From CNBC.com:
Wal-Mart has played it safe when it comes to retail clinics, partnering with regional hospitals to offer services like flu shots.
But now, the retailer is taking a more aggressive tack, with in-store branded clinics offering primary care at a price competitors may find hard to match.
"It was important to Wal-Mart that we be able to maintain or be a price leader in this space," said Jennifer LaPerre, Wal-Mart U.S. senior director for health and wellness, who is overseeing the rollout of the company's new Walmart Care Clinics.
LaPerre was in Carrollton, Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, to open the ninth Walmart Care Clinic.
Three more are planned this year as part of a pilot program to offer primary care services such as health screenings and disease management of conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure in-store.
Read MoreNew twists ahead for your employer's health plan
The price? Just $4 for employees and dependents on the company's health plan.
For customers, the price is $40—about the same as an online telemedicine consultation with a doctor...
----
Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101954858
Friday, August 29, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
"The intractability of poverty in America"
Several days before Warren Buffett's financing of a Burger King takeover, news outlets reported on takeover bids among the discount dollar retailers.
Is Warren Buffett, through his new Burger King investment, out to get his fair share of the poor man's dollar? Maybe some things are intractable and....simply irresistible. PB
----
From Reuters.com:
Family Dollar Stores, which operates about 8,200 stores in mainly urban sections of the U.S., is the target of an $9 billion cash takeover offer from rival Dollar General and an $8.5 billion cash and stock offer from Dollar Tree.
Both competitors are betting not only on the health of the deep discount retail sector but also on the intractability of poverty in America.
----
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/24/us-familydollar-offer-poverty-analysis
Is Warren Buffett, through his new Burger King investment, out to get his fair share of the poor man's dollar? Maybe some things are intractable and....simply irresistible. PB
----
From Reuters.com:
Family Dollar Stores, which operates about 8,200 stores in mainly urban sections of the U.S., is the target of an $9 billion cash takeover offer from rival Dollar General and an $8.5 billion cash and stock offer from Dollar Tree.
Both competitors are betting not only on the health of the deep discount retail sector but also on the intractability of poverty in America.
----
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/24/us-familydollar-offer-poverty-analysis
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
But wait! Have it Your Way!
Holy, Holy, Holy Warren Buffett, Billionaire, does he pay his fair share?
Or, does he get the tax code and deal making to pay for him? PB
----
From the Wall Street Journal online:
Mr. Buffett drove a hard bargain during negotiations, even though Berkshire is a passive equity investor and won’t have an operational role.
Berkshire has structured its portion of the deal so that it gets compensated for more than $50 million in higher taxes it expects to pay as a U.S. financier, the person familiar with the matter said.
In other words, the combined Burger King-Tim Hortons will help subsidize Berkshire’s higher tax bill.
----
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/08/26/berkshire-to-pay-u-s-tax-rate-on-burger-king-investment/?mod=trending_now_3
Or, does he get the tax code and deal making to pay for him? PB
----
From the Wall Street Journal online:
Mr. Buffett drove a hard bargain during negotiations, even though Berkshire is a passive equity investor and won’t have an operational role.
Berkshire has structured its portion of the deal so that it gets compensated for more than $50 million in higher taxes it expects to pay as a U.S. financier, the person familiar with the matter said.
In other words, the combined Burger King-Tim Hortons will help subsidize Berkshire’s higher tax bill.
----
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/08/26/berkshire-to-pay-u-s-tax-rate-on-burger-king-investment/?mod=trending_now_3
Warren Buffett, Billionaire: Moral Fraud? Hypocrite? Mere Liberal? And what does President Obama say: It's Wrong!
Warren Buffett, Billionaire: you love the girls on CNBC; you love your burger and coke; and you love to preach about other folks not paying more taxes.
So now you want to do a Tax Inversion and avoid paying U.S. Taxes by helping to buy Burger King and move the company to Canada.
I thought they got the wrong B!
It's not Bain? It's Buffett! Wow!
And now Warren Buffett is getting ready to avoid paying his fair share of bajillions in U.S. Taxes! Oh, boy, you know something ain't right. PB
----
From the Wall Street Journal online:
Warren Buffett’s Inversion Play Looks Awkward for the White House
[President] Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew have spoken disparagingly about companies that use inversions.
Mr. Obama in July called inversions an “unpatriotic tax loophole” and said “my attitude is I don’t care if it’s legal, it’s wrong.”
It even published a blog post titled “what are inversions and why should you care.”
Now that Mr. Buffett’s involvement in a possible inversion has been made public, will Mr. Obama and other Democrats take him to task?
That might be awkward, given how the Obama administration has named one of their top tax proposals after the “Oracle of Omaha” himself...
The White House in 2011 proposed the “Buffett Rule,” which White House officials described as a new policy that would essentially prohibit wealthy Americans from claiming so many tax breaks and deductions that they were able claim sharp reductions in their effective tax rate.
Mr. Buffett’s point, in helping pitch the rule, is that he shouldn’t be able to claim a lower tax rate than his secretary, who presumably isn’t a billionaire.
The Buffett Rule would essentially require millionaires to pay at least a 30% effective tax rate.
The White House has invoked the Buffett Rule often, even on the 2012 campaign trail, but it was never adopted by Congress.
