For quite a while I have been very suspicious of this "aging work force". The mainstream media has been reporting that they have been dropping like flies out of the labor force. Many times I've asked myself, "Why? Where have they all been going?"
So the first thing I did was research the Social Security website to look at their retirement and disability statistics. But when I compared those numbers to the overall labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio (found at the Bureau of Labor Statistics' website), something didn't add up.
The December New Residential Single Family Home Sales increased 11.6% to 481,000 in annualized sales. This change is well within the statistical error margin of ±16.5%, but the highest level in six years. New home sales are notorious to be revised so while this surge seems strong, the figure to pay attention to is the annual sales.
The continued meme from the political right suggests that monthly disability benefits encourages people to have disabilities; Social Security checks are creating a generation of old lazy people; food stamps inspire poor people to quit their job (or not look for one) so they can eat steak and lobster for free; welfare checks seduces young unmarried women to lay on the couch all day long eating Bonbons while having multiple babies --- just as life insurance causes people to die prematurely; auto insurance recklessly leads to car accidents; home insurance rewards hard-working people to burn do
The Durable Goods, advance report shows new orders declined by -3.4% for December 2014. This month the decline was caused by volatile aircraft and parts. Core capital goods also dropped by -0.6%. For the last three of four months durable goods new orders as a whole have declined. Without transportation new orders, which includes aircraft, the durable goods decline would have been -0.8%.
James Kwak hit the nail(s) on the head about our corrupt tax system that mostly benefits the very rich. Here are three tax avoidance strategies that he brings to light --- and says these three tax schemes top his list for the ones most in need of tax reform...
A national political operation, organized by the multi-billionaire Koch brothers, is committing nearly a billion dollars ($889 million) to the looming 2016 presidential race in an unprecedented effort to help boost conservative/libertarian/Tea Party candidates. What You Want is a Koch.
The Congressional Budget Office just released a new report, The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2015 to 2025 Report (January 26, 2015). In an article at the New York Times titled "Budget Forecast Sees End to Sharp Deficit Declines", they referenced the report, and then quotes Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyoming), the new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee: “The past will catch up to us no matter how fast we run from it."
The monthly Consumer Price Indexdropped -04% for December, the largest monthly drop since 2008 Once again it's all about falling oil prices. Gasoline prices declined the steepest since December 2008. Inflation with gas and food removed flat-lined and had no change from last month. CPI measures inflation, or price increases.
Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, proposed a plan to tax Wall Street financial transactions and raise taxes on the top 1 percent of earners ——> to pay for a “paycheck bonus credit” of $2,000 a year for couples earning less than $200,000.
The December 2014 Retail Sales report shows retail sales declined -0.9% for the month. As gasoline prices plunged, sales as gas stations dropped a whopping -6.5%. Holiday sales on the other hand, were up 4.0%. Retail sales have now increased 3.2% from a year ago. December retail sales was not just about gas prices as most categories had monthly declines.
In his last year of office, President Bill Clinton called on Congress to make normal trade relations with China permanent. So legislation was introduced to the House on May 15, 2000 by Rep. William Reynolds Archer (R-Texas) with three co-sponsors — saying that permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China was a top priority, and was vital to the U.S. agriculture market (to gain access to a market with one-fifth of the world’s population).
The World Bank has cut their global growth projections from 3.4% to 3.0% for 2015. In 2016 they predict global GDP of 3.3% and in 2017 the world bank believes the globe will have a 3.2% annual GDP. In seems plummeting oil prices are great for nations which import and horrific, of course for countries that export.
We've heard it so many times before: Tax reform. When the Democrats say it, it usually means raising taxes (mostly on the rich). When the Republicans say it, it almost always means cutting taxes (mostly for the rich).
The December unemployment rate dropped on almost half a million more people considered not part of the labor force. The official unemployment rate is now 5.6%, a -0.2 drop from last month. The labor participation rate went back to 38 year record lows and is 62.7%. From a year ago, the number of people considered not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million those considered employed grew by 2.7 million.
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