Submitted by Daniel Greenfield via FrontPageMag.com,

It was the end of the big year with three zeroes. The first X-Men movie had broken box office records. You couldn’t set foot in a supermarket without listening to Brittney Spears caterwauling, “Oops, I Did It Again.” And Republicans and Democrats had total control of both chambers of legislatures in the same amount of states. That was the way it was back in the distant days of the year 2000.

In 2016, Republicans control both legislative chambers in 32 states. That’s up from 16 in 2000.

By EconMatters

We discuss the Housing Market in this video by looking through a bunch of data, and possible future drivers for the Market both to the upside and downside. I have mixed emotions about the Housing Market in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnqdNFbdbuw

Israel’s security cabinet said on Sunday that remains of the members of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, killed during anti-Israel operations, would not be returned to their families for burial. The announcement was made via a statement posted on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official Twitter account. The statement said the bodies would be interred in a cemetery established for this purpose, but did not elaborate on the burial plan.

If you thought 2016 was full of market maelstroms and geopolitical gotchas, 2017's 'known unknowns' suggest a year of more mayhem awaits...

Here's a selection of key events in the year ahead (and links to Bloomberg's quick-takes on each).

January

By EconMatters