It lives on, however, in Obama administration budget proposals and on the White House’s website, which describes the the Buffett Rule as “a simple principle of tax fairness that asks everyone to pay their fair share.”
That offers a stark contrast with the language the White House has used to describe inversions in recent weeks.
----
Link:http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/08/25/warren-buffetts-inversion-play-looks-awkward-for-white-house/
So now you want to do a Tax Inversion and avoid paying U.S. Taxes by helping to buy Burger King and move the company to Canada.
I thought they got the wrong B!
It's not Bain? It's Buffett! Wow!
And now Warren Buffett is getting ready to avoid paying his fair share of bajillions in U.S. Taxes! Oh, boy, you know something ain't right. PB
----
From the Wall Street Journal online:
Warren Buffett’s Inversion Play Looks Awkward for the White House
[President] Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew have spoken disparagingly about companies that use inversions.
Mr. Obama in July called inversions an “unpatriotic tax loophole” and said “my attitude is I don’t care if it’s legal, it’s wrong.”
It even published a blog post titled “what are inversions and why should you care.”
Now that Mr. Buffett’s involvement in a possible inversion has been made public, will Mr. Obama and other Democrats take him to task?
That might be awkward, given how the Obama administration has named one of their top tax proposals after the “Oracle of Omaha” himself...
The White House in 2011 proposed the “Buffett Rule,” which White House officials described as a new policy that would essentially prohibit wealthy Americans from claiming so many tax breaks and deductions that they were able claim sharp reductions in their effective tax rate.
Mr. Buffett’s point, in helping pitch the rule, is that he shouldn’t be able to claim a lower tax rate than his secretary, who presumably isn’t a billionaire.
The Buffett Rule would essentially require millionaires to pay at least a 30% effective tax rate.
The White House has invoked the Buffett Rule often, even on the 2012 campaign trail, but it was never adopted by Congress.
It lives on, however, in Obama administration budget proposals and on the White House’s website, which describes the the Buffett Rule as “a simple principle of tax fairness that asks everyone to pay their fair share.”
That offers a stark contrast with the language the White House has used to describe inversions in recent weeks.
----
Link:http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/08/25/warren-buffetts-inversion-play-looks-awkward-for-white-house/
Sunday, August 24, 2014
More Harsh Reality for the Middle Class?
From Reuters.com:
Automation and increasingly sophisticated computers have boosted demand for both highly educated and low-skilled workers around the globe, while eroding demand for middle-skilled jobs...
But only the highly educated workers are benefiting through higher wages, wrote MIT professor David Autor in the paper prepared for a central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Middle- and lower-skilled workers are seeing their wages decline.
That is in part because as middle-skilled jobs dry up, those workers are more likely to seek lower-skilled jobs, boosting the pool of available labor and putting downward pressure on wages...
Recounting the long history of laborers vilifying technological advances, Autor argues that most such narratives underestimate the fact that computers often complement rather than replace the jobs of higher-skilled workers.
People with skills that are easily replaced by machines, such as 19th-century textile workers, do lose their jobs.
In recent years computer engineers have pushed computers farther into territory formerly considered to be human-only, like driving a car.
Still, computer-driven job polarization has a natural limit, Autor argues.
For some jobs, such as plumbers or medical technicians who take blood samples, routine tasks are too intertwined with those requiring interpersonal and other human skills to be easily replaced.
"I expect that a significant stratum of middle skill, non-college jobs combining specific vocational skills with foundational middle skills - literacy, numeracy, adaptability, problem-solving and common sense - will persist in coming decades," Autor wrote...
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/22/us-usa-fed-technology
Automation and increasingly sophisticated computers have boosted demand for both highly educated and low-skilled workers around the globe, while eroding demand for middle-skilled jobs...
But only the highly educated workers are benefiting through higher wages, wrote MIT professor David Autor in the paper prepared for a central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Middle- and lower-skilled workers are seeing their wages decline.
That is in part because as middle-skilled jobs dry up, those workers are more likely to seek lower-skilled jobs, boosting the pool of available labor and putting downward pressure on wages...
Recounting the long history of laborers vilifying technological advances, Autor argues that most such narratives underestimate the fact that computers often complement rather than replace the jobs of higher-skilled workers.
People with skills that are easily replaced by machines, such as 19th-century textile workers, do lose their jobs.
In recent years computer engineers have pushed computers farther into territory formerly considered to be human-only, like driving a car.
Still, computer-driven job polarization has a natural limit, Autor argues.
For some jobs, such as plumbers or medical technicians who take blood samples, routine tasks are too intertwined with those requiring interpersonal and other human skills to be easily replaced.
"I expect that a significant stratum of middle skill, non-college jobs combining specific vocational skills with foundational middle skills - literacy, numeracy, adaptability, problem-solving and common sense - will persist in coming decades," Autor wrote...
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/22/us-usa-fed-technology
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Big Trucker Shortage Could Hit Your Wallet Soon
Has the economy been mismanaged?
Are regulations a problem? Think about who drives our country's trucks and the importance of the products they deliver. PB
----
From Fox Business online:
According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the industry is about 30,000 short of qualified drivers.
Over the next 10 years, that number is set to rise to 200,000.
