Unemployment has risen. https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_unemployment_rate?t&utm_source=perplexity It's not terrible, though if it rises further MoM, people are going to look deeper and see the decline in full time employment while part timers are padding the overall numbers with mutiple jobs. The government has distorted housing and real estate for generations that it feels like Market Issues to 40 yr old boiled frogs. They can take blame if the will to understand how is there. Some history behind the CRE debt crisis at the 2 min mark. Note how the GFC response by the FED to juice Alternative Investments is the exact same as COVID response, except with covid the scale of it is unparalleled. This also doesn't factor fiscal response by congress that jacked up the national debt and the actual money supply in circulation. So how does that affect Residential Real Estate as a knock on effect? Low rent and forbearance struck all real estate during covid, but with work from home hollowing out CRE, it was certain those office rent checks weren't coming back. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/02/business/family-homes-wall-street/index.html If you were able to cheaply borrow and buy commercial real estate valued from tens to hundreds of millions, but knew the carnage coming from work at home offices, you're not going to shut down shop and leave that Easy Money on the table. Oh right... I'm going to get replies from Texans about housing supply, lower construction, turrible local regulations as the Big Reason for nationwide housing being expensive. I'll buy that after I secure my extra jumbo loan for a 100M housing block inside a gated community. I've always loved the concept of For Rent Housing.
US Economy adds 206,000 jobs for June but the unemployment rate ticks up to 4.1% These numbers are softer than last year but still signs of a historically strong economy. It might also lead to a Fed rate cut. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/05/business/june-jobs-report Fresh jobs data spurs investors to bet on a September Fed rate cut. A fresh employment report on Friday showed that unemployment ticked up in June as wage growth cooled, signs that the labor market continued to moderate after years of remarkable strength. That could keep Federal Reserve officials wary as they watch for signs that the job market is on the cusp of cracking. Fed policymakers have two main goals: Achieving low, stable inflation and a strong labor market. They try to accomplish that by setting interest rates, either leaving them low to bolster the economy or raising them to high levels to weigh on growth. Since early 2022, Fed officials have been using higher rates to battle rapid inflation, focusing more on wrestling price increases under control than on the employment side of their mandate. But inflation is now cooling markedly, and keeping the job market strong has once again become a big priority for central bankers. That is why the jobs report released on Friday could be a cautionary moment. Unemployment has been ticking steadily higher over the past year: June’s 4.1 percent reading was up from 3.6 percent a year earlier. The rate measures people who are actively looking for work but struggling to find it, so the trends suggests that it is not as easy to land a job as it was a year ago. That’s not a huge surprise, based on other data. Job openings have come down sharply after spiking in the wake of coronavirus lockdowns. Wage growth has been moderating, a sign that employers are no longer paying so handsomely to lure new workers — average hourly earnings increased 3.9 percent from a year earlier in the June data, still solid by historical standards, but the lowest reading in years. All of it adds up to a job market that could be on the verge of cooling more drastically. Fed officials have been clear that a sudden and notable weakening of the labor market could spur them to cut rates. The slowdown underway probably falls short of that standard, but combined with cooling inflation, economists and investors increasingly think that the labor market moderation will pave the way for a rate cut as soon as September. Investors, who tend to prefer lower rates, pushed up stocks slightly in early trading on Friday. Wall Street had already been leaning toward a bet that the Fed would begin to cut interest rates in September. The numbers released on Friday firmed up those expectations, with two quarter-point cuts now fully priced in this year.
intellectual dishonesty on your part if only you'd reset the frame of the chart in your link to 5 year, from Above 10% when Trump was still in offfice in early 2020, unemployment had come down nearing the historic low in the high 3% which part of the Gov, and if only you can provide details
ur providing lagging economic indicators confirming that Fed's monetary fine-tuning is working, towards a soft landing. after hiking its benchmark rate 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023, the Fed has been on a "higher for longer" monetary stance to contain inflation, towards a a 2% target. altho the unemployment rate is still near the historic low. the MoM increase confirms a cooling labor market, which weakens the pressure on price.. so the Fed's monetary fine-tuning has been effective. , which part of the Gov? if only you have sufficient understanding to elaborate the point ur trying to make !!! more eg of Invisible being confused, all mixed-up, parroting false convenient narratives once again, the Fed's responsibility is to promote full employment and price stability; nothing about the juicing alternative investments yet an another eg of Invisible being confused and all mixed up, cutting n pasting disjointed verbiage that, when taken as a whole, say nothing.
