Wholesale prices rose 0.3% in July, higher than expected
A measure of wholesale prices rose more than expected in July, countering recent trends showing that inflation pressures are easing. The producer price index, which gauges the costs that goods and services producers receive for their products as opposed to those that consumers pay, rose 0.3% for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported […]
Has higher education been fixed?
Two recent Supreme Court decisions addressed problems with higher education in America. In one decision, the Supreme Court outlawed affirmative action programs that discriminate on the basis of race. A second decision rejected the Biden Administration plan to forgive about $420 billion in student loans. Both decisions seem reasonable on legal grounds. I’d like to […]
A Higher Minimum Wage, More Unions, and More Public Housing. Review of ‘Poverty, by America’ by Matthew Desmond
“Why is there so much poverty in America?” This question opens Poverty, by America, a newly released book by Princeton University Professor of Sociology Matthew Desmond. The book’s emphatic answer is “exploitation.” In fact, all Americans fortunate not to live in poverty, as Desmond sees it, are at least indirectly complicit in exploiting poor Americans […]
Jobless claims edge up to 198,000, higher than expected
Initial filings for unemployment insurance ticked higher last week but remained generally low in a tight labor market. Jobless claims for the week ended March 25 totaled 198,000, up 7,000 from the previous period and a bit higher than the 195,000 estimate, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Though the number was slightly higher than expectations, […]
Something broke, but the Fed’s still expected to push rates higher
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies during the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, in Hart Building on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images When the Federal Reserve starts to raise interest rates, it generally keeps doing […]
Denmark cancels public holiday to finance higher military spending
Denmark scraps public holidays in order to fund higher military defense spending when behind closed doors, the EU is anticipating sending in troops to fight Russia in Ukraine. The Parliament in Denmark passed a corresponding bill to abolish the “Great Day of Prayer” as a holiday in the future. After all, it was just […]
UK house prices suffer biggest fall in more than a decade as higher interest rates bite
UK house prices registered the largest decline in more than a decade last month as higher interest rates and the wider cost of living crisis hit demand, according to a closely watched survey. Property prices fell 1.1 per cent in February compared with the same month last year, the biggest drop since November 2012, and […]
FirstFT: Powell warns of higher rates if jobs data remains strong
Good morning. This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get it sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell warned yesterday that it would probably take a “significant period of time” to tame inflation given stronger labour […]
Enrollment Declines Increase Pressure on ‘Woke’ Higher Ed
Reprinted from The Center Square Higher education is confronting a problem: its customer base is shrinking. High birth rates in the 1990s and early 2000s created large incoming classes. After reaching a peak in 2007, birth rates have steadily dropped. Births rose to 4.3 million in 2007, while this past year saw 3.7 million. Children […]
Consumer Services Push Revised Third Quarter GDP Higher
Real gross domestic product rose at a revised 3.2 percent annualized rate in the third quarter versus a 0.6 percent rate of decline in the second quarter and a -1.6 pace in the first quarter (see first chart). Over the past four quarters, real gross domestic product is up 1.9 percent. Real final sales to […]