The industry, which has an average 115-120% annual turnover rate ... also has an aging problem:
the average age in the for-hire truckload market is about 49, and for less-than-truckload drivers (LTL) and private carriers the average is about 55.
The trucking industry is a vital component to economic growth, with trucks hauling 70% of all freight tonnage moved in the U.S.
And as the economy continues to improve so does demand, which is good news for the industry and the economy, but there isn’t enough capacity to keep up.
In fact, earlier this month, Swift Transportation reported in its quarterly earnings release that the “the overall driver market tightened more than anticipated."
The Great Recession provided a false sense of security with the driver shortage, explains Fielkow, (CEO of Jetco Delivery.) “Demand died down when the economy cooled off so no one was really feeling the shortage. We took our eye off the ball as a country. The slowdown was purely masking an underlying generational trend.”
Experts cite other job alternatives that don’t require being away from home for long stretches, the age requirement (23), cumbersome regulations and the demanding work schedule for fueling the shortage.
“A company can’t get into a high school and recruit young men and women who don’t aspire to go to college,” says Lyndon Finney, editor at The Trucker.
“There is a three-year gap where they can’t recruit and a lot of career decisions get made during that time.”
He says there is movement to get insurance companies to come up with rigorous training standards to get young drivers behind the wheel earlier.
“We let them go into combat and go over and face the enemy on the ground and fly a plane, maybe they are mature enough to drive a truck as well.”
----
Link: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/08/22/massive-trucker-shortage-could-hit-your-wallet-soon/
Are regulations a problem? Think about who drives our country's trucks and the importance of the products they deliver. PB
----
From Fox Business online:
According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the industry is about 30,000 short of qualified drivers.
Over the next 10 years, that number is set to rise to 200,000.
The industry, which has an average 115-120% annual turnover rate ... also has an aging problem:
the average age in the for-hire truckload market is about 49, and for less-than-truckload drivers (LTL) and private carriers the average is about 55.
The trucking industry is a vital component to economic growth, with trucks hauling 70% of all freight tonnage moved in the U.S.
And as the economy continues to improve so does demand, which is good news for the industry and the economy, but there isn’t enough capacity to keep up.
In fact, earlier this month, Swift Transportation reported in its quarterly earnings release that the “the overall driver market tightened more than anticipated."
The Great Recession provided a false sense of security with the driver shortage, explains Fielkow, (CEO of Jetco Delivery.) “Demand died down when the economy cooled off so no one was really feeling the shortage. We took our eye off the ball as a country. The slowdown was purely masking an underlying generational trend.”
Experts cite other job alternatives that don’t require being away from home for long stretches, the age requirement (23), cumbersome regulations and the demanding work schedule for fueling the shortage.
“A company can’t get into a high school and recruit young men and women who don’t aspire to go to college,” says Lyndon Finney, editor at The Trucker.
“There is a three-year gap where they can’t recruit and a lot of career decisions get made during that time.”
He says there is movement to get insurance companies to come up with rigorous training standards to get young drivers behind the wheel earlier.
“We let them go into combat and go over and face the enemy on the ground and fly a plane, maybe they are mature enough to drive a truck as well.”
----
Link: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/08/22/massive-trucker-shortage-could-hit-your-wallet-soon/
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Jobs - Lots Of Churning, Little Job Creation
Piece by piece we're seeing the truth about our economy.
Middle class lives, middle class families, and middle class opportunities are diminishing economically.
Mostly, things are stagnant for the middle class: staying the same while costs go up is not improvement.
This article is a further indictment of this weak economy and it discusses an important aspect about hiring that needs to be understood. PB
----
From Investors.com (Investors Business Daily):
The key determinant of labor market health is hiring, and hiring remains well below normal...
During the typical month when jobs increase by about 100,000, 5.1 million workers are hired and five million separate from their jobs, resulting in a net change of +100,000 jobs.
During the worst month of the most recent recession (June 2009), when net jobs decreased by almost half a million, there were still 3.6 million hires.
The labor market is dynamic; even through sluggish periods, there is tremendous churn.
Reductions in employment during recessions come about primarily because the hiring rate declines, not because layoffs pick up...
During the recession and first three years of the recovery, hires averaged about 4.2 million per month...
The labor force is larger now, so more hires are needed, specifically about 5.2 million in the average month...
High rates of labor-market churn enhance economic efficiency.
GDP was reduced by about one-half a percentage point per year for each year of the recession and weak recovery because of well-below normal rates of hiring and separation.
The low levels of churn in recessions mean that workers get stuck in the wrong jobs and produce less than they could in a better labor market....
Eventually the number of layoffs also declined — but quits did not rise because hiring was slow...
It is impossible to generate job growth by reducing layoffs because once that channel is exhausted, nothing more can be done.
But to produce a truly healthy labor market, we need to create a positive environment for hiring.
Active hiring means job growth and also ensures that workers are moved to their most efficient uses, improving economic performance, profits and wages.
Policies that lead to high investment, high labor productivity and a fluid labor market are the ones most conducive to job growth.
----
Link: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-brain-trust/081914-713894-net-job-creation-remains-stuck-at-below-normal-levels.htm?
Middle class lives, middle class families, and middle class opportunities are diminishing economically.
Mostly, things are stagnant for the middle class: staying the same while costs go up is not improvement.
