The Radford Free Press – Page 389 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / consumption, ISM Business Conditions Index, recovery, retail sales, savings, stimulus, wages /

Spending and Manufacturing: Good News

May 3, 2010

We are now receiving a string of reports all pointing in the same direction: the economy is perking up. The recovery is now well under way. That doesn’t mean, unfortunately, that we are experiencing the usual post-recession surge, instead we appear to be making steady headway across the board. The news can be summarized briefly: […]

Economics / business investment, consumer confidence, consumption, exports, federal spending, GDP, imports, inventories, non-residential investment, recession, recovery, residential investment, state budgets, state spending, stimulus /

Real Growth, Good Growth

April 30, 2010

We have been waiting all week for the first quarter GDP numbers to be released, and the general expectation was that they would show growth of between 3.0% and 3.5% at annual rates. Well, the report cam in exactly as predicted: 3.2%. So the more important question is whether the growth is sustainable, or whether […]

Economics / GDP, jobs, recovery, unemployment /

Jobs: Inching In The Right Direction

April 29, 2010

And I mean ‘inching’. There is not too much to add to the headline of this morning’s report on first time claims for unemployment. Last week saw a very modest drop in such claims, by 11,000 to 448,000. Hurrah. Progress should never be sniffed at, but this is a crawl to the finishing line rather […]