The 3rd estimate of 4th quarter GDP indicated that our output of goods and services in the last three months of the year grew at a 2.2% annual rate from the 3rd quarter, which was unchanged from the 2nd GDP estimate.
The February personal income and outlays report shows a -0.1% change in real consumer spending, which is not good news for economic growth. Not adjusted for inflation consumer spending rose a scant 0.1%. Real personal income isn't any better with no change for the month.
The GOP-dominated House Ways and Means Committee just voted to repeal the federal estate tax, which the Republicans, Libertarians and Tea Partiers have been labeling as a "death tax" that unfairly steals the family jewels from ordinary hard-working Americans.
Economists refer to "job polarization" in the labor force when middle-class jobs (requiring a moderate level of skills) appear to disappear relative to those at the bottom (requiring fewer skills) and to those at the top — requiring greater skills; or those who are better networked and know people in a position of influence. (Below is a simple animation to show how job polarization might look).
Attention populist conservatives who really want to stick it to the Establishment: perhaps, just perhaps, the best way to do that is not by supporting a candidate who GRADUATED FROM HARVARD LAW SCHOOL!
It is possible that Ted Cruz’s anti-Establishment conservative rhetoric is entirely sincere.
It is possible that Ted Cruz is not sincere and that his feisty populist conservative persona is a role he is playing, but one that he is playing primarily for his own benefit.
The House overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes to the Medicare program (voting 392 to 37) which would establish a new formula for paying doctors and increasing premiums for Medicare beneficiaries.
The Consumer Price Index increased 0.2% for February as gasoline prices rose. It looks like the party is over for cheap gas and once again inflation is back on the rise. Gasoline prices increased 2.4%. Inflation without food or energy prices considered increased 0.2% for the month.
Unlike politically incorrect journalists in the mainstream media (including Fox News), one can't accurately report on bloody budget cuts — and then, just to appear non-partisan, say it's "Congress" who's proposing the cuts — not when it's the Republicans within Congress who are the ones proposing all these bloody budget cuts.
NAR's existing home sales bounced up slightly for February with a 1.2% sales increase. This is surprising sales increased at all, even with seasonality adjustments, considering America's East was stuck in either a snow bank or an ice cube for the month.. This makes sales 4.7% higher than February of last year. Sales by volume was 4.88 million in February.
From his blog: "It’s now possible to sell a new product to hundreds of millions of people without needing many, if any, workers to produce or distribute it ... The ratio of producers to customers continues to plummet ... New technologies aren’t just labor-replacing, they’re also knowledge-replacing ... When more and more can be done by fewer and fewer people, the profits go to an ever-smaller circle of executives and owner-investors ...
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