Tag Archives: unemployment rate

Consumers Back on Track?

Financial FAQs The one sector of the economy that can revive growth—consumers—look to finally believe the Great Recession is over. Consumer sentiment unexpectedly rose to its highest in five years in October as consumers became more optimistic about the economy … Continue reading

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Consumers In Holiday Mood

Popular Economics Weekly Consumers are going to celebrate the holidays in a much bigger way than in recent years. Not only have consumer confidence and expectations been rising since summer, but consumer borrowing is exploding, signaling that we will see … Continue reading

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Income Inequality Behind Most Poverty

Financial FAQs There were 46.2 million Americans in poverty in 2011, as median household income decreased to its lowest level since 2000, according to a Census Bureau report released this week that illustrated the toll from ongoing labor-market weakness. The … Continue reading

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Why Do We Need QE3?

Financial FAQs It’s not hard to see why we need “QE3”, the Fed’s bond buying program to keep long term interest rates low. It’s almost an act of desperation. The Fed is the only game in town to stimulate growth … Continue reading

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August Jobs Report—Manufacturing Slowdown

Popular Economics Weekly The headlines said a “weak” job report on Friday. But it had nothing to do with politics or economic policy, at least directly. The jobs drop was all in manufacturing due to problems in Europe and China. … Continue reading

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Taxes Shouldn’t Be the Main Worry

Financial FAQs Economist and British Lord John Maynard Keynes opined in the 1930s that in the end we are all dead, so why worry too much about anything else? Well, this particular election year there is something else worrying both … Continue reading

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Consumers Are Doing Fine

Financial FAQs Consumers seem to be doing fine, in spite of their worries about jobs in the latest University of Michigan sentiment survey, the economy and budget deficits (their own more than governments’). June average hourly earnings improved to a … Continue reading

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Jobs Key to 2012 Election

Popular Economics Weekly We know what will win or lose the 2012 Presidential election—jobs. Will enough jobs be created to give Obama a second term? Or, will enough independent voters change horses (to elephants) and become Republicans, because not enough … Continue reading

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2012 Election—The Propaganda Campaign Begins

Financial FAQs Now that Mitt Romney seems to have sewed up the Republican delegates needed for his Presidential candidacy, the war for the Hearts and Minds of Americans begins in earnest. And we can trust that the Lee Atwater—Karl Rove … Continue reading

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Why the Surprising Jobs Report?

Financial FAQs Why so much surprise in January’s employment report that added 243,000 payroll jobs and dropped the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent? The U.S. has now added an average of 183,000 jobs a month in the past five months, … Continue reading

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