Among those 16 and over in the US who earned money in 2014, earning $10,000 put you in the 20th percentile of those with earned income. If you earned $27,000, you were in the 50th percentile while those earning $50,000…
Postal service employment peaked at 909,500 in 4/99. It then began a slow but steady decline, but temporarily peaked at 781,600 in December 2007, just before the start of the Great Recession. It then rapidly fell, hitting a trough of…
This year’s speaker at the Builder & Developer Luncheon, Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, offered a lively take on the current economy. Read more here.
In 2016, China is aiming for GDP growth of 6.5% to 6.7%. While that’s way too high, China will make it happen. That means increasing the money supply and lending by a dangerously high 13% each, having a budget deficit…
Friday’s employment numbers showed 242,000 net new jobs and cumulative upward revisions of 30,000 for prior months. The labor force participation rate hit 62.9%, a level not exceeded since 3/14, and the unemployment rate was unchanged as discouraged workers keep…
The Friday File: The cheapest gasoline in the world is in Venezuela where it costs just 6 cents/gallon, Kuwait is next at 82 cents/gallon, followed by Saudi Arabia at 91 cents/gallon, and Turkmenistan at $1.08/gallon. The US is 20th cheapest…
If middle-class is defined as those earning between two-thirds and twice the national median income, in 2015 the 120.8 million middle-class adults were, for the first time, exceeded by the 121.3 million lower- and upper-income adults. In 1971, 61% of…
February auto sales hit an annualized rate of 17.5 million, a 16-year February high and are up 6.9% from 2/14. January construction spending rose 1.5% M-o-M and 10.4% Y-o-Y with residential, non-residential and public spending up 8%, 11% and 13%…
After a prolonged period of staggeringly low inflation, led by a strengthening dollar and declining energy prices, inflation is back! As measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditure index, the Fed’s preferred inflation index, inflation is 1.3%, and core inflation (which…