January 2015

A Tale of Two Charts

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 GOP and Small Businesses

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback had championed the largest tax cuts in the state's history, eliminating taxes on non-wage earnings for nearly 200,000 small businesses. Just like all Republicans these days, Brownback had made cutting taxes and shrinking government the centerpieces of his government. Now the great State of Kansas has a huge projected budget shortfall.

Low Inflation On Much More than Gas as CPI Declines -0.4%

The monthly Consumer Price Index dropped -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.

 

December Retail Sales Plunge on Cheap Gas

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.

Why do Republicans Hate Social Security?

Here's Charles Krauthammer (the Fox News pundit) writing for the Washington Post -- "Some in Congress are talking about a 10- or 20-cent hike in the federal tax [on a gallon of gasoline] to use for infrastructure spending. Right idea, wrong policy. The hike should not be 10 cents but $1. And the proceeds should not be spent by, or even entrusted to, the government.

Unemployment Rate Drops Due to Almost Half a Million More Not in Labor Force

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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