Payroll employment up only 18,000 in June; unemployment rate rises to 9.2%
June Employment and Unemployment: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a report today on payroll employment and unemployment for June (pdf summary available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf). Highlights of the report:
Harry Reid’s “Sense of the Senate” Scorecard
Sen. Reid’s “Sense of the Senate” resolution (S. 1323), currently on the Senate floor, contains no actual policy. It notes several class-warfare non-sequiturs, and then calls on Americans making more than $1 million per year “to make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.” ...
Weekly Economic Update: June 27 - July 1, 2011
Overview: Personal income rose 0.3% in May while personal spending was unchanged. The ISM index increased 1.8 points to 55.3 in June. The Case-Shiller home price index declined 3.9% in April. Pending home sales were up 8.2% in May while construction spending fell 0.6%. The stock market posted i...
Weekly Economic Update: June 20-24, 2011
Overview: Existing home sales declined 3.8% in May as new home sales fell 2.1%. The FOMC held constant its target range of 0.0%-0.25% for the federal funds rate. GDP growth for the 1st quarter was revised slightly upwards to 1.9%. Durable orders increased 1.9% in May. Initial jobless claims ros...
Shrinking Government Created Private Sector Jobs
Fed maintains 0.0%-0.25% target range; says economic recovery and labor market weaker than expected
Fed Keeps 0.0%-0.25% Fed Funds “Target Range;” The Federal Reserve’s monetary policymaking committee (the Federal Open Market Committee – FOMC) decided today to keep its target overnight interest rate (the “federal funds rate”) in a target range of 0.0% to 0.25%. The Fed noted that the economic ...
Maximizing America’s Prosperity
Spend Less, Owe Less, Grow the Economy The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Republican Staff Commentary Spend Less, Owe Less, Grow the Economy reviewed the economic evidence about fiscal consolidation programs (i.e., programs to reduce government budget deficits and stabilize government debt as a p...
Weekly Economic Update: June 13-17, 2011
Overview: Retail sales were down 0.2% in May, but excluding autos, sales were up 0.3%. The topline and core PPI rose 0.2% in May. The topline CPI also increased 0.2% while the core CPI rose 0.3%. Industrial production edged up 0.1% in May. Housing starts increased 3.5% in May while building per...
Social Security Surpluses: Fiscal Fact or Accounting Fiction?
Social Security is probably the most widely discussed, but least understood, government program. Confusion is pervasive even among policymakers. In a recent letter to President Obama, a group of self-described experts claimed Social Security cannot run deficits and does not contribute to the federal...
Weekly Economic Update: June 6-10, 2011
Overview: Consumer credit increased at a 3.1% annual rate in April. The U.S. trade balance narrowed $3.1 billion to $43.7 billion in April. The U.S. Treasury reported a deficit of $57.6 billion in May. This marked the sixth straight week of decline in the Dow, over which time it has fallen 6.7%....