consider the source, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volkswagen-spend-147-billion-settle-allegations-cheating-emissions-tests-and-deceiving#:~:text=In two related settlements, one,emissions tests and deceiving customers. VW was caught falsifying emissions data for its diesel models; had to pay ~~$14 Billion penalty
Inflation is continuing to slow. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/11/business/cpi-inflation-fed Fresh inflation data show continued cooling. The Consumer Price Index climbed at a moderate pace in June compared with a year earlier and fell on a monthly basis, welcome news for Federal Reserve officials who are watching for further evidence that they have wrestled rapid inflation under control. Overall inflation was 3 percent in June on an annual basis, down from 3.3 percent in May, and softer than the 3.1 percent that economists had forecast in a Bloomberg survey. After stripping out food and fuel prices for a sense of the underlying trend, the “core” price index climbed 3.3 percent compared to year earlier, down slightly from the previous report. On a monthly basis, prices fell overall, and the core price index was up just 0.1 percent. In all, this was a very cool report and clear evidence that inflation is slowing meaningfully. Fed officials have been watching for signs that inflation is still coming down as they contemplate when to begin cutting interest rates. The central bank has held borrowing costs at 5.3 percent for the past year, a relatively high setting that is meant to cool the economy by weighing down demand for big purchases that require loans, like houses and cars. Policymakers came into 2024 expecting to cut them several times, but a spate of stubborn inflation numbers early in the year prevented that pivot. But after the early-2024 blip, price pressures seem to be moderating again. And Thursday’s inflation reading is poised to be markedly cooler than the 9.1 percent rate when inflation peaked at in 2022. As of their latest forecasts, policymakers expected to make one or two rate reductions before the end of the year, and investors are now eagerly watching for any sign of when those cuts might start. “If we loosen policy too late or too little, we could hurt economic activity,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said during congressional testimony this week. “If we loosen policy too much or too soon, then we could undermine the progress on inflation. So we’re very much balancing those two risks, and that’s really the essence of what we’re thinking about these days.” While Mr. Powell avoided identifying a specific month when the Fed might begin to cut interest rates, he did little to push back on growing expectations that a reduction could come in September. Fed officials meet in late July, but few economists expect a move that early. While the annual inflation numbers remain well above the 2 percent level that was normal before the pandemic — and could remain sticky in the coming months, per economist forecasts — that is partly for mechanical reasons. Inflation began to slow sharply around this time last year, which means that the data going forward is being compared to those more subdued year-ago readings. The so-called base effect makes it harder for the annual figures to decelerate as quickly. Given that, Fed officials are likely to pay especially close attention to what is happening with inflation on a month-to-month basis and the recent several reports, as they try to understand how the price trend is shaping up. Fed policymakers officially target 2 percent annual inflation, and they define that goal using the Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation measure, which is related to Thursday’s Consumer Price Index but released later in the month. The June version of that figure is set for release on July 26, just a few days before the central bank’s next meeting.
Also IRS modernization and enforcement has brought in $1 Billion from tax evaders and delinquent payers. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/business/irs-crackdown-wealthy-taxpayers.html I.R.S. Crackdown on Delinquent Millionaires Yields $1 Billion The beefed-up enforcement is part of the agency’s modernization initiative aimed at improving customer service and catching wealthy tax evaders. The Biden administration’s yearlong effort to crack down on delinquent rich taxpayers has yielded $1 billion, a milestone that the Treasury Department said on Thursday was the result of beefed-up enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service. The tax agency has been undergoing a $60 billion modernization initiative aimed at improving its customer service and catching wealthy tax evaders. The Biden administration, which initially signed a law giving $80 billion to the agency, continues to contend with attempts by Republicans in Congress to claw back more of the money. As a result, the administration has been trying to demonstrate that the funds are being put to good use by bringing in additional tax revenue that has been going uncollected. “Efforts to increase tax fairness and bring in revenue from high-end taxpayers who have not paid what they owe are already paying off to the American people,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said during a briefing with reporters. The I.R.S. targeted 1,600 taxpayers with more than $1 million of income who owed more than $250,000 in tax debt. Daniel Werfel, the I.R.S. commissioner, said that because of the agency’s larger enforcement staff, it has been able to focus on tracking down and sending letters to wealthy taxpayers who owe money. In many cases, these result in threats of additional penalties until the taxpayers eventually pay their tax bills, he said. Mr. Werfel said he believed many rich taxpayers had neglected to pay their bills because they thought the I.R.S. did not have the capacity to go after them. “Our message for these taxpayers is that now that we are resourced, we can do the job of ensuring that they pay,” he said. The money for the expansion of the I.R.S. was included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which was enacted in August 2022. The agency was originally given $80 billion, but $20 billion of that was taken back as part of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats to suspend the debt limit last year. The I.R.S. is also focused on finding more than 100,000 high-wealth individuals who the agency believes have not filed taxes in years. And it has been ramping up audits of hedge funds and real estate investment partnerships and cracking down on abuse of corporate jets for personal travel. More at link.
and that's not including the free gifts of value received by Clarence Thomas and Alito, not reported to the IRS
more evidence that Bidenomics is working Biden campaign fundraising has been ‘disastrous’ since debate: ‘The money has absolutely shut off’ https://nypost.com/2024/07/10/us-ne...nce-debate-the-money-has-absolutely-shut-off/
more evidence that Bidenomics is working https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/07/11/biden-economy-cpi-inflation/ Democrats fear Biden drama may squander goldilocks economy Falling inflation and jobless claims risk being overshadowed by party turmoil over the president’s fate. excerpt: The inflation report released Thursday represented virtually everything the White House has been hoping to see for years. New and used vehicle prices fell. Rent finally moderated. Overall prices dropped on a monthly basis for the first time in four years, raising the prospect that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates before the November election. And yet Democrats inside and outside the administration could only greet the data with a feeling of exasperation, knowing the news would be overshadowed by a second week of turmoil over President Biden’s fitness to lead the presidential ticket. Compounding their fears is the prospect that former president Donald Trump, if victorious in November, could for a second time inherit a growing economy that Democrats believe they deserve credit for fixing. The missed opportunity to capitalize on the inflation report highlights the political fallout from Biden’s disastrous performance in the debate, which has spurred a wave of calls for him to step aside in favor of another party standard-bearer. The White House appeared unable to staunch the bleeding again on Thursday, as more Democrats in Congress called for the president to step aside amid intensifying concerns about his capacity for the job. more at the link
FTC Report Hits “Drug Middlemen" for Profiteering at Expense of Patients the Federal Trade Commission found that pharmacy benefit managers — the opaque middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain — wield such “enormous power” that these companies can affect the ability of many Americans to access and afford their medicines. FTC to sue top 3 PBMs over insulin prices The lawsuit stems from concerns over escalating drug prices and alleged anticompetitive practices, particularly for medications like insulin. the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the United States are CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group , and Cigna
