Up from craft workers to those of the large industrials, by the mid-20th Century unions had grown to represent large segments of American workers (density peaked at 35% of workers in 1954, membership at 21 million in 1979). From the mid-1930s through the mid-1960s they played a huge role in the nation’s politics, social order, […]
More Economic and Government topics the time. Much of it due to the pandemic caused economic issue. It is interesting as to how the news varies from week to week and what becomes important. I did add reports on Ukraine’s economy for 2022. You will see percentages from ~31% to ~38% cited depending on who […]
Another take on wages and salaries outpacing inflation. Not so says Robert Shapiro. Inflation Reality Check: Don’t Blame Wages and Salaries for High Prices, Washington Monthly, Robert J. Shapiro Yes, economics can be complicated, and economic reporters work under tight deadlines. There is no excuse for the media meme blaming rising wages for much of […]
Updating some important coincident indicators – by New Deal democrat We returned to no more significant monthly data today. So here are some important coincident indicators I’ve been particularly following. Redbook consumer purchases only increased 4.3% YoY last week, the lowest number in almost 2 years. The 4 week average also declined to 4.7%, also […]
Many things can be accomplished when you have a majority in Congress, Well. almost. For Democrats, Sinema is still growing up and trying to decide what she wants to be. Being a Democrat is boring. Sitting with Repubs is more exciting as Dems notice. There is no excitement in going along with the crowd. Gotta […]
As Holiday seasonality disappears, initial jobless claims turn higher YoY – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims rose 13,000 last week to 196,000. The four-week moving average declined -7,500 to 189,250. Continuing claims increased 38,000 to 1,688,000. Below I show all three since initial claims first fell below 300,000 in late October 2021: Because […]
From the New York Times, Ezra Klein’s opinion piece, The Story Construction Tells About America’s Economy Is Disturbing Here’s something odd: We’re getting worse at construction. Think of the technology we have today that we didn’t in the 1970s. The new generations of power tools and computer modeling and teleconferencing and advanced machinery and prefab materials […]
This Is What Happens When Progressives Look the Other Way – Peter Dorman @Econospeak Recent events in Florida—the “Stop WOKE” Act, the rejection of AP African American Studies, the hostile takeover of New College—and the publication of an excellent op-ed about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the Chronicle of Higher Education have me returning to a […]
Credit conditions in Q4 were recessionary – by New Deal democrat While we are still in our lull concerning monthly data, on Monday there was a significant update of one long leading indicator that is only reported Quarterly: the Senior Loan Officer Survey. This survey has an excellent history of over 30 years telling us […]
According to Pence, Republicans will come up with a Better Deal to replace Social Security. Allow younger people to place their funds in private and commercial investment funds. Funds from which a portion will be taken to manage them and to which will be exposed to the ups and downs of the economy. Abandoning Social […]