Unemployment

November Jobs Report: Big Upside Surprise

From the New York Times: The Labor Department reported Friday that the United States economy shed 11,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October. Market was expecting a loss of like 125k or so.  There were also some revisions of September and October: The government…

Bad Economy = Tight and Tapered Jeans

This is just a random fashion observation I’ve made recently concerning the tightness of jeans in relation to the overall condition of the economy. Maybe Alyx from LOLFed will point out where I’m wrong (she knows this stuff), but here’s what I’ve seen: Lates 70’s to Early 80’s The first era of tight and tapered…

A Letter From 2019

Dear Josh, It’s me: Josh…the You from 10 years from now, using the latest technology from Google to send an email to you from the future.  Don’t freak out. Anyway, I’m just writing to let you know that the next ten years will be wacky, but everything turns out ok.  For regulatory reasons, I obviously…

John Mauldin on the Latest Employment Data

In the latest edition of his excellent weekly newsletter, this one entitled The Glide Path, John Mauldin touvhes on the latest employment numbers and what they actually mean: From Thoughts From The Frontline: The Ugly Unemployment Numbers The headlines said unemployment, as measured by the “establishment survey,” was down by 190,000; and even though that…

Fiddling With Climate Change and Healthcare While Rome Burns

Dear President Obama, I did not vote for you last November as I’m not a “joiner” and faux-grassroots movements make me cringe (remember the Ross Perot scare of the late 80’s?). I doubt you will read this as it most certainly will not make Rahm Emanuel’s list of approved reading materials.  On the off-chance that…

Q3 GDP and Jobless Claims First Look

Two big numbers out this morning, we’ll put up the initial take on both: GDP (from Bloomberg) The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year, propelled by stimulus-driven gains in consumer spending and home building.  The world’s largest economy expanded at a 3.5 percent pace from…

Main Street: Can We Have a Recovery Too?

Here’s a pair of headlines that I thought were fantastic in a juxtapositional way: Goldman Faces PR Dilemna Over Huge Bonuses (CNBC) Debt, Unemployment Weigh on Recovery (WSJ)  Both articles out on the same day.  Today.  Only in America. Cartoon Source: TIME