This article is a further indictment of this weak economy and it discusses an important aspect about hiring that needs to be understood. PB
----
From Investors.com (Investors Business Daily):
The key determinant of labor market health is hiring, and hiring remains well below normal...
During the typical month when jobs increase by about 100,000, 5.1 million workers are hired and five million separate from their jobs, resulting in a net change of +100,000 jobs.
During the worst month of the most recent recession (June 2009), when net jobs decreased by almost half a million, there were still 3.6 million hires.
The labor market is dynamic; even through sluggish periods, there is tremendous churn.
Reductions in employment during recessions come about primarily because the hiring rate declines, not because layoffs pick up...
During the recession and first three years of the recovery, hires averaged about 4.2 million per month...
The labor force is larger now, so more hires are needed, specifically about 5.2 million in the average month...
High rates of labor-market churn enhance economic efficiency.
GDP was reduced by about one-half a percentage point per year for each year of the recession and weak recovery because of well-below normal rates of hiring and separation.
The low levels of churn in recessions mean that workers get stuck in the wrong jobs and produce less than they could in a better labor market....
Eventually the number of layoffs also declined — but quits did not rise because hiring was slow...
It is impossible to generate job growth by reducing layoffs because once that channel is exhausted, nothing more can be done.
But to produce a truly healthy labor market, we need to create a positive environment for hiring.
Active hiring means job growth and also ensures that workers are moved to their most efficient uses, improving economic performance, profits and wages.
Policies that lead to high investment, high labor productivity and a fluid labor market are the ones most conducive to job growth.
----
Link: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-brain-trust/081914-713894-net-job-creation-remains-stuck-at-below-normal-levels.htm?
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Call it the No-Raises Recovery
This economic recovery is a disappointment for average American families.
Inequality exists in the middle, too.
Politically favored classes of workers - say, government workers or union protected - have gained at the expense of average folks.
Why no redistribution of existing politically favored and government protected jobs? PB
----
From Bloomberg.com:
Only Rich Know Wage Gains With No Raises for U.S Workers
Call it the no-raises recovery: Five years of economic expansion have done almost nothing to boost paychecks for typical American workers while the rich have gotten richer.
Meager improvements since 2009 have barely kept up with a similarly tepid pace of inflation, raising the real value of compensation per hour by only 0.5 percent.
That marks the weakest growth since World War II, with increases averaging 9.2 percent at a similar point in past expansions, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by Bloomberg...
In the U.S., stagnant wages are linked to a question puzzling economists and policy makers alike: How many able and willing workers still are waiting on the sidelines?
Until the economy burns through this excess capacity, employers have little incentive to give raises to attract and maintain employees.
Recoveries in the past exhausted that supply far faster than the current rebound, generating broad-based compensation increases that outpaced the speed of inflation and encouraged consumers to spend.
If the economy had followed the historical relationship between joblessness and earnings, real wages would have been 3.6 percentage points higher by mid-2014, given how much unemployment has declined, according to a Chicago Fed study released last week...
----
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-19/only-rich-know-wage-gains-with-no-raises-for-u-s-workers.html
Inequality exists in the middle, too.
Politically favored classes of workers - say, government workers or union protected - have gained at the expense of average folks.
Why no redistribution of existing politically favored and government protected jobs? PB
----
From Bloomberg.com:
Only Rich Know Wage Gains With No Raises for U.S Workers
Call it the no-raises recovery: Five years of economic expansion have done almost nothing to boost paychecks for typical American workers while the rich have gotten richer.
Meager improvements since 2009 have barely kept up with a similarly tepid pace of inflation, raising the real value of compensation per hour by only 0.5 percent.
That marks the weakest growth since World War II, with increases averaging 9.2 percent at a similar point in past expansions, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by Bloomberg...
In the U.S., stagnant wages are linked to a question puzzling economists and policy makers alike: How many able and willing workers still are waiting on the sidelines?
Until the economy burns through this excess capacity, employers have little incentive to give raises to attract and maintain employees.
Recoveries in the past exhausted that supply far faster than the current rebound, generating broad-based compensation increases that outpaced the speed of inflation and encouraged consumers to spend.
If the economy had followed the historical relationship between joblessness and earnings, real wages would have been 3.6 percentage points higher by mid-2014, given how much unemployment has declined, according to a Chicago Fed study released last week...
----
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-19/only-rich-know-wage-gains-with-no-raises-for-u-s-workers.html
Saturday, August 16, 2014
How Frank is the Pope when he talks about hypocrisy and poverty?
When can we see the financial statements of the Church? Let's look and see how deep the hypocrisy runs. Why wait? Open the books.
How about: open the Book? That could lead to better solutions for the poor, even though it would clearly offend a different level of hypocrite. PB
----
From Pope Francis via Reuters.com:
Pope Francis on Saturday issued a clear warning to Roman Catholic clergy, saying those who profess poverty while living rich material lives were hypocrites who hurt the image and mission of the Church.
On the third day of his visit to South Korea, Francis celebrated a huge open-air Mass in the center of the capital Seoul, where he denounced the growing gap between the haves and have nots, urging people in affluent societies to listen to "the cry of the poor" among them...
"The hypocrisy of those consecrated men and women who profess vows of poverty, yet live like the rich, wounds the souls of the faithful and harms the Church," he said.
