Tag Archives: US EConomics

What happens to employment when the minimum wage is increased? USAFacts Open thread and QOTD, Angry Bear, Joel Eissenberg, November 8

Increasing Numbers of Underage Children Employed A large portion of this post is taken from “The Unjust Cost of Child Labor,” Roosevelt Institute, as written by Alí R. Bustamante. I have added additional information from what I know and have read from current events. The Child Labor Statistics JPeg is taken from “Child Labor Violations on the Rise Amid State Efforts to Ease Laws” | Best States | U.S. News, Chris Gilligan. Oher parts of this...

Dale Coberly discussing the latest news on Social Security. SOCIAL SECURITY, A BREAKTHROUGH? Dale Coberly For years I have been trying to inform people that the great big, huge horrible “Looming Trillion Dollar Unfunded Deficit” in Social Security could be fixed forever with a one tenth of one percent increase in the Social Security tax whenever the Trustees projected “short range financial inadequacy. This would amount to about a dollar per...

I have been sharing New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators with an Edward Jones consultant who handles our funds. He was pretty impressed with the detail New Deal democrat gives here and at Seeking Alpha. He has his own account so he can go every week (I am limited). If have some time, you should explore NDd’s stats. Weekly Indicators for November 6 – 10 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking...

Maybe $88 billion and $140 billion will get your attention? Congress does not blink an eye at this expenditure. Received an email from PNHP’s Kip Sullivan who is knowledgeable on Single Payer and Medicare Advantage healthcare plans. Whenever he writes an article, he sends me an email so Angry Bear can be first in line to place it on the blogosphere. Computer was down and I am a couple of days late in posting his commentary. If you are unaware...

Consumption leads (longer term) unemployment, too  – by New Deal democrat Once again there is no new economic data, so let me follow up some more on the issue of longer term unemployment. Earlier this week I pointed out that just as initial claims lead continuing claims, so does short term unemployment (under 5 weeks) lead long term unemployment (15 weeks and over). Think of unemployment as a pipeline, and the intake flows before the main...

When I started as a PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill, my stipend as an NIH trainee was $3900/year (ca. $20K in today’s dollars). When I started as a postdoc at Washington University in 1982, my salary was $12,800 (ca. $41K in today’s dollars). At the time, I regarded this as the opportunity cost of PhD and postdoc training. 2023 me is satisfied that I was able to make up that opportunity cost on the spreadsheet, not to mention job satisfaction that...

Scenes from the October jobs report: soft landing vs. continued slow deceleration  – by New Deal democrat  First, an editorial note: economic news is light this week, so don’t be surprised if I play hooky for a day or two. That being said, let’s take a look at the most important trends, as I see them, from Friday’s employment report. The Big Question is, are we having a proverbial “soft landing?” Or is that just an illusory phase on...

This is mostly a recital of an article by Peterson-KFF (March 2022) on medical debt as held by average people. A few tweaks here and there. The article content adds another block of reasoning to the foundation for Medicare for All, single payer, etc. It is long and I know some who have short attention spans. Myself? I like numbers as it tells me more in a direct fashion than decipher words and intent. If you have a few minutes, read it and scan the...

Weekly Indicators for October 30 – November 3 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. One way I keep track of the producer side of the economy is via the long leading indicator of corporate profits and the short leading indicator of the stock market. As is implied, the former has a long history of leading the latter. Except that the stock market turned down in 2022 before profits did and...