Tag Archives: US EConomics

“Weekly Indicators for November 7 – 11″ at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Although a few indicators are holding up, in the past month there has been almost continual deterioration in several employment and consumption metrics. These are particularly important for whether the consumer is pulling back, typically a signal that a recession is close to imminent. As usual, clicking over...

Real average hourly wages and real aggregate payrolls for October  – by New Deal democrat With yesterday’s report on October consumer prices, we can take up two of my favorite measures of how the working/middle class is doing – real average non-supervisory wages, and real aggregate payrolls. Real average wages for non-supervisory workers declined -0.1% for the month. They are -5% below their pandemic lockdown peak (which, recall, was...

October CPI report: total inflation increasing at 3.5% annual rate, core inflation minus shelter increasing at 2.8% annual rate in the past 4 months  – by New Deal democrat For a full year now I’ve been hammering the fact that the official CPI measure of housing inflation, “owners’ equivalent rent,” seriously lags actual house prices as measured by the most popular housing indexes. I said then, and I have reiterated almost every month since,...

Jobless claims: still holding steady  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose slightly, by 7,000, from one week ago to 225,000. The 4 week average declined -250 to 218,750. Continuing claims also rose slightly, by 6,000, to 1,493,000: This is right in the middle of where claims have been for the last 6 months. If anything, there might be a slight rising trend in the last month. The jobs market remains very tight. Aside from...

Deceleration and deterioration, but no downturn signaled  – by New Deal democrat No economic news of note today or tomorrow, except the (very late) Q3 Senior Loan Officers Report this afternoon, which will tell us about the state of credit, but is anticipated in much more timely – i.e., weekly – fashion by the Chicago Fed’s Financial Conditions Index. So let’s take a look at some noteworthy items from last Friday’s jobs report. As I...

Some Good Commentary this week. I would pay attention to the articles on Medicare Advantage. There has been a lot of complaints. If you are on Traditional Medicare, Be careful as they have been switching people over to Advantage Plans without asking. Sounds like the Fed believes people have too much cash in savings according to one article in “Economy.” Lots to read and catch up on in the world. Politics and Law “Regulators Move Against Two...

Have not done this in a while, maybe a long while. It was late 1996 and Participation Rate was up at 67%. It stayed up there till 2001 and Greenspan began a gradual decrease from in the Fed Rate from 6.0% down to 1.75%. I believe we had a small recession back then. Greenspan was trying to avoid it from becoming worse. 2001 was the last time the country saw Participation Rate at 67%.. The country has not seen a 67% Participation Rate since 2001...

Medicare is almost $200 billion in gross drug spend: Who gets the blame? — 46brooklyn Research This is a complex issue as there are many moving parts to drug pricing and their costs. Perplexing in describing the drug spend issues would seem appropriate. I am not even sure if this long post will adequately define the issue of how drug prices are set. However, here is another article which I believe may break this down even more so. Later on...

“Weekly Indicators for October 31 – November 4″ at Seeking Alpha.  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. Data doesn’t move relentlessly in one direction, and this week there was some improvement in some of the indicators I follow. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual economic moment, and reward me a little bit for my efforts. “New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators for...

Courtesy of EMicheal in comments. Kind of the point, I have been making for a while now. Labor wages are not the big driver of inflation. Corporations are increasing non-cost related prices and blaming it on inflation. But it’s not because of inflation. It is a cause of inflation. The public newscasters are selling their wares, ignorance, or lies on TV or the internet. It is a deliberate miscasting of the economic issues. Prices are rising not...