Francis has been urging Roman Catholic officials to live simpler lives, and renounced the papal apartments in the Vatican palace for modest quarters in a Church guest house.
In March, he removed a German prelate who became known as the "bishop of bling" because he spent 31 million euros ($41.5 million) of Church funds on an extravagant residence.
In the United States, the Archbishop of Atlanta apologized for building a $2.2 million mansion to use as his home, a move that made him the object of derision and complaint, and said it would be sold....
"Their example has much to say to us who live in societies where, alongside immense wealth, dire poverty is silently growing; where the cry of the poor is seldom heeded and where Christ continues to call out to us, asking us to love and serve him by tending to our brothers and sisters in need," he said.
It was a theme the pope has been repeating since he arrived in South Korea on Thursday for his first trip to Asia since his election in March, 2013, and has been a lynchpin of the papacy of the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.
Last year, in the first major written work of his papacy, Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny", urging global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality.
Rapid economic growth has made South Korea one of the world's wealthiest countries, but it has also become increasingly unequal, with nearly half the elderly in poverty...
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/16/us-pope-southkorea
How about: open the Book? That could lead to better solutions for the poor, even though it would clearly offend a different level of hypocrite. PB
----
From Pope Francis via Reuters.com:
Pope Francis on Saturday issued a clear warning to Roman Catholic clergy, saying those who profess poverty while living rich material lives were hypocrites who hurt the image and mission of the Church.
On the third day of his visit to South Korea, Francis celebrated a huge open-air Mass in the center of the capital Seoul, where he denounced the growing gap between the haves and have nots, urging people in affluent societies to listen to "the cry of the poor" among them...
"The hypocrisy of those consecrated men and women who profess vows of poverty, yet live like the rich, wounds the souls of the faithful and harms the Church," he said.
Francis has been urging Roman Catholic officials to live simpler lives, and renounced the papal apartments in the Vatican palace for modest quarters in a Church guest house.
In March, he removed a German prelate who became known as the "bishop of bling" because he spent 31 million euros ($41.5 million) of Church funds on an extravagant residence.
In the United States, the Archbishop of Atlanta apologized for building a $2.2 million mansion to use as his home, a move that made him the object of derision and complaint, and said it would be sold....
"Their example has much to say to us who live in societies where, alongside immense wealth, dire poverty is silently growing; where the cry of the poor is seldom heeded and where Christ continues to call out to us, asking us to love and serve him by tending to our brothers and sisters in need," he said.
It was a theme the pope has been repeating since he arrived in South Korea on Thursday for his first trip to Asia since his election in March, 2013, and has been a lynchpin of the papacy of the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years.
Last year, in the first major written work of his papacy, Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny", urging global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality.
Rapid economic growth has made South Korea one of the world's wealthiest countries, but it has also become increasingly unequal, with nearly half the elderly in poverty...
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/16/us-pope-southkorea
Friday, August 15, 2014
How are the Other Americans doing?
From Bloomberg.com:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s latest struggles to revive U.S. sales, following a disappointing Commerce Department report earlier this week, add to evidence that the economy isn’t recovering as quickly as expected.
The company posted stagnant same-store sales today in its second-quarter earnings report, marking the sixth straight period of no growth.
The world’s largest retailer also cut its earnings forecast for the year, citing higher spending on health care and e-commerce...
One of the biggest challenges: Paychecks aren’t growing.
Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings dropped 0.2 percent in the 12 months through June, the worst performance since October 2012, according to Labor Department data...
----
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-14/wal-mart-s-sales-stagnation-reignites-concern-about-economy-1-.html
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s latest struggles to revive U.S. sales, following a disappointing Commerce Department report earlier this week, add to evidence that the economy isn’t recovering as quickly as expected.
The company posted stagnant same-store sales today in its second-quarter earnings report, marking the sixth straight period of no growth.
The world’s largest retailer also cut its earnings forecast for the year, citing higher spending on health care and e-commerce...
One of the biggest challenges: Paychecks aren’t growing.
Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings dropped 0.2 percent in the 12 months through June, the worst performance since October 2012, according to Labor Department data...
----
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-14/wal-mart-s-sales-stagnation-reignites-concern-about-economy-1-.html
Good News! Used Car Prices Dropping
From CNBC.com:
Used car prices are tumbling sharply and likely to slide through 2016, according to pricing trends.
There are a few exceptions, such as pickup trucks, which have been in increasingly high demand as contractors and fleets rebound along with the economy.
But there are deals to be had on "nearly new" luxury cars and a number of other models, according to Tom Webb, chief economist for Manheim, which runs used vehicle wholesale auctions...
Used car prices took what Webb called an "unprecedented" surge in 2008, hitting an all-time peak three years later and generally holding at above-trend numbers until now.
The reason? A lack of supply. But the new car market has rebounded faster than anticipated, so there is a growing supply of used vehicles available, driving down prices.
----
Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101923519
Used car prices are tumbling sharply and likely to slide through 2016, according to pricing trends.
There are a few exceptions, such as pickup trucks, which have been in increasingly high demand as contractors and fleets rebound along with the economy.
But there are deals to be had on "nearly new" luxury cars and a number of other models, according to Tom Webb, chief economist for Manheim, which runs used vehicle wholesale auctions...
