How surprising?
“Job Creation Continues: More than 5.7 Million Jobs Created Since August 2003” — White House
Following up on Floyd Norris’s article on how slow employment growth has been during the current expansion, as well as numerous other comments on the Web, I examine other dimensions of labor market performance.
Ex post versus ex ante benefit-cost analysis: Iraq 2003-
Now that the long-delayed Senate report on pre-Iraq War intelligence has finally put the Republican imprimatur on the well-established fact that the case for Iraqi WMD’s had been hyped (as well as the absence of a Iraq-al Qaeda link), we can return our attention to a rational benefit-cost assessment for the invasion and subsequent occupation, ex ante as well as (quasi) ex post.
Big Oil takes on a Big Job
Chevron Corporation announced on Tuesday a promising test from a well deep below the Gulf of Mexico, a project in which Devon Energy Corporation and Statoil each also hold 25% interest.
Trade Deficit Watch: 2006q2
Stabilization in the non-oil trade balance arrives. What needs to happen for adjustment to continue without a recession?
House prices still climbing
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) today released its house price indexes for 2006:Q2, which continue to show house prices climbing in all but five states, though with a significantly slower rate of increase than previously.
The labor market and the incipient slowdown
Some other aspects of the employment release in context.
Autos remain weak
Auto sales still a weak spot for the economy, but no big plunge yet.
Gasoline prices coming down
U.S. gasoline prices have been dropping and will likely fall further.
Net interest and factor payments in 2006q2
The message from yesterday’s NIPA release.