America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
The following excerpt is from the Global Economics section of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, May 10-May 16 2010: “Industrial America’s plight can be encapsulated in a few incredible numbers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. employment in manufacturing over the past six months has been the lowest since March 1941, before the U.S. entered World …
This post provides updated charts to the “Three Unemployment Charts” post of January 12. As I have commented previously, most notably in an October 6 post, in my opinion the official methodologies used to measure the various job loss and unemployment statistics do not provide an accurate depiction. However, I believe that the following charts …
On Thursday President Obama signed the HIRE Act, a jobs stimulus. The summary of the signing can be found here. There is also a transcript of his remarks found here. I could make many comments about this jobs stimulus. However, as an intervention measure, it has many of the same characteristics of other interventions. As …
Here are two charts from the Minneapolis Fed site: http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/recession_perspective/index.cfm They show, from a historical context, how declines in employment and output during this period of economic weakness (which FRB Minneapolis refers to as a recession) compare to those of previous recessions. First, the employment chart. Here are two notes regarding this chart: 1. Employment …
I found plenty of noteworthy comments in last night’s State of the Union Address. Here is the link to the transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-state-union-address Here are a couple of my thoughts: First, many stimulus initiatives were mentioned. Some of these were new ideas. That stimulus ideas are proliferating should not be a surprise, as many in …
Occasionally, I have posted charts concerning unemployment. With Friday’s unemployment release, here are three charts that I find noteworthy: First, from the St. Louis Fed site, the Median Duration of Unemployment. Second, from the CalculatedRisk blog of 1/8/10, Unemployed Over 26 Weeks: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/ Third, again from the CalculatedRisk blog of 1/8/10 – I like this chart …
Below is an article from The Detroit News of December 16 titled “Nearly half of Detroit’s workers are unemployed”. Among other things, Detroit’s economic situation seems to refute the theory, with which I vehemently disagree, that we as a nation do not “need” manufacturing in order to be successful. http://detnews.com/article/20091216/METRO01/912160374 back to <home> SPX at 1117.83 …
Ben Bernanke gave a speech on Monday at the Economic Club of New York. Here is the link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20091116a.htm I found his comments on unemployment to be noteworthy: Here are some excerpts: “In addition to constrained bank lending, a second area of great concern is the job market. Since December 2007, the U.S. economy has …
The following chart is from the CalculatedRISK blog of November 8 http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/11/summary-and-look-ahead.html I like this chart as it presents a relative depiction of Post WWII recession job losses. As one can see, our current period of economic weakness’s job losses are outsized both in duration and severity: Here is a long-term view of the official stated Unemployment Rate. …
On October 6 I wrote about my thoughts regarding Unemployment Statistics. That link can be found here: https://www.economicgreenfield.com/2009/10/06/a-note-about-unemployment-statistics/ I recently ran across the following from John Mauldin, found in his October 23 “Thoughts From The Frontline” newsletter: “With 9.8% unemployment, 7% underemployed (temporary), and another 3-4% off the radar screen because they are so discouraged they …