Used car prices took what Webb called an "unprecedented" surge in 2008, hitting an all-time peak three years later and generally holding at above-trend numbers until now.
The reason? A lack of supply. But the new car market has rebounded faster than anticipated, so there is a growing supply of used vehicles available, driving down prices.
----
Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101923519
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Jobs lost paid $61,000. Jobs won paid $47,000. Really? So say the nation's mayors
From the U.S. Conference of Mayors:
Average annual wage of jobs lost in 2008‐09 was $61,637.
The average wage of job gains through the second quarter of 2014 equaled $47,171.
This wage gap of 23% is significantly larger than that of the earlier recession and recovery (2000 ‐ 2006).
How bad is that loss? About $93 billion in lower wage income...
----
Link: http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/2014/08/key-findings.pdf
Average annual wage of jobs lost in 2008‐09 was $61,637.
The average wage of job gains through the second quarter of 2014 equaled $47,171.
This wage gap of 23% is significantly larger than that of the earlier recession and recovery (2000 ‐ 2006).
How bad is that loss? About $93 billion in lower wage income...
----
Link: http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/2014/08/key-findings.pdf
Is the U.S. going POSTAL?
The U.S. Postal Service lost $2 billion this spring despite increasing its volume and charging consumers more money to send mail, officials said Monday...
The agency blamed increases in compensation and benefit costs for the red ink and said it would be unable to make a congressionally mandated payment of $5.7 billion this September for health benefits for future retirees. The loss came despite a 2 percent increase in operating revenue compared to last spring.
"Due to continued losses and low levels of liquidity, we've been extremely conservative with our capital, spending only what is deemed essential to maintain existing infrastructure," said Joseph Corbett, the Postal Service's chief financial officer.
----
Link: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-postal-service-loses-2b-spring
The agency blamed increases in compensation and benefit costs for the red ink and said it would be unable to make a congressionally mandated payment of $5.7 billion this September for health benefits for future retirees. The loss came despite a 2 percent increase in operating revenue compared to last spring.
"Due to continued losses and low levels of liquidity, we've been extremely conservative with our capital, spending only what is deemed essential to maintain existing infrastructure," said Joseph Corbett, the Postal Service's chief financial officer.
----
Link: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-postal-service-loses-2b-spring
Atlanta educators in widespread cheating scandal trial
The trial of a dozen former Atlanta educators charged in one of the nation's largest school test-cheating scandals began on Monday, a case receiving wide attention as similar cheating accusations blemish schools across the United States.
Lawyers say it could take several months to try the group of former teachers, principals and administrators, accused of conspiring to alter students' standardized test scores after a state investigation uncovered cheating at 44 Atlanta public schools in 2009.
Investigators said the educators inflated test results to boost their bonuses in a data-driven environment.
The high-profile Atlanta case is one in a string of cheating cases affecting 39 states over the last five years...
----
Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/us-usa-education-atlanta
The trial of a dozen former Atlanta educators charged in one of the nation's largest school test-cheating scandals began on Monday, a case receiving wide attention as similar cheating accusations blemish schools across the United States.
Lawyers say it could take several months to try the group of former teachers, principals and administrators, accused of conspiring to alter students' standardized test scores after a state investigation uncovered cheating at 44 Atlanta public schools in 2009.
Investigators said the educators inflated test results to boost their bonuses in a data-driven environment.
The high-profile Atlanta case is one in a string of cheating cases affecting 39 states over the last five years...
----
Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/us-usa-education-atlanta
U.S. economic growth: "disappointing"
The U.S. and global recoveries have been "disappointing" so far and may point to a permanent downshift in economic potential, U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said on Monday.
In an overview of the years since the 2007-2009 financial crisis and recession, Fischer said a slowing of U.S. productivity, declining labor force participation and other factors may have scarred the United States' ability to generate economic growth.
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/usa-fed-fischer
The U.S. and global recoveries have been "disappointing" so far and may point to a permanent downshift in economic potential, U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said on Monday.
In an overview of the years since the 2007-2009 financial crisis and recession, Fischer said a slowing of U.S. productivity, declining labor force participation and other factors may have scarred the United States' ability to generate economic growth.
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/usa-fed-fischer
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Ridiculously expensive: Wind and Solar Energy
The Economist, a British magazine, discusses a report done in the U.S. that compares the costs of wind and solar energy to coal.
Coal? Yeah - coal is very cheap.
Wind and Solar are not cheap. They are ridiculously expensive.
We don't have to pay high energy costs. This applies to investment costs as well. PB
----
From the Economist.com:
Solar power is by far the most expensive way of reducing carbon emissions - it costs $189,000 to replace 1MW per year of power from coal.
Wind is the next most expensive.
Hydro-power provides a modest net benefit.
But the most cost-effective zero-emission technology is nuclear power.
The pattern is similar if 1MW of gas-fired capacity is displaced instead of coal.
And all this assumes a carbon price of $50 a tonne.
Using actual carbon prices (below $10 in Europe) makes solar and wind look even worse.
----
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21608646-wind-and-solar-power-are-even-more-expensive-commonly-thought-sun-wind-and
Coal? Yeah - coal is very cheap.
Wind and Solar are not cheap. They are ridiculously expensive.
