Category Archives: Economy

Trade Wars Not Good For Future Growth Either

Popular Economics Weekly The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI)for the U.S. increased 0.2 percent in May to 109.5 (2016 = 100), following a 0.4 percent increase in April, and a 0.4 percent increase in March. This monthly announcement of … Continue reading →

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The Price of Incompetence in Foreign Policy and Trade

Popular Economics Weekly The Trump administration’s foreign policy is becoming obvious after the Singapore Summit with North Korea—Make Russia, N Korea, China (and almost every other authoritarian government in the world) Great Again at the expense of America and its … Continue reading →

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Strong May Employment, But Future Uncertain

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: Marketwatch The unemployment rate edged down to 3.8 percent in May, and the number of unemployed persons declined to 6.1 million, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning. Over the year, the unemployment rate was … Continue reading →

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What Happened to Robin Hood?

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: Mother Jones The Brits in particular must be wondering what happened to Robin Hood, the legendary champion of the poor, who robbed the rich to give to the poor during medieval times when nobles ruled their … Continue reading →

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April Retail, Consumer Spending Just Ok

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: Marketwatch Consumers have to do better, if GDP growth is to exceed 3 percent, as the recent tax cut bill promised. Consumer spending was weak in the first quarter and the first look at the second … Continue reading →

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Our ‘Drip-Down’ Economy

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: Marketwatch The results are already in on the current administrations tax and economic policies. They are carrying Ronald Reagan’s trickle-down economy to an even lower level. Let’s call it the ‘Drip-Down Economy’, since none of the … Continue reading →

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A 17-year Low Jobs Rate

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: Market.com Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in April, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, … Continue reading →

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When is the Next Recession?

Financial FAQs Graph: TradingEconomics.com We are nearing the end of the second-longest growth cycle since the Clinton era’s 10-year 1991-2001 boom years; because once again a huge amount of debt has accumulated that ultimately has to be paid for. Are … Continue reading →

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Good Initial Q1 GDP Growth

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: bea.gov Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, … Continue reading →

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New-Home Sales, Consumer Confidence Booming

The Mortgage Corner Graph: Econoday In spite of rising mortgage rates, new-home sales are booming and consumer confidence is at multi-year highs. March new-home sales rose 4.0 percent annualized to 694,000 and is just off the expansion high of 711,000 … Continue reading →

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