession and half of what it was back in the '80s.

The U.S. economy has never been so sluggish this long into a recovery. The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009.

Keep your eyes and ears open for next week’s final estimate for second quarter GDP.  It was previously estimated at 1.7 percent for the second quarter while the first quarter came in at 2.0 percent.

Here is what GDP has been doing and this week’s interesting little table of data:

2nd quarter 2012:          1.7%

1st quarter 2012:            2.0%

4th quarter 2011:            3.0%

3rd quarter 2011:           1.80%

2nd quarter 2011:           1.30%

1st quarter 2011:             0.4%

4th quarter 2010:           3.1%

3rd quarter 2010:           2.6%

2nd quarter 2010:          1.7%

1st quarter 2010:            3.7%

4th quarter 2009:           5.6%

3rd quarter 2009:          2.2%

2nd quarter 2009:          (0.7)%

1st quarter 2009:            (6.4)%

What does this mean?

I don’t know.

Enhancements to the SBA 7(a) loan program in 2009 caused the volume of SBA 7(a) loans to increase significantly.

With increases in SBA 7(a) loan approvals, the economy soon recovered

The prescience nature of SBA 7(a) loan volume with respect to the gross domestic product leads one to the inevitable conclusion that SBA 7(a) loans contribute positively to gross domestic product.

Just for fun I calculated the correlation coefficient between SBA 7(a) loan volume and GDP for six years using the Microsoft CORREL function.  It came out to a statistically significant 0.86.

It’s our patriotic duty to not overslaugh SBA loans.

__________________________________________

OFF BASE

The relentless march of the seasons can not be overslaughed.  Summer has ended. 

And now Adam Dunn may be overslaughed by Miguel Cabrera.

As the season comes to end, Dunn has a chance to do what no hitter has done in 85 years.    The last player to lead all of baseball with the most home runs, the most walks and the most strikeouts was Babe Ruth in 1927.

Dunn easily leads with the most strikeouts and walks this season.  He is three home runs off the leader’s pace.

Leading the pack right now for the most home runs in baseball is Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers.  Cabrera also leads the American League with the highest batting average and most runs batted in.    Should he end up leading the league in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in, he will earn batting’s Triple Crown.

  The last Triple Crown winner was Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox in 1967. 

SBA 504 Debenture Rate for September

504 Debenture Rate for September

The debenture rate is 2.20% but note rate is 2.23936% and effective yield is only 4.279%. 

The SBA and enchiridion

enchiridion

en-ky-RID-ee-uhn

A handbook or a manual.

From Latin enchiridion, from Greek encheiridion, from en- (in) + cheir (hand) + -idion (diminutive suffix).

In the beginning an enchiridion was a book concise enough to be carried in one's hand, as its origin from Greek cheir (hand) suggests. Both 'handbook' and 'manual' are literal equivalents of the word from English and Latin (from Latin manus: hand) respectively.

_______________________________________________

TIP OF THE WEEK 

The enchiridion for SBA loans is the SOP 50-10-5 (E).

It was last updated June 1, 2012.

The prior enchiridion, SOP 50-10-5 (D) had just been released last October. 

Another new enchiridion, SOP 50-10-5 (F) original scheduled for October 1^st now won’t be out for awhile.

I have been doing SBA loans for over 28 years now.  I was beginning to wonder if it was really one year repeated 28 times.

______________________________________

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate September 2012 = 3.23%

SBA Fixed Base Rate September 2012 = 4.47%
________________________________________

504 Debenture Rate for August  

The debenture rate is 2.37% but note rate is 2.41% and effective yield is only 4.45%. 

 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 

The Federal Reserve does not have an enchiridion.

Flying by the seat of its pants, the Fed has held the fed funds rate at zero percent since December of 2008.

The Fed has also exploded its balance sheet with two rounds of quantitative easing purchasing over $2 trillion of mortgage back securities and longer term Treasuries.

Despite this, employers added a disappointing 96,000 non-farm jobs in August.

The change in payroll employment for July was revised down from +163,000 to +141,000, and June was revised down from +64,000 to +45,000, for a total revision of minus 41,000 over those two months.

The past three months, monthly job gains have averaged 94,000 compared with 95,000 a month in the second quarter and well below the average monthly gain of 225,000 in the first quarter.

The minutes of the Fed’s July 31-Aug. 1 meeting showed many policy makers said additional stimulus would be needed unless the economy shows signs of a durable pickup.

With NO signs of a durable pickup, what will the Fed do?  

The Fed meets this week and will announce what it is going to do on Thursday the 13^th.

The next day, the Federal Reserve will release its report on industrial production and capacity utilization.

