May jobs report: almost all positive, but not good enough HEADLINES: 559,000 jobs added: 492,000 private sector plus 67,000 government. The alternate, and more volatile measure in the household report indicated a gain of 444,000 jobs, which factors into the unemployment and underemployment rates below.The total number of employed is still 7,629,000, or 5.0% below its pre-pandemic peak. At the rate jobs have grown this year, it will take...
Read More »New jobless claims continue strong decline, consistent with ongoing recovery, while continuing claims continue mixed
New jobless claims continue strong decline, consistent with ongoing recovery, while continuing claims continue mixed New jobless claims continue to be the most important weekly economic datapoint, as increasing numbers of vaccinated people and outdoor activities have led to an abatement of the pandemic – deaths are at their lowest point in over a year, and new infections at their lowest points since the onset of the pandemic. Several weeks...
Read More »My Latest Book
My Latest Book Heck, I might as well brag here when I have the opportunity, and I do. So, just a couple of days ago my latest book came out from Springer Nature. It is called Foundations and Applications of Complexity Economics. I am not going to go on about it or its contents other than to note that I have published on this general topic before on numerous occasions, with my last book out on it a decade ago in 2011, also from Springer. ...
Read More »Open thread June 4, 2021
May manufacturing continues white hot; April construction spending shows signs of being constrained by materials and costs
May manufacturing continues white hot; April construction spending shows signs of being constrained by materials and costs It’s the first of the month, which means we get our first look at May data in the form of the ISM manufacturing index, as well as April construction spending. The questions we are looking for information to answer from these two leading sectors of the economy, manufacturing and residential construction, are: (1) is the...
Read More »Larry Summers and the Growth Convincing Argument
First I should note that at a time when I had totally messed up my life, Larry Summers saved me from well earned unemployment. As my PhD Supervisor, he was amazingly patient about the amazing delays preceding my actually producing anything along the lines of a written document. The title is a reference to a hypothetical dog. an economics professor, Solomon Fabricant, coined the term ”growth recession” to describe a period in which the economy...
Read More »Construction Increases 0.2% in April After March is Revised 0.5% Higher
MONTHLY CONSTRUCTION SPENDING, APRIL 2021, June 1, 2021Angry Bear Commenter RJS blogs at MarketWatch 666 and presents current economic market information. Estimates the impact of the February and March revisions on the 1st quarter GDP and is estimating the impact of this April report on 2nd quarter GDP (see below past Census reports. ___________________ The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending for April (pdf) estimated that the...
Read More »Slamming Chase CEO Jamie Dimon – Overdraft Fees
I would watch Elizabeth Warren pummel Jamie Dimon all day. pic.twitter.com/S1XPzMriZf— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) May 26, 2021Elizabeth Warren Slams JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon on Overdraft Fees – Rolling Stone I could watch this over and over. It is similar to when she put the spotlight on John Roberts in the Senate. This is a good take down of Jamie Dimon by Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Senator is relentless. It appears Chase was...
Read More »Coronavirus dashboard for June 2: most of US approaches herd immunity threshold; COVID still spreading among the remaining idiots
Coronavirus dashboard for June 2: most of US approaches herd immunity threshold; COVID still spreading among the remaining idiots In the past week new COVID-19 cases declined almost 30%, by about 7,000 to 17,289/day; however, deaths actually increased by about 10% to an average of 589/day, mainly due to a data dump by California 5 and 6 days ago – thus I expect a new low in deaths within the next several days: Figure 1 Total deaths are...
Read More »Comprehensive April housing report: beware the inventory and price boomerang!
by New Deal democrat Comprehensive April housing report: beware the inventory and price boomerang! Now that we have all of the April housing data, my comprehensive look at this long leading sector is up at Seeking Alpha. It’s pretty clear that sales and new construction have peaked in the short term. So, what happens when all of those people who would have put their houses on the market in 2020, but didn’t because of the coronavirus,...
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