Weekly Economic Update: November 12-16, 2012
Industrial production fell 0.4% in October. Retail sales were down 0.3% in October. The producer price indices fell 0.2% in October as the topline consumer price index rose 0.1% and the core CPI increased 0.2%. The U.S. Treasury reported a $120 billion deficit in October. Business inventories in...
Historical Tax Rates: Rhetoric vs. Reality
This JEC Republican Staff Analysis notes that the top rate is only one feature of our tax system and by itself tells us nothing about the overall tax burden. The CRS report merely proves that historical changes in the top rate provide a misleading indicator of how the tax burden has changed over t...
Weekly Economic Update: November 5-9, 2012
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed $2.3 billion to $41.5 billion in September. The ISM services index declined 0.9 points to 54.2 in October. Consumer credit increased $11.4 billion to $2.737 trillion in September. Initial jobless claims fell 8,000 to 355,000 for the week ended 11/2.
Weekly Economic Update: October 29 - November 2, 2012
The economy added 171,000 jobs in October as the unemployment rate rose to 7.9%. The ISM index edged up 0.2 points to 51.7 in October. Personal income increased 0.4% in September as personal spending rose 08%. Productivity advanced 1.9% in the 3rd quarter of 2012. The Case-Shiller home price index w...
An Average Recovery Would Have Us Back Above Prior Peak
Employment Report: We Could Be Back to Even
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that on a seasonally-adjusted basis nonfarm payrolls increased by 171,000 during October with private sector payrolls growing by 184,000.
Unemployment Rate Decline Largely A Mirage
Payroll employment up 171,000; unemployment rate increased to 7.9%
The labor force rose by 578,000 in October, following a gain of 418,000 in September. The labor force participation rate edged up to 63.8%, from 63.6% in September.
America Needs a Growth Dividend
In the more than three years since the recession ended in June 2009, real gross domestic product (GDP) has only increased by a total of 7.2%. The average increase in real GDP for the other nine post World War II recessions that lasted longer than a year over a comparable 13 quarters is 16.8%. In...
Weekly Economic Update: October 15-19, 2012
Retail sales increased 1.1% in September. Industrial production was up 0.4% in September. The topline CPI rose 0.6% in September as the core CPI rose 0.1%. Housing starts increased 15% in September while building permits rose 11.6%. Existing home sales fell 1.7% in September. Business inventori...
