Big Government vs. Free Markets
Declining Dollar Adds to the Price of Gas as of March 23 2012
Weekly Economic Update: March 19-23, 2012
Existing home sales declined 0.9% in February as new home sales fell 1.6%, housing started declined 1.1%, and building permits increased 5.1%. Initial jobless claims decreased 5,000 to 348,000 for the week ended 3/17.
Obamacare Chart
Obamacare Anniversary
On March 23, 2010, President Obamas signed his signature legislative achievement into law: Obamacare. This legislation represented a government takeover of 1/6 of the U.S. economy, imposed higher taxes, reduced choice, and set the stage for rationing of health care.
Declining Dollar Adds to the Price of Gas
Weekly Economic Update: March 12-16, 2012
Industrial production was unchanged in February. Retail sales rose 1.1% in February. The U.S. Treasury reported a deficit of $231.7 billion in February. The topline PPI and CPI increased 0.4% in February. Business inventories rose 0.7% in January. The Fed held constant its target federal funds ...
FOMC: No change in policy, notes improvements to labor market, downplays inflation risks.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to maintain its Fed Funds target rate at a range of 0%-1/4%. In its statement, the FOMC acknowledged conditions in the labor market “have improved further,” and that consumer spending and business fixed investment “have continued to advance.” Noting...
Weekly Economic Update: March 5-9, 2012
The economy added 227,000 jobs in February as the unemployment rate held steady at 8.3%. The ISM services index rose 0.5 points to 57.3 in February. Productivity growth for the 4th quarter was revised upwards to 0.9%. Consumer credit increased 8.6% in January. The U.S. trade deficit widened 4.4%...
Payroll employment up 227,000 in February; unemployment rate steady at 8.3%
February Employment and Unemployment: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a report today on payroll employment and unemployment for February (pdf summary available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf). Highlights of the report:
