01.12.2024
By Robert Romano Consumer prices experienced a 0.3 percent increase in the December amid jumps in electricity, shelter and medical care services, growing at 3.4 percent rate over 12 months, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while producer prices cooled off for the third month in […]
01.11.2024
By Robert Romano Legislation offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the “Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2024,” would conduct an audit of the U.S. Federal Reserve by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for the first time since the Dodd-Frank legislation of 2010 required an audit of the central bank’s purchases of mortgage-backed securities. […]
01.09.2024
By Robert Romano The number of Americans not in the labor force increased by 845,000 to 100.5 million Dec. 2023, according the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) household survey, including 436,000 who were over the age of 65 , as the Baby Boomer retirement wave continues en force. In the same month, 635,000 fewer Americans reported having jobs on a seasonal basis, 145,000 of whom were seniors (although seniors are measured by BLS on […]
12.14.2023
By Robert Romano The Federal Reserve on Dec. 13 held the Federal Funds Rate—the rate at which banks lend to each other—steady at 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent, as the consumer inflation once again cooled to 12-month average level of 3.1 percent, according to the latest data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Leading the cooldown were […]
12.05.2023
By Robert Romano “Anti-woke economic terrorists have now wiped out $5 trillion in stock value.” That was a headline from Afru.com bemoaning the sideways performance of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) funds the past year or so, accusing anyone opposed to ESG with inflicting “economic terrorism” and “erod[ing] financial portfolios of […]
12.04.2023
By Rick Manning Imagine a regulatory body of the United States government deciding that people who pay their bills should subsidize those who don’t. Well, imagine no more. The constitutionally dubious Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) has a proposed rule (Regulation Z) that would lower the penalty […]
11.29.2023
By Robert Romano As the Baby Boomer retirement wave continues apace, the percentage of the working age population over the age of 65 continues to rapidly increase—since 1960, it has gone from 16 percent of the population to 26 percent of the population—and with it the $33 […]
11.27.2023
By Robert Romano The U.S. economy has been on a rollercoaster ever since the Covid pandemic of 2020, first with high unemployment and near deflationary levels as the global economy was locked down, followed by a deluge of government spending, borrowing and printing almost $7 trillion, followed […]
11.22.2023
By Robert Romano As 2023 is winding down to a close, the U.S. trade in goods deficit with the world is down $101 billion for the first nine months of the year to $802 billion, an 11.2 percent decrease so far, with still three months of […]
11.16.2023
By Robert Romano Both annualized consumer and producer inflation decreased in October from 3.7 percent to 3.2 percent and from 2.2 percent to 1.3 percent , respectively, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, amid a drops in oil prices. On the consumer side, gasoline prices dropped 5 percent in October […]