Political Economy category archive

Priorities:

A new survey from Visa Inc. shows that the average American family with teenagers plans to spend $1,078 — that’s for each child — on the prom, a 33.6 percent increase over the $807 spent last year.

And those in the lower income brackets, less than $50,000, plan to spend even more — $1,307 per child, the survey found. And those in the very lowest bracket, under $20,000, plan to spend $1,200 — more than 6 percent of their annual income.

But the most staggering number came from those families earning between $20,000 and $30,000, who plan to spend an average of $2,635, which would represent almost 9 percent of annual income for those making $30,000. Those families are just above the federal poverty level, which is $23,050 for a family of four.

Actually, I can understand the inverse relationship between income and prom spending.

The poorer families are likely reasoning, “We can’t give them much, but at least we can give them this.”

It may not make financial sense, but it makes emotional sense.

Mike Papantonio takes on the myth that the President–any President–can significantly influence the price of gas at the pump:

Bump.

Jobless claims increased 13,000 in the week ended April 7 to 380,000, the highest since Jan. 28, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for 355,000 claims. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those receiving extended payments declined.

(snip)

The total number of people receiving jobless benefits fell by 98,000 in the week ended March 31 to 3.25 million.

In addition to the jobless claims, the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs decreased by about 34,000 to 3.22 million in the week ended March 24.

The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits, which tends to track the jobless rate, held at 2.6 percent, today’s report showed.

But what if you subsequently let it fall apart? Bloomberg considers America’s fascination with building new while ignoring old:

A challenge generally is that states and localities, unlike the federal government, make a firm distinction between operating and capital expenditures. You can borrow money to build a road, but not to maintain it. This leads to a subtle — make that not so subtle — bias against maintenance spending.

“See those lights,” a transit manager in a major American city told me during a tour of an open-air train station, pointing to some bulbs in rusting metal frames hanging over the platform. “It would only cost about $1,000 a year to maintain those well. We can’t get that. So instead, we will wait until they rust out and fail completely. Then we will replace them, at a cost of perhaps $100,000.”

Giving money to developers and contractors: Good, because they are “free enterprise.”

Paying persons to maintain what you get for that money: Bad, because they are “government drones” (but not the kind of drones which kill people; those are good).

Headline at Bloomberg:

Payless Shoes Seen Accepting Lowest Apparel Valuation

What goes around . . . .

The number of do-nothing stay-at-homes continues to inch down:

Jobless claims fell 6,000 to 357,000 in the week ended March 31, the fewest since April 2008, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 43 economists in a Bloomberg News survey estimated a decrease to 355,000. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls also dropped, while those getting extended payments increased.

(snip)

The total number of people receiving jobless benefits fell by 16,000 in the week ended March 24 to 3.34 million.

In addition to the jobless claims, the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs increased by about 17,000 to 3.26 million in the week ended March 17.

All the spin the world can’t turn a bag of Skittles into a Glock.

Looking trendier every day:

Jobless claims decreased by 5,000 to 348,000 in the week ended March 17, the fewest since February 2008, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 46 economists in a Bloomberg News survey projected 350,000. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those getting extended payments also fell.

(snip)

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, declined to 355,000 last week from 356,250. The average during last month’s survey week was 359,500, indicating the job market may have continued to improve.

Just what exactly are the resale prospects for a repo church:

A congregation losing its house of worship, once a rare event, is now common in Colorado — part of a national trend of record foreclosures on churches.

The real-estate information company CoStar Group looked at five years of distressed church sales and found only a handful of foreclosures nationwide prior to 2008, when the number jumped to 24. In 2009, the figure was 67.

CoStar Group spokeswoman Angela Brown said the market saw a big spike in 2010 with 135 churches sold after a lender-initiated foreclosure. In 2011, there were 138 such sales.

The states with the highest percentages of forced church sales often were those with some of the worst home-foreclosure rates, including California, Florida and Michigan.

Looking more like a trend every month.

Applications for unemployment insurance payments fell by 14,000 to 351,000 in the week ended March 10, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 357,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Claims reached the same level a month ago, the lowest since March 2008.

(snip)

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits dropped by 81,000 in the week ended March 3 to 3.34 million. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

Those who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments decreased by about 73,900 to 3.33 million in the week ended Feb. 25.

