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A portmanteau is one for my favorite tools of the English language.  It sounds awfully French to be English, but I digress.  They result from blending two or more words.  Spork is probably the most utilitarian one I can think of.  You can eat a salad or bowl of cereal with that portmanteau.   Those of us in Southern California are familiar with smog (smoke + fog).&

Data can be an incredibly useful tool.  Used correctly, the bits can be turned into information.  Once information begins to collect, knowledge could be a byproduct.  Atlas downloads data daily and uses it to make objective decisions about the portfolios we manage.  Most of the time, however, data tells us the “what” of a story and nearly never tells the “w

Charlie Brown just wants to kick a football.  Yet each time I’ve watched him attempt it, Lucy van Pelt swipes the ball away right as he plants his non-kicking foot.  As the rules of Newtonian Physics kick in, he ends up in a horizontal position before falling to the ground.

Cash use has been on the decline.  Technology has made it easier to spend money without it ever being held in your hands.  Consumption is nearly frictionless as mobile technologies allow a person to go from an advertisement on social media to payment in seconds.  So, are we headed to a cashless society?  The jury is still out but a trend has emerged.

As far as economic indicators go, gross domestic product (GDP) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is probably one of the most popular.  Despite the attention this comprehensive look at American output receives, it offers some of the oldest data available in a new release when it is published because it includes information as old as the first month from the previous quarter.