Econ70
While many things might cause the next recession, including geopolitical problems, struggling emerging markets due to the rising dollar, and growing non-financial corporate debt levels (to name a few), one that is more insidious is complacency. Good times lead to…
Among nations with average life expectancies of at least 70 years, per capita GDP of at least $5,000, and populations above 5 million, the USA is tied for 54th place with Azerbaijan and ahead of only Bulgaria in healthcare efficiency.…
While September employment growth of 134,000 new jobs was slightly disappointing and probably due to Hurricane Florence, the report was otherwise excellent. Upward revisions to July and August totaling 87,000 were spectacular, and the unemployment rate hit 3.7%, lowest level…
The 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Americans William Nordhaus and Paul Roemer. In January, Roemer was pushed out as World Bank Chief Economist after clashes with staff and top brass. Relatedly, Peter Diamond, who won the Nobel…
The Friday File: The most used social-media site by teens today is Snapchat at 41%, followed by Instagram at 22%; just 15% say it’s Facebook. The craziest data: back in 2012, the last time this survey was administered, 49% of…
In an attempt to attract workers in a tight labor market, soothe both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, and raise payroll costs for competitors, Amazon is raising its minimum wage to $15/hour. Assuming they have 300,000 affected workers (and excluding…
With the latest hike in Fed funds rate to 2.125%, this is the first time in a decade the rate is equal or above the inflation rate; 2% as measured by PCE-core, the Fed’s preferred gauge. At this level, the…
The size of the US economy is $19 trillion. The 28 nations in the EU share a $17 trillion economy and China’s GDP is about $12 trillion. This year, the US economy will grow about 3.1%; that will add $590…
During the years 2002-2007, the number of persons working part-time because they were unable to find full-time work averaged 4 million/month; 3% of the labor force. At the worst of the recession, it peaked at 9.25 million/month; 6% of the…
The Friday File: According to the National UFO Reporting Center, in 1990 there were 315 global UFO sightings. Sightings then steadily rose, reaching 2,000 in 1998, over 4,000 in 2003, and peaked at 8,670 in 2014. Sightings have since plummeted.…