Consumer spending accounts for 65%-70% of GDP so if the US economy is to experience a sustainable economic expansion it will be on the backs of the American consumer. Are consumers spending? How can we?! We’re deluged on a daily basis with stories of layoffs, foreclosures and bankruptcy. Those of us with jobs face frozen [...]
The Labor Dept said Tue that its Producer Price Index - a measure of inflation at the wholesale level considered an early read of price trends - rose 0.3% in Oct after failing 0.6% in Sept. Consensus estimates were for an increase of 0.5%. Core PPI - a measure excluding volatile food and energy prices [...]
Today The White House said it believed the $787 billion stimulus package (or the "Un-stimulating Stimulus" package as we dubbed it in our 2/16/09 analysis) saved or created 650,000 jobs. This "belief" is based upon review of state and local projects and activities paid for by the stimulus such as education funding, highway repairs and [...]
Unsustainable deficits, quantitative easing, lack of faith and a near zero Fed Funds rate have conspired to punish the Dollar in recent months. Commodity prices have risen nearly as much as the Dollar as fallen since most are Dollar-denominated and require increased pricing to preserve purchasing power (as opposed to reflecting supply/demand considerations). Speculators borrowing [...]
The Labor Department reported CPI fell 1.3% over the past 12 months. So much for worrying about inflation! As a result the IRS announced in Revenue Procedure 2009-50 that tax rate brackets and various tax benefits will remain unchanged or change only slightly for tax year 2010. Highlights include the following: The value of each [...]