Here is what capacity utilization rates have done:

1997- 83.6

1998- 83.0

1999- 82.4

2000- 82.6

2001- 77.4

2002- 75.6

2003- 74.6

2004- 79.2

2005- 80.7

2006- 82.4

2007- 81.5

2008- 79.9

2009- 67.3

2010- 74.8

2011- 76.7

2012- 79.0

What does all this mean?

I don't know.

The capacity utilization rate, which measures how much plants and factories are being used, is one of the Federal Reserve’s favorite gauges of the economy.

The Federal Reserve watches capacity utilization rates to see if production constraints are threatening to cause inflationary pressures. Bottlenecks or shortages often lead to inflationary pressures that would drive prices even higher.

Several analysts have pointed to a rate between 81% and 82% as a tipping point over which inflation is spurred.

In July, capacity utilization for total industry moved up 0.4 percentage point to 79.3 percent. 

While capacity utilization is up 2.3 percent from a year ago, it probably will stall also.

Last week’s job report reflected factory payrolls decreasing by 15,000, its biggest drop in two years.

The jump in capacity utilization was driven by a jump in utility production as Americans tried to cool their homes.

July was the hottest month in the lower 48 states in records going back to 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  The average temperature in the 48 states was 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit (25.3 Celsius), or 3.3 degrees above normal, the agency reported. 

The Fed must also be feeling the heat.

__________________________________________

OFF BASE

9/11.  It’s been eleven years already.  I guess we are still writing the enchiridion on that one.

Important enchiridions include-

The Holy Bible

Poor Richard’s Almanac by Benjamin Franklin

US Army Survival Manual

Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home by Emily Post

"Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life"

Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style

The Enchiridion of Epictetus

The list on the refrigerator my wife wrote for me

SBA 7(a) Rate Update

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate September 2012 = 3.23%
SBA Fixed Base Rate September 2012 = 4.47%

Lenders can charge up to 2.75% over these indices.

The SBA and refulgent

refulgent

ri-FUHL-juhnt

Shining brilliantly.

From Latin refulgere (to radiate light, to reflect), from re- (back) + fulgere (to shine).

_______________________________________________

TIP OF THE WEEK 

Sales of small buildings across the U.S have risen this year to the highest since 2008 as buyers take advantage of prices that have yet to rebound from the property crash and increased access to financing.

The sales volume for properties of less than $5 million jumped 41 percent in May from a year earlier to $4 billion, Boxwood Means reported this month. Of the 122 metropolitan areas that the company tracks, 88 posted year-over-year increases. Total volume for the first five months of 2012 was $20.3 billion, the highest for the period since 2008.

Boxwood's sales price indices mirror the diversity of the small-cap CRE market by combining and tracking closed sales among various small commercial property types that range from conventional office, industrial and retail uses and also include secondary property types often associated with owner-users and single tenants such as free-standing buildings, street retail, mixed use, restaurant buildings, commercial condos and more.

A SBA loan is the refulgent option to financing these buildings!

______________________________________

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate August 2012 = 3.24%

SBA Fixed Base Rate August 2012 = 3.97%
________________________________________

504 Debenture Rate for August  

The debenture rate is 2.37% but note rate is 2.41% and effective yield is only 4.45%. 

 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 

When the Federal Reserve meets, people actually write down what they say.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee July 31-August 1 meeting show many officials favored pushing the timetable for any increase in record-low short-term rates beyond the Fed's current target of late 2014 at the earliest.

 Some think the target will be extended to mid-2015.  The minutes said Fed officials agreed to defer any action on extending the timetable until their next meeting in September.

So where then are interest rates going?

Eurodollar futures settle at a three- month lending rate that has averaged about 22 basis points more than the Fed's target over the past 10 years.

Here is a summary of what the market expects for Eurodollar futures based upon the pit-traded prices at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange:

DEC12- 0.38

DEC13- 0.48

DEC14- 0.68

DEC15- 1.11

DEC16- 1.70

DEC17- 2.26

DEC18- 2.67

DEC19- 2.95

What does all this mean?

I don’t know.

It would appear that interest rates are never ever going up.

__________________________________________

OFF BASE

Not only does the Federal Reserve tell us where interest rates are going, they also let us know when we can take a day off.

According to them, here are our remaining holidays for the year:

Labor Day           September 3   

Columbus Day   October 8       

Veterans Day    November 12  

Thanksgiving     November 22  

Christmas Day   December 25

That means we have a three day weekend coming up!

It also means that major league baseball is in its home stretch and Adam Dunn has a month to be refulgent and do what no baseball player has done in 85 years.

Dunn wields his bat like the hammer of Thor and leads all of baseball in home runs, walks, and strikeouts. 

The last player to lead all of baseball with the most home runs, the most walks and the most strikeouts was Babe Ruth in 1927.

Walks, homers and strikeouts are called baseball's three true outcomes.

Three truth outcomes.  That sounds kind of cool and they are the only plays in baseball which no one other than the pitcher and batter go at it.