Republicans are no doubt celebrating with the rest of us, given their commitment to the greater good.

Also, pigs, wings.

For all practical purposes, no change from last week.

Applications for unemployment insurance payments increased by 8,000 in the week ended March 3, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 352,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The average over the past four weeks held close to a four-year low.

(snip)

The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, was little changed at 355,000 from 354,750, which were the fewest since March 2008.

Shaun Mullen explains. It’s a must-read.

PoliticalProf observes:

One constantly hears that Republicans are the party of small government while Democrats are the party of big government. And, of course, the person making this claim usually makes it clear that small government is good and big government is bad.

Except, of course, this characterization of the two parties’ positions on government is factual twaddle.

Follow the link to find out why.

Signs of a positive trend continue.

Applications for jobless benefits were unchanged in the week ended Feb. 18 at 351,000, the fewest since March 2008, Labor Department figures showed today. The median projection in a Bloomberg News survey called for 355,000 claims, marking the fourth straight week that the figures have been better than forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls dropped to the lowest level since August 2008.

(snip)

The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, declined to 359,000, also the lowest since March 2008, from 366,000.

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits dropped by 52,000 in the week ended Feb. 11 to 3.39 million. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

Clarence Page wonders on this apparent contradiction: States who number among those receiving the highest amounts of government benefits have populaces who tend to be most vocally opposed to government benefits.

He suggests that it is a question of framing: To wit, my hard-earned asset is your undeserved entitlement.

Here’s a bit. Click to read the rest.

I was informed of this in a gigabyte of emails that I received last summer after writing about a study by Cornell’s Suzanne Mettler. She found that substantial percentages of people receiving benefits from such programs as Social Security (44 percent), unemployment insurance (43 percent) and Medicare (40 percent) told researchers that they have not received a “government benefit.”

Irritated readers responded with personal arguments that basically went like this:

“How dare you refer to (Social Security/Medicare/unemployment/home mortgage income tax deduction/etc., etc.) as a ‘benefit.’ I worked hard for (fill in the blank) years to earn my (Social Security/Medicare/unemployment/home mortgage income tax deduction/ etc., etc.), you (fill in the invective.)”

Believe me, I get it. The dispute here is between what I mean when I say “benefit” and what some people hear. In the years since Ronald Reagan won blue-collar votes by denouncing “welfare queens” and the like, many voters have come to associate the word “benefits” with handouts to “deadbeats” and “losers” and “cheats.”

Despite the best efforts of Republicans in Congress, we may have a trend:

Applications (INJCJC) for unemployment insurance payments decreased 13,000 in the week ended Feb. 11 to 348,000, less than the lowest forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the fewest since March 2008, Labor Department figures showed today. The median survey estimate projected an increase to 365,000.

(snip)

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits dropped by 100,000 in the week ended Feb. 4 to 3.43 million, the fewest since August 2008. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

At Psychology Today, Peter Corning points out that there was much more to Adam Smith’s beliefs than an unfeeling reverence for acquisitiveness and for letting Goldman fill his sacks in any way he can.

More important, many of Smith’s modern acolytes seem unaware of his cautionary warnings, especially in his earlier work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, where (as a Stoic and a Christian) he stressed the fact that everything in a free market depends on a moral foundation of trust, honest dealing and, as he himself put it, “justice”. (He defined justice as not doing “injury” to others.) “There can be no proper motive for hurting our neighbor.” Smith was even a proponent of the Golden Rule and invoked the “invisible hand” simile in his earlier work to characterize our sense of charity toward those in need.

I forgot to check whether the FDIC was dining out on the town yesterday evening.

It was. Two more blanked banks:

SCB Bank, Shelbyville, Indiana

Charter National Bank and Trust, Hoffman Estates, Illinois

If this keeps up, we might just maybe have a trend:

Applications for jobless benefits decreased 15,000 in the week ended Feb. 4 to 358,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 370,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure of claims, declined to 366,250, the lowest since April 26, 2008.

(snip)

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits rose by 64,000 in the week ended Jan. 28 to 3.52 million. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

Those who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments increased by about 18,650 to 3.5 million in the week ended Jan. 21.