When you slip into the restroom for a little tinkle, you probably don't realize that you are participating in massive environmental genocide -- but you are. Millions of gallons of water swoosh down the tubes every day, even as water becomes an ever-more precious and limited resource, and the specter of global drought and conflict looms (the U.S. has declared water a "national security issue"). On top of that, more than the equivalent of 9.8 million trees are flushed down the toilet every year, according to Claude Martin of Worldwide Fund for Nature.
The Mortgage Monitor (pdf) from Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS, formerly LPS Data & Analytics) is a mostly graphics presentation that covers a variety of mortgage related issues each month. After summarizing the monthly stats, we'll take a look at a few of the graphics from this month's section on foreclosures.
The Federal Reserve Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization report shows industrial production increased 0.1% while January was revised downward to a -0.3% decline. December was also revised down to -0.2%. Manufacturing alone declined by -0.2% and January's manufacturing production was also revised downward from +0.2% to -0.3%.
For decades the top 0.01% (and their political allies) have been winning the war on working-class Americans (meaning, about 92.2% of the labor force). One particular political party always wants to cut government agencies and programs that protect workers' health, safety and welfare — such as workers' wages, workers' pensions, workers' voting rights and workers' labor unions (like they do with their so-called "Right to Work" laws).
The BLS JOLTS report, or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows there are 1.8 official unemployed per job opening for January 2015. Job openings were around five million. Job openings returned to pre-recession levels while overall hires has also increased to pre-recession levels.
The Economy! Jobs! Peace! The elephant in the room is embarrassed he is so big and nobody sees him. NFL, MLB, NBA and NASCAR. They are the answer. Make it about the game and not winning. You make it about the game and everybody wins. You make it about winning and the game is over. What does major entertainment have that eludes the best economic and political minds. They realize you have too keep it interesting to keep it alive. You do that by making it a level playing field. No one participant is allowed to use unbridled power to sweep the table. The game is the economy.
If jobs did not sustain life they would have no value worth considering. They do and I will. As financiers find cheaper, faster and easier ways to make money jobs related investments become increasingly less desirable. Making money has increasingly chosen non entrepreneurial investments. Investing in derivatives and similar types of hedging has become a very streamlined non labor source of income. Labor problems, workers compensation, long duration for return on investment and similar complications are making product and service sources of money unattractive.
To pay themselves first. In the past several years, profits have been increasingly paid back to shareholders, rather than invested in hiring more people and/or paying their employees better.
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