Here’s a couple informal reads on the economy. When I have a few extra ducats in my pocket, sometimes I’ll spring for the more expensive Shrimp Alfredo at Olive Garden instead of the cheaper Lasagna Classico. When Freedom Mortgage’s Stan Middleman is faced with a similar situation, instead of buying a couple seats near the dugout of the Philadelphia Phillies, he bought a piece of the entire team. I have some Tupperware that I never bought. You? My Mom went to Tupperware parties: Not expensive, lasts forever, people would have their favorites pieces, using it better than thousands of miles of plastic wrap clogging the landfills every year. But Tupperware is faltering. And so is San Francisco’s 127-year-old, iconic Anchor Brewing Company. The brewer of Anchor Steam, owned by Japan’s Sapporo, confirmed that it would not brew its beloved Christmas Ale this year due to time and cost constraints. America’s first microbrewer is planning to pull back its 50-state distribution footprint to just one: California, where the Anchor brand does roughly 70 percent of its business. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by SimpleNexus, the homeownership platform that unites the people, systems, and stages of the mortgage process into one seamless, end-to-end solution that spans engagement, origination, closing, incentive compensation, and business intelligence. Today’s has an Interview with 1st Signature Lending’s Matt Bridgman on all aspects of the construction-to-permanent (CTP) space.)