It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
The events in Japan have generated renewed interest in nuclear accidents. The worse nuclear accident, not intentional, is Chernobyl and the below documentary goes into some depth.
Michael Collins
The Chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Gregory Jaczko, told a US House of Representatives subcommittee that: "There is no water in the spent fuel pool [at the Fukushia I plant] and we believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures." A "utility spokesman" for Tokyo Electric responded quickly claiming that the "condition is stable." AP, March 17.
The >New York Times, China's Peoples Daily, and other outlets covered this extraordinary asymmetrical exchange between the highest nuclear regulatory official in the US government and a "utility spokesman."
The public disagreement between two close allies in the midst of a severe crisis is highly instructive on a number of levels. If chair Jaczko wrong, it is a terrible embarrassment for the US. If he's right, we can conclude that much of the information from Tokyo Electric is questionable.
Initial weekly unemployment claims decreased to 385,000 this week and last week was revised up to 401,000. The 4 week moving average dropped to 386,250. Weekly unemployment claims seem to be hovering right above the job creation point of 375,000 per week now.
The Consumer Price Index for February 2011 increased 0.5% from last month. For the year, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) has risen 2.1%. January CPI was 0.4%.
The Producer Price Index for finished goods increased 1.6% in February 2011. The PPI measures prices obtained for U.S. goods. Intermediate goods prices increased 2.0% and crude or raw materials prices went up 3.4%. PPI is often called wholesale inflation by the press.
The February 2011 Residential construction report showed Housing starts dropped -22.5% from January 2011 to a level of 479,000. This is 20.8% below February 2010. We're back to April 2009 levels and this monthly drop was the biggest since 1984.
QE3 has been predicted by many as the next round of quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve's latest FOMC meeting minutes suggest no more quantitative easing, beyond the competition of QE2, according to Bloomberg:
Federal Reserve officials signaled they’re unlikely to expand a $600-billion bond purchase plan as the recovery picks up steam and the threat that inflation will fall too low begins to wane.
The economy is on a “firmer footing, and overall conditions in the labor market appear to be improving gradually,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement yesterday after a one-day meeting in Washington. While commodity prices have “risen significantly,” inflation expectations have “remained stable.”
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January suggests that the economic recovery is on a firmer footing, and overall conditions in the labor market appear to be improving gradually. Household spending and business investment in equipment and software continue to expand. However, investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector continues to be depressed. Commodity prices have risen significantly since the summer, and concerns about global supplies of crude oil have contributed to a sharp run-up in oil prices in recent weeks. Nonetheless, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, and measures of underlying inflation have been subdued.
Japan has had another explosion in their nuclear reactor and are unable to cool them. Most of our readers are in the United States, so the question becomes, beyond the catastrophe of Japan, where will the radiation land in the United States?
Michael Collins
The Japanese disaster at Fukushima I is a human tragedy of striking proportions. As many as ten thousand citizens may be dead from the general catastrophe, with many more at risk for radiation poisoning at levels yet to be determined. The fact that Japan is a highly organized and wealthy nation in no way diminishes the intensity of the losses and pain experienced by the victims. (Image)
Political and economic implications will emerge rapidly. As the whole world watches, the Japanese experience creates windows of opportunity to learn how to avert future meltdowns at nuclear ticking time bombs placed throughout Europe, the United States, India, and China.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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