Thanks to a minuscule 1.6percentt rise in the cost of living over the last year, relatively restrained nominal pay increases are being translated into relatively robust real gains.
Through his hedge fund, Hayman Advisors, Bass has also bought $6 million worth of securities that will jump in value if interest rates on ten-year Japanese government bonds, currently a minuscule 1.3%, rise to something more like ten-year Treasuries in the U.S. (a recent 3.4%).
His comparatively small audience forced him to adhere to minuscule budgets (rising to $100,000 from $40,000 over the decades) and to do much of the work himself.
Either is a tiny fraction of more than £500bn spent over the parliament but a significant chunk of the sometimes minuscule annual rises.
This has steadied Smithfield's profits, but it has also antagonised small pig farmers and independent plants.Where's the fat?For all this effort, Smithfield's profit margins are minuscule, rarely rising above 3%.
Fatherhood rates among older men, always minuscule, have not risen since Viagra came on the market.
Profit margins, notoriously thin in good times, are minuscule now, and each rise in fuel prices pushes more truckers into the red.
Several people interviewed on Thursday said they felt nickel-and-dimed by the growing cost of living, and especially by things like the higher subway fares, the rising cost of food, and even seemingly minuscule price increases at the laundry.
But given the recent downturn in the economy, defaults are sure to rise above the minuscule historical average of less than 1 percent a year.
More significant, spending by the older women leapt 12percentt from the previous year, compared with a minuscule tenth of a percent rise in spending by the younger women.