We don't have to pay high energy costs. This applies to investment costs as well. PB
----
From the Economist.com:
Solar power is by far the most expensive way of reducing carbon emissions - it costs $189,000 to replace 1MW per year of power from coal.
Wind is the next most expensive.
Hydro-power provides a modest net benefit.
But the most cost-effective zero-emission technology is nuclear power.
The pattern is similar if 1MW of gas-fired capacity is displaced instead of coal.
And all this assumes a carbon price of $50 a tonne.
Using actual carbon prices (below $10 in Europe) makes solar and wind look even worse.
----
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21608646-wind-and-solar-power-are-even-more-expensive-commonly-thought-sun-wind-and
Friday, August 8, 2014
1/3 Worse off; 1/3 the Same; 1/3 Better off
The Federal Reserve has released a survey of American Consumers dated July 2014 and asked how they were doing.
You might guess that 10 out of one hundred are doing poorly.
No! 34 out of one hundred said they are "worse off" after a five year period of time - by comparing 2013 to 2008, the year the Great Recession started.
The persistent disappointment of weak job creation and low economic growth has been wearing on people longer than it takes to finish high school.
It is simply awful that tens of millions of Americans are stuck and can't graduate to improved and secure economic status.
Obviously America suffers from poor leadership. PB
----
Excerpts from the Federal Reserve's "Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2013"
Overall, the 2013 survey found that many households were
faring well, but that sizable fractions of the popula-
tion were at the same time displaying signs of finan-
cial stress:
The effects of the recession continued to be felt by
many: 34 percent reported that they were some-
what worse off or much worse off financially than
they had been five years earlier, 34 percent reported
that they were about the same, and 30 percent
reported that they were somewhat or much bet-
ter off.
43 percent of respondents reported that they could
not afford to pay for a major medical expense out
of pocket, and 34 percent reported that it is only
somewhat likely that they could afford to pay.
42 percent reported that they had delayed a major
purchase or expense directly due to the recession,
and 18 percent put off what they considered to be a
major life decision as a result of the recession.
----
Link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2013-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201407.pdf
You might guess that 10 out of one hundred are doing poorly.
No! 34 out of one hundred said they are "worse off" after a five year period of time - by comparing 2013 to 2008, the year the Great Recession started.
The persistent disappointment of weak job creation and low economic growth has been wearing on people longer than it takes to finish high school.
It is simply awful that tens of millions of Americans are stuck and can't graduate to improved and secure economic status.
Obviously America suffers from poor leadership. PB
----
Excerpts from the Federal Reserve's "Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2013"
Overall, the 2013 survey found that many households were
faring well, but that sizable fractions of the popula-
tion were at the same time displaying signs of finan-
cial stress:
The effects of the recession continued to be felt by
many: 34 percent reported that they were some-
what worse off or much worse off financially than
they had been five years earlier, 34 percent reported
that they were about the same, and 30 percent
reported that they were somewhat or much bet-
ter off.
43 percent of respondents reported that they could
not afford to pay for a major medical expense out
of pocket, and 34 percent reported that it is only
somewhat likely that they could afford to pay.
42 percent reported that they had delayed a major
purchase or expense directly due to the recession,
and 18 percent put off what they considered to be a
major life decision as a result of the recession.
----
Link: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2013-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201407.pdf
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
How poverty is moving to the suburbs
What about the neighbors who live near you? How many are struggling as they stay hidden behind unremarkable routines? The economy is not helping millions of people who will never been seen in a bread line. PB
------
From CNBC.com:
...among metro areas hit hardest by the Great Recession, suburban neighborhoods have seen some of the greatest increases in poverty, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution.
And the biggest increases came in neighborhoods already struggling with high rates of poverty. The recession reversed the economic gains that helped reduce poverty rates in the late 1990s.
But it also has concentrated poverty in suburban communities, many of which now have higher poverty rates than the inner cities they surround.
"In some cases these neighborhoods were last out (of poverty) in the 1990s," said study author and Brookings fellow Elizabeth Kneebone.
"When the economy turned down, they were first to register those effects once again."
During the 2000s, the poor population living in high-poverty urban neighborhoods grew by 21 percent to reach 5.9 million.
In the suburbs it more than doubled, swelling by 105 percent to reach 4.9 million.
By the end of the decade, suburbs were home to nearly as many high-poverty census tracts as cities, based on American Community Survey data from 2008-2012.
Almost half of all metro area poor residents in high-poverty tracts lived in suburbs...
----
Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101892537
------
From CNBC.com:
...among metro areas hit hardest by the Great Recession, suburban neighborhoods have seen some of the greatest increases in poverty, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution.
And the biggest increases came in neighborhoods already struggling with high rates of poverty. The recession reversed the economic gains that helped reduce poverty rates in the late 1990s.
But it also has concentrated poverty in suburban communities, many of which now have higher poverty rates than the inner cities they surround.
"In some cases these neighborhoods were last out (of poverty) in the 1990s," said study author and Brookings fellow Elizabeth Kneebone.
"When the economy turned down, they were first to register those effects once again."
During the 2000s, the poor population living in high-poverty urban neighborhoods grew by 21 percent to reach 5.9 million.
In the suburbs it more than doubled, swelling by 105 percent to reach 4.9 million.
