Category Archives: Politics

Should The Fed Boost Inflation?

Financial FAQs FRED10yrInflation The Federal Reserve is so desperate to support growth in this pandemic that it wants to allow inflation to rise above its 2 percent target range. Why? Inflation and rising prices are usually a sign of economic … Continue reading

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What’s Next…?

Financial FAQs MarketWatch U.S. stocks finished mostly higher Tuesday, with the S&P 500 index notching its first record close since Feb. 19, and marking the quickest recovery from bear-market territory in its history, according to Dow Jones Market Data.  So … Continue reading

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Happy Consumers Are the Key…

Popular Economics Weekly FREDretailsales Are we heading for a fall in the Fall when the ordinary flu season begins? The chickens may be coming home to roost, as the saying goes, because the US economy opened to soon. Retail sales … Continue reading

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What Future Job Growth?

Financial FAQs Calculated Risk The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) put out by the Labor Department (BLS) probably only makes sense to economists, because it gives a picture of the job market in coming months, as well as … Continue reading

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Employment Picture Still Unclear

Popular Economics Weekly Marketwatch.com The official unemployment rate fell for the third month in a row to 10.2 percent from 11.1 percent, the government said Friday. The hot pace of U.S. employment growth in the late spring gave way in … Continue reading

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Alas, The Recovery That Was…

Financial FAQs Reuters.com Because the deadline has passed to renew unemployment benefits enacted by the CARES Act, it looks like there will be no quick economic recovery in the fall. I am supposing the recovery could ultimately be shaped like … Continue reading

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When Will Growth Return?

Financial FAQs FRED-MarketWatch The headline decline in Q2 GDP growth only touches the surface of what economic growth to expect this fall and winter. The drop of minus -32.9 percent was inevitable with the pandemic lockdowns, but not the severity … Continue reading

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Consumer Confidence in Decline

Popular Economics Weekly FRED There are a number of reasons that consumers are becoming more fearful after that initial boost of spending with the spring holidays. It’s not only the prospect of a COVID-19 resurgence in the fall when we … Continue reading

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Our ‘Whac-A-Mole’ Recovery

Financial FAQs FREDinitialclaims Initial jobless claim for the week ending were slightly up at 1,416,000 for the week ending July 18, which means that the reversals of business openings as COVID-19 infection rates soar again have flattened the wrong curve—applications … Continue reading

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Who Says There’s No Leadership?

Answering the Kennedys’ Call http://www.nippon.com Critics of the Trump administration and its Republican Party enablers have it exactly backward when they say the federal government isn’t leading the effort to control the novel coronavirus pandemic. They have in fact been … Continue reading

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