by | ARTICLES, ECONOMY, POLITICS, TAXES
From the WSJ:
U.S. stocks posted their biggest losses of the year following another disappointing employment report.
The Dow industrials sank 274.88 points, or 2.2%, to 12118.57, turning negative for the year. The Nasdaq composite lost 79.86, or 2.8%, to 2747.48. The S&P 500 fell 32.29, or 2.5%, to 1278.04.
Gold prices shot up 3.7% to $1,620.50 a troy ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.467%, its first time ever below 1.5%. Crude-oil slumped 3.8%. The dollar retreated against the euro and yen.
However, want some really sobering numbers?
Go down to International Stock Markets and start looking at their 1-yr % change.
Spain? 41.34% of their stock value GONE.
Italy? 36.84% of their stock value GONE.
France? 25.58% of their stock value GONE.
Britain? 11.27% of their stock value GONE.
Canada? 16.02% of their stock value GONE.
Argentina? 28.95% of their stock value GONE. (remember them? Right now they are denying devaluation speculation)
Hong Kong? 21.45% of their stock value GONE.
China? 13.49% of their stock value GONE.
Japan? 13.16% of their stock value GONE.
Israel? 15.03 of their stock value GONE.
Egypt? 15.15% of their stock value GONE. (didn’t they just have a revolution? On par with Israel…)
The U.S. Dow Jones? Down a mere 3.14%
I don’t think we’ve seen numbers such as these since the Great Depression or the fall of Rome. Worse, this is all being done on speculation on the Greek market’s impact on the Euro.
Two things:
(1) The world markets are tanking and that “full faith and credit of the United States” on your money is what’s keeping America afloat.
(2) You should be investing in precious metals if we don’t get a budget out of Congress by the end of the year. Not gold and silver, either… but copper and lead.
Between the federal statutory debt limit and the November Presidential elections, Autumn 2012 is certain to be just as volatile.
by | TAXES
I kind of feel bad for the guy who writes the White House blog. He must be very, very tired. So tired that he has to recycle old themes repeatedly (it’s Bush’s fault) and make sure no blame is placed on the shoulders of his boss, Obama.
With a dismal jobs report for May and unemployment up from April, the White House immediately points back 5 years.
There is much more work that remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and deep recession that began at the end of 2007.
Then, he talks about Obama’s plans for recovery.
In the American Jobs Act and in the State of the Union Address, the President put forward a number of proposals to create jobs and strengthen the economy, including proposals that would put teachers back in the classroom and cops on the beat, and put our nation’s construction workers back on the job rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure. The President has also proposed a “To-Do List” of actions that Congress should take to create jobs and help restore middle-class security. This includes eliminating tax incentives to ship jobs overseas, cutting red tape so responsible homeowners can refinance, giving small businesses that increase employment or wages a 10 percent income tax credit, investing in affordable clean energy, and helping returning veterans find work.
Too bad he doesn’t mention the fact that none of Obama’s proposals have garnered a single “yea” vote in the House or Senate in either party over the last two years.
And how’s the budget working out? Paul Ryan got it right when he pointed out the bicameral and bipartisan rejection of Obama’s ideas.
I think the best part of the blog post, however, was the summary:
As the Administration stresses every month, the monthly employment and unemployment figures can be volatile, and employment estimates can be subject to substantial revision. Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is helpful to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.
At least they got that right…
The report comes a month after the government reported that just 115,000 new jobs were added in April, a number that helped contribute to a general malaise about economic growth.
Even that number was worse than thought: The BLS revised the April number down to 77,000.
The White House report was written by Alan B. Krueger, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
UPDATE: Jay Cost, over at the Weekly Standard, chimes in on the White House response: Not Good Enough
by | ARTICLES, ECONOMY, TAXES
Reports coming in this morning show the unemployment rate rising a tenth of a point, as only 69K jobs were added in May. If you count “discouraged workers”, their numbers went up as well — to 14.8%. Workforce participation continues to hover at 30 year lows.
Last month, analysts boasted hopeful spin numbers that the unemployment rate was 8.1% — forgetting to mention the part that it was because 341K had left the workforce. Now, what about the month of April, again?
The report comes a month after the government reported that just 115,000 new jobs were added in April, a number that helped contribute to a general malaise about economic growth.
Even that number was worse than thought: The BLS revised the April number down to 77,000.
Additionally, stocks were down their worst week since 2010. A quick look at pre-market data shows that they are spooked by the report as well this morning. Let’s see what Friday brings. At least for President Obama, he has six fundraiser to attend today!
Other opinions:
White House Blames Bush
Is a second recession on the way?
Jobs Slowdown Adds to Global Fears
