Survey: US businesses add jobs at slowest pace in 3 years

(Hat tip: KimR) - U.S. companies added jobs at the slowest pace in three years in April, a private survey found, a sign that slower growth and volatile financial markets could weigh on hiring. Read more at the Associated Press Read More......

US advance Q1 GDP up 0.5% vs. 0.7% expected

(Hat tip: KimR) - U.S. economic growth braked sharply to its slowest pace in two years as consumer spending softened and a strong dollar continued to undercut exports, but a pick-up in activity is anticipated given a buoyant labor market. Gross domestic product increased at a 0.5 percent annual rate, the slowest since the first quarter of 2014... Read more at CNBC Read More......

America's earnings recession just got worse

(Hat tip: KimR) - Weak global growth is closing consumers' wallets, while the strong dollar is only making iPhones and other American goods more expensive for foreign buyers. Add on still-low oil prices and Corporate America is facing major headwinds. Read more at CNN Read More......

Study: GDP Would Be 25% Bigger If Government Regulations Had Been Capped In 1980

(Hat tip: KimR) - Red Tape: Economists scratch their heads when asked to explain the economy’s tepid growth over the past several years. A new study gives a possible answer: the growing, cumulative burden of federal regulations. Read more at Investor's Business Daily Read More......

How the state of the economy is literally killing people

(Hat tip: KimR) - Middle-aged people laid off and unable to find work are taking another way out. They’re killing themselves. Suicide rates are soaring, according to federal data released last week. Especially in economically depressed states and job-starved upstate New York. People in need of work are twice as likely to take their own lives as employed people, and people fired in their 40s and 50s find it hardest to get hired again. Read more at the New York Post Read More......

Auditor: Government Will Owe More Money Than Entire Economy Produces

(Hat tip: KimR) - An auditor for the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers  Wednesday that in the next few years the federal government will owe more than our entire economy produces. Read more at the Washington Free Beacon Read More......

Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 45 Million for 56 Straight Months

(Hat tip: KimR) - The number of individuals receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, has exceeded 45 million for 56 straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture. Read more at the Washington Free Beacon Read More......

4.9 Percent Unemployment Rate? Over 80% Of Jobs Added In January Were Minimum Wage Earners

(Hat tip: KimR) - Jobs were good; earnings were a disaster - that's the best summary of today's jobs report. As we noted earlier, February suffered the biggest ever monthly drop in average weekly earnings, because not only did hourly earnings drop but so did hours worked, resulting in far lower overall weekly wages. Read more at Zero Hedge Read More......

Food Stamp Users Near Record High Despite Low Unemployment Rate

(Hat tip: KimR) - Despite the unemployment rate being at an eight-year low (4.9 percent as of January 2016), the number of people on food stamps remains near an all-time high which was 47,636,000 in 2013. Why the disparity in the numbers? Well, the unemployment rate does not take into account people who are not in, or have dropped out of, the workforce altogether. Read more at MRC TV Read More......

Venezuelan economy to turn even worse in 2016, study finds

(Hat tip: KimR) - If misery loves company, then at least Venezuela is located in the right corner of the globe. A recent study projects that the South American nation has far and away the world's most miserable economy in 2016, nearly four times worse off than second-place Argentina. Read more at Fox News Latino Read More......

Why doesn't 4.9% unemployment feel great?

The U.S. unemployment rate just fell below 5% for the first time since 2008. Normally, this would merit a celebration. But these aren't normal times. --The economy is better than it was in the Great Recession, but not even President Obama is ready to declare it's booming.

Read more at CNN
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Debt, defaults, and devaluations: why this market crash is like nothing we've seen before

A pernicious cycle of collapsing commodities, corporate defaults, and currency wars loom over the global economy. Can anything stop it from unravelling? A global recession is on the way. This truism of economics holds at any point in which the world is not in the grips of a contraction.

Read more at the UK Telegraph
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Who’s afraid of cheap oil? Low energy prices ought to be a shot in the arm for the economy.

ALONG with bank runs and market crashes, oil shocks have rare power to set monsters loose. Starting with the Arab oil embargo of 1973, people have learnt that sudden surges in the price of oil cause economic havoc. Conversely, when the price slumps because of a glut, as in 1986, it has done the world a power of good. The rule of thumb is that a 10% fall in oil prices boosts growth by 0.1-0.5 percentage points.

Read more at the Economist
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

US jobless claims jump to 7-month high

New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits jumped to a seven-month high last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.      Initial jobless claims rose by 10,000 to 293,000 in the week ending January 16, the highest level since early July. But claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, have remained below 300,000 since late February 2015 as the jobs market tightens.

Read more at Yahoo News
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Obama Sired America's Discontent

Commuters driving Pittsburgh's old Lincoln Highway alignment last week caught the last glimpse of the pillars of steam from the Shenango coke plant on Neville Island. --Nearly 60 years after the furnace started producing coke for the once-booming steel industry that personified America's strength and work ethic, it is closing — affecting 173 union and non-union employees — as yet another business that made things ends its run.

Read more at Real Clear Politics
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Heard of the Baltic Dry Index? Analysts warn 70% crash of key world trade barometer to record low shows global economy is grinding to a halt

A key barometer of world trade has crashed to a record low in a worrying sign the global economy is grinding to a halt. --The so-called Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of shipping raw materials such as coal, iron ore and grain, has fallen nearly 70 per cent since August to its lowest level since its introduction in 1985.

Read more at the UK Daily Mail
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The breakdown of December’s extremely misleading job report

Four days after Wall Street and the business media went gaga over the better-than-expected 292,000 new jobs created in December, let me tell you the non-adjusted truth: There were just 11,000 new jobs created last month. That's not my estimate or the guess of some on-the-fringe Obama administration critic. That comes directly from the Labor Department Web site. Here's how to find it.

Read more at the New York Post
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Is the Market Swoon Signaling Recession?

It's hard not to wonder: Is the stock market telling us something? True, the market's record in forecasting recessions is horrendous. Stocks often move according to whim or fad. But just because the market is wrong much of the time doesn't mean it's wrong all the time. Could last week's turbulent trading be one of the times it's right? By Friday's close, stocks had dropped 6% for the week, a paper loss of $1.5 trillion, says Wilshire Associates. Are we staring at the next recession?

Read more at Real Clear Markets
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Americans are pissed off — and that’s a good thing

‘People are pissed,” reports Esquire after examining the results of its new survey, conducted along with NBC News. The study finds that roughly half of Americans are even angrier than they were a year ago. --Yes, we’re mad. What of it? --The angry among us should be thanked, not tsk-tsked. Our boiling rage is actually cause for optimism.

Read more at New York Post (via RealClearPolitics) Read More......

The Weakest Economic Recovery in Modern Times

Even in boom times, any president can expect candidates from the opposing party to subject his record to pitiless scrutiny. The economy under Barack Obama isn't exactly filling voters with confidence, so it's not surprising that presidential hopefuls are pretty severe in their critique.

Read more at Townhall.com
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......