By the end of the decade, suburbs were home to nearly as many high-poverty census tracts as cities, based on American Community Survey data from 2008-2012.
Almost half of all metro area poor residents in high-poverty tracts lived in suburbs...
----
Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101892537
Sunday, August 3, 2014
'THEY JUST LIED TO PEOPLE' - Barney Frank on why he is 'Appalled' by the Obama Folks
Timeless breaking news from the Huffington Post:
President Barack Obama made a major political mistake by lying about the details of his health care plan, according to former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
"The rollout was so bad, and I was appalled -- I don't understand how the president could have sat there and not been checking on that on a weekly basis," Frank told HuffPost during a July interview.
"But frankly, he should never have said as much as he did, that if you like your current health care plan, you can keep it..."
"That wasn't true. And you shouldn't lie to people. And they just lied to people..."
Frank is a strong supporter of the law, and he has repeatedly defended Obama and his legislative agenda.
"He should have said, 'Look, in some cases the health care plans that you've got are really inadequate, and in your own interests, we're going to change them,'" Frank said.
"But that's not what he said..."
"Any smart political adviser would have said, 'Don't lie to people, because you're gonna get caught up in it and it's gonna have this tsunami that you now have,'" Frank told HuffPost.
"My political motto, very simple. I have always told the truth, and nothing but the truth.
"But I don't volunteer the whole truth in every situation."
----
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/01/barney-frank-obama-lie_n_5642132.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
President Barack Obama made a major political mistake by lying about the details of his health care plan, according to former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
"The rollout was so bad, and I was appalled -- I don't understand how the president could have sat there and not been checking on that on a weekly basis," Frank told HuffPost during a July interview.
"But frankly, he should never have said as much as he did, that if you like your current health care plan, you can keep it..."
"That wasn't true. And you shouldn't lie to people. And they just lied to people..."
Frank is a strong supporter of the law, and he has repeatedly defended Obama and his legislative agenda.
"He should have said, 'Look, in some cases the health care plans that you've got are really inadequate, and in your own interests, we're going to change them,'" Frank said.
"But that's not what he said..."
"Any smart political adviser would have said, 'Don't lie to people, because you're gonna get caught up in it and it's gonna have this tsunami that you now have,'" Frank told HuffPost.
"My political motto, very simple. I have always told the truth, and nothing but the truth.
"But I don't volunteer the whole truth in every situation."
----
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/01/barney-frank-obama-lie_n_5642132.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Friday, August 1, 2014
So Where Are Those Raises?
Jobs are up. Average hourly earnings match inflation, which means no 'real' growth in income. Stagnant is a more precise word. Got a job? That's great. Feel like you're treading water? Sounds right for tens of millions of Americans. PB
----
From Bloombergview.com:
Overall, the pace of wage growth in the private sector has been remarkably slow and steady: Hourly earnings rose at an annualized rate of 2 percent over the past three months, roughly the same as over the past year and since the beginning of the recovery in mid-2009.
That's just enough to keep up with consumer price inflation, which has run at an average annual rate of 2 percent since mid-2009.
Workers in some industries have been doing better than others...
All told, though, wage gains have been meager, and still trail far behind the pace at which workers' output per hour has increased during the recovery...
----
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-01/so-where-are-those-raises
----
From Bloombergview.com:
Overall, the pace of wage growth in the private sector has been remarkably slow and steady: Hourly earnings rose at an annualized rate of 2 percent over the past three months, roughly the same as over the past year and since the beginning of the recovery in mid-2009.
That's just enough to keep up with consumer price inflation, which has run at an average annual rate of 2 percent since mid-2009.
Workers in some industries have been doing better than others...
All told, though, wage gains have been meager, and still trail far behind the pace at which workers' output per hour has increased during the recovery...
----
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-01/so-where-are-those-raises
Job growth cools, unemployment rises - but, average hourly earnings rose by one penny!
From Reuters.com:
U.S. job growth slowed in July and the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose, pointing to slack in the labor market that could give the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 209,000 last month after surging by 298,000 in June, the Labor Department said on Friday. Economists had expected a 233,000 job gain.
Although job growth was below expectations, July marked the sixth straight month employment expanded by more than 200,000, a signal of strength last seen in 1997...
The report showed average hourly earnings, which are being monitored as a potential signal of reduced job market slack that could prompt the Fed to raise rates, rose only one cent...
Policymakers on Wednesday cautioned that "significant" labor market slack remained, signaling patience on the rate front. The Fed has kept benchmark rates near zero since December 2008.
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/01/us-usa-economy
U.S. job growth slowed in July and the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose, pointing to slack in the labor market that could give the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while.
Nonfarm payrolls increased 209,000 last month after surging by 298,000 in June, the Labor Department said on Friday. Economists had expected a 233,000 job gain.
Although job growth was below expectations, July marked the sixth straight month employment expanded by more than 200,000, a signal of strength last seen in 1997...
The report showed average hourly earnings, which are being monitored as a potential signal of reduced job market slack that could prompt the Fed to raise rates, rose only one cent...
Policymakers on Wednesday cautioned that "significant" labor market slack remained, signaling patience on the rate front. The Fed has kept benchmark rates near zero since December 2008.
----
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/01/us-usa-economy
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