decline Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Inflation is calm at the moment

Remember when there was a ton of worry about inflation? The worry-warts were talking about the federal reserve printing all of this money, which was going to lead to inflation. We were going to be 1930s Germany. We needed to pay off debt and stop government spending. Well, inflation as a rule has held steady. Groceries seems to be steadily increasing, but for the most part inflation has been held in check.

(The worry-warts forgot about the fact that we were in a recession and had high unemployment, which means that there was no demand. It is hard to have inflation with no demand for goods and services.)

From CalculatedRiskBlog:

This graph shows the year-over-year change for these four key measures of inflation. On a year-over-year basis, the median CPI rose 2.3%, the trimmed-mean CPI rose 2.0%, and core CPI rose 2.1%. Core PCE is for June and increased 1.8% year-over-year.

These measures suggest inflation is now at the Fed’s target of 2% on a year-over-year basis and it appears the inflation rate is slowing. On a monthly basis (annualized), two of these measure were well below the Fed’s target; trimmed-mean CPI was at 1.3%, Core CPI at 1.1% – although median CPI was at 2.5% and and Core PCE for June was at 2.5%. Based on initial data – and comparing to the increase in August 2011 – it is very likely that the August report will show a further decline in the year-over-year inflation rate.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-08-16T20:08:59-04:00August 15th, 2012|Economy|Comments Off

Jobs numbers for November. 8.6%

Better. Much better than I expected. We need much more, but this is better. Note that the jobs numbers for September and October were revised up.

From MarketWatch:

The U.S. gained 120,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 8.6% from 9.0%, the Labor Department said Friday. The government also revised jobs data for October and September to show that 72,000 additional jobs were created. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 125,000 increase in employment in November and no change in the jobless rate. About half of the drop in the unemployment rate stemmed from a decline in the number of workers in the labor force. Hiring in October was revised up to 100,000 from 80,000 and the job gains in September were revised up to 210,00 from 158,000. In November, companies in the private sector hired 140,000 workers, with retailers adding 50,000. Government cut 20,000 jobs, the Labor Department said. Average hourly earnings fell 0.1% last month to $23.18 and the workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours. The broader U6 unemployment rate dropped to 15.6% from 16.2% in October.

By ecthompsonmd|2011-12-02T09:50:24-04:00December 2nd, 2011|Economy|Comments Off

A few thoughts – Tuesday Evening

Cry me a river

Someone get me a box of Kleenex. I think I’m gonna have a good cry. Bank of America is no longer the largest bank in the United States. As the American people are suffering, the folks in the financial sector are partying like it’s 1999. Higher profits all around – Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America have all reported higher profits.

From EPI:

-11.3%, -6.6%, -4.5%: The change in family income between 2007 and 2010 for the bottom 20 percent, middle 20 percent, and the top 20 percent, respectively
$6,298: The decline in median working-age household income from 2000 to 2010
$5,494: The decline in median African-American household income from 2000 to 2010
$4,235: The decline in median Hispanic household income from 2000 to 2010

By ecthompsonmd|2011-10-18T21:20:27-04:00October 18th, 2011|Economy|Comments Off