Weekly Economic Update: October 8-12, 2012
The U.S. trade deficit widened $1.7 billion to $44.2 billion in August. The topline PPI rose 1.1% in September while the core PPI was unchanged. The U.S. Treasury recorded a $75 billion surplus in September. Initial jobless claims dropped 30,000 to 339,000 for the week ended 10/6.
Weekly Economic Update: October 1-5, 2012
The economy added 114,000 jobs in September as the unemployment rate fell to 7.8%. Consumer credit increased by $18.1 billion to $2.726 trillion in August. The ISM index rose 1.9 points to 51.5 in September as the ISM services index increased 1.4 points to 55.1. Factory orders fell 5.2% in August. A...
JOBS & GROWTH: Obama Recovery Earns Failing Grades
Weekly Economic Update: September 24-28, 2012
Third quarter GDP growth was revised downwards to 1.3%. Personal income increased 0.1% in August as spending rose 0.5%. Durable orders dropped 13.2% in August. The Case-Shiller home price index was up 0.4% in July. New home sales were flat in August while pending home sales fell 2.6%. Initial j...
The Pending State Pensions Crisis
By all measures, state and local government employee pension funds are significantly underfunded. By standard accounting methods, some state pension funds will run out of assets within as little as five years. When this happens, states will have to use general government tax revenue to pay their pen...
Weekly Economic Update: September 17-21, 2012
Existing home sales increased 7.8% in August while housing starts rose 2.3% and building permits declined 1.0%. Initial jobless claims declined 3,000 to 382,000 for the week ended 9/15.
Weekly Economic Update: September 10-14, 2012
The Fed announced QE3, a program of open-ended, $40 billion per month mortgage backed securities purchases. Industrial production dropped 1.2% in August. Consumer credit declined $3.3 billion to $2.705 trillion in July. The topline CPI rose 0.6% in August while the core CPI increased 0.1%. The topli...
More Fed Easing: High Risk, Low Reward
Although the Fed has taken several extraordinary actions since the crisis, the Fed has fallen short in its quest for more jobs. The Fed’s actions will likely prove ineffective because monetary policy cannot solve the problems facing our economy—it is the uncertainty over budget, regulatory, and tax...
Are Public School Teachers Underpaid?
Weekly Economic Update: September 3-7, 2012
The economy added 96,000 jobs in August as the unemployment rate fell to 8.1%. The ISM index edged down 0.2 points to 49.6 in August as the ISM services index increased 1.1 points to 53.7 in August. Auto sales were up 3.1% in August. Productivity growth for the 2nd quarter was revised upwards to 2.2...
