Today’s release from the Department of Labor continues our run of bad news. Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased yet again, this time reaching 626,000, the highest level in 26 years. Here’s the press release: ETA Press Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report I have said before, but it bears repeating: this is not the […]

I find it unnerving to watch Washington wrangle over legislation at the best of times. While I understand the essential nature of politics and the compromises that need to be made to build sufficient votes to pass a law, the debate over the stimulus package is a shameful and potentially disastrous shambles. Anyone with any […]

Buried in these numbers, released Monday, is a dark and worrisome problem: BEA : News Release: Personal Income and Outlays, December 2008 Take your time to view the Personal Income [Current Dollars] line. You will see that personal incomes, unadjusted for inflation, have been declining during the last three months. Down 0.1% in October; 0.4% […]