Where is the US economy headed?

@hawkeye10,

It struck me, hawk, reflecting on these matters, that ultimatums to competitive emitters should be delivered.

Assuming the doomsayers are justified, the future well being of our children and grandchildren is at risk. The biggest emitters force others to increase their emissions or decline. They set the economic agenda.

As projections include massive food shortages and migrations of large numbers of refugees, as well as destructive weather and risk to prime real estate values, it is obvious if those projections are valid then what stability we have managed to produce will go to the dogs.

A more extreme view is that we are past the tipping point and that there is no traction in reducing emissions besides which there is no way they can be reduced.

Issuing ultimatums doesn't seem all that illogical if they are to save humanity from the doomsayer's scenario and especially seeing as how they are often issued on more minor matters with a degree of enthusiasm.

0 Replies

From the SF Chronicle.

Quote:

S.F.'s new job problem: Everyone's working

What this translate into is that the demand exceeds the supply. This is an Econ 101 situation where job offers will result in offers of higher pay and benefits.

BTW, San Francisco already has the highest minimum wage in the US, and they're growing jobs!

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

What sort of jobs?

No serious economist would be impressed by job growth unless the term was explained and justified scientifically.

1 Reply

@spendius,

There is no "scientific" justification for jobs growth. It's shown by the estimated number of unemployed, and it's considered 'full employment' when the rate is between 3 and 7% - depending upon the economist and the area's job market.

Why do you continue to show how ignorant you are about most things? Nobody cares what you think.

2 Replies

@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

Nobody cares what you think.

They can't afford to.

0 Replies

@cicerone imposter,

I care CI but wish you would tone down the attack mode some. I also understand the frustration you sometime feel at the refusal of some on this site to recognize facts.

1 Reply

@RABEL222,

Sorry I upset your balance.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

Not much chance of that ci.

About the same as you defining what a job is from an economic point of view.

1 Reply

@spendius,

A job is simply work for pay - in its simplest definition.

0 Replies

This thread is really dusty.
The Dow closed over 17,000 today, attracting the attention of the main-stream media.
And the BLS reported that unemployment in June dropped to 6.1%.
I know little about the stock market but I did spend time poring over the BLS numbers. My conclusion: they were very good.
One really positive month is not proof, of course, but we may be on a path to sustained recovery.

3 Replies

@realjohnboy,

Quote:

My conclusion: they were very good.
One really positive month is not proof, of course, but we may be on a path to sustained recovery.

No way, wages are barely keeping pace with inflation, this is no recovery where it counts. What this jobs report shows is that the middle class is getting hammered, this is not going to end well. Even the raw jobs numbers are about to hit the skids, as retail falls off a cliff. We are going to see Sears, Kmart and JCP close, we are going to see a lot of mall closings, and we are going to see the stores that remain moving to smaller footprints (needing fewer employees). The news on the restaurant side is lousy as well, no increase in traffic as been seen all year, and min wage increases will lead to a slashing of jobs. This report show a decent growth of low paying jobs. This will not last long.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C67HBJprWhQ/UxJRkLHFRrI/AAAAAAAANng/NS60DG_pFvg/s1600/Shopping+Mall+Health+-+Short-Term.jpg

1 Reply

@realjohnboy,

Employment trends have been improving since the Great Recession. I can't see anything in our short term or long term future that can change that trend.

http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag215/Tak_Nomura/z-temp9_zps620fee56.png

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

When the highest offices in the land are bought at auction by donatives to Media what can you expect hawk?

It's a good job that discontent in the ranks doesn't produce the effect it did when the Roman throne was sold to the highest bidder.

1 Reply

@spendius,

WP has an opinion piece " will Obama finally get credit for the improving economy?"

The answer is that the premise is wrong, because the masses dont think that the economy is improving, and the government and their PR apparatus the former journalists have not changed our minds about what the truth is. It is still a bit of a mystery what the root problem is, either incompetence or dishonesty for sure , but at the end of the day we no longer believe what the elites tell us.

2 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Once Media has sold high office to the highest bidder it has an interest in showing that such a process is valid.

It is obvious that shame is involved from all the heart-searching about election expenditure.

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

It is still a bit of a mystery what the root problem is

The problem seems no great mystery to me it is far too must of the nation wealth lock away by the super wealthy so there is not enough middle class demand to drive a demand driven economy.

Fairly elementary macroeconomics computer models should be able to predict where we are now and if we was a rational society there would be a heavy program of transferring wealth back to the middle and lower classes now ongoing for everyone long term benefits.

.

1 Reply

@BillRM,

Much of your observation is the correct one. Wealth has been shifting to the already wealthy, while the middle class and the poor has barely kept up with inflation. But with every generalization, many in the right skills are doing fine with good pay and benefits.

The percentage of increase for CEO's and Officers of companies compensation and benefits have grown 100's fold, a new phenomenon in developed countries, but especially in the US. According to recent statistics, the top 10% owns 80% of the countries wealth.

I look at travel brochures all the time, and I'm often amazed by the more expensive trips SOLD OUT.

Even the mid-price range trips that I travel on, most are fully booked.

We live in ZIP code 94087, and most of the homes sold here cost over $1 million for homes built over 55 years ago; something new since a couple of years ago. We are surrounded by engineers and scientists, and a few of us who's lived here for over 40 years.

And our city only recently approved increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour. Many things just aren't readily conceivable.

My Ouija board tells me the rest of 2014 will be okay, but politics can side road any economic prognostications.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

But with every generalization, many in the right skills are doing fine with good pay and benefits.

Yes that is hardly the complete picture as when I enter the job market with an engineering degree in 1972, I have zero debts where it is now not uncommon for new engineers to have debts in the same range as a home mortgage.

Next one of the reasons I have zero debts is that I worked summers and part time as a unionize railroad worker and it took a number of years for my non-union engineering salary to match what I was earning as an agent/operator for the NYLBRR or the CNJ railroads.

1 Reply

@BillRM,

Depends on what you mean by

Quote:

new engineers to have debts in the same range as a home mortgage.

Home mortgage can range anywhere from $215,000 (median home price) to several million dollars depending on location.

0 Replies

@realjohnboy,

From what I understand, we have had five straight months of job growth.

Quote:

The economy added 288,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected 212,000 jobs to be added. It marks five straight months of job growth over 200,000 and is the lowest unemployment rate since September 2008. 1.38 million jobs have been added to the economy since the start of the year, 1.16 million of them in the private sector.

The retail sector added 40,000 jobs in June while leisure and hospitality added 39,000 and manufacturing added 16,000. Job growth was also strong in professional and business services, which added 67,000 jobs, and food service and drinking places, which rose by 33,000.

Job gains in April and May were revised upward by 29,000 jobs over what was previously reported, with April going from 282,000 to 304,000 and May going from 217,000 to 224,000.

source

Perhaps because most of those jobs really don't have a high salary, and it is so expensive to live and pay bills, most people do not feel any improvement. I think more emphasis needs to put in public schools on those skills which pay the higher salaries like math and science, I think they are doing it now, so perhaps with any luck, the coming generations will be getting into those higher paying jobs.

1 Reply

Where is the US economy headed?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know