Week of June 24th

By Econ70 | 07/02/2013

Despite a huge downward revision of Q1 GDP growth from 2.4% to 1.8%, data for Q2 look decent. Durable goods orders look OK, home sales are good and despite sequestration and the payroll tax increase, consumer spending is holding up surprisingly well and savings rates actually edged up to 3.2% in May from 2.8% in…

Read More

Raiding the Piggy Bank

By Econ70 | 04/02/2012

Despite good job growth, consumer spending is growing faster than personal income, driving the savings rate down to 3.7%, the lowest rate in years. Why? Unemployment insurance income is falling. In Jan and Feb 551K jobs were created while 550K lost unemployment benefits. What’s going on is the wages these folks are earning aren’t much…

Read More