Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The price of Pringles proves a potent predictor of a fair rate of exchange
The price of Pringles proves a potent predictor of a fair rate of exchange | Michigan Today
A brilliant piece on how a traveler used the price of Pringles to determine the exchange rate.
A brilliant piece on how a traveler used the price of Pringles to determine the exchange rate.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Economics and Annoying Smart Guys
Found this on YouTube and though a year or so old, I thought it was funny and worth putting on my blog.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Podcast: John Maynard Keynes Has A Plan
Podcast: John Maynard Keynes Has A Plan | NPR: Planet Money
A great podcast from the Planet Money crew interviewing Keynes biographer, Lord Robert Skidelsky. His three-volume biography of Keynes is not only comprehensive (1000+ pages) -- it's also funny, insightful and frankly, a little raunchy.
Skidelsky has a new book about Keynes out, called Keynes: The Return of the Master.
A great podcast from the Planet Money crew interviewing Keynes biographer, Lord Robert Skidelsky. His three-volume biography of Keynes is not only comprehensive (1000+ pages) -- it's also funny, insightful and frankly, a little raunchy.
Skidelsky has a new book about Keynes out, called Keynes: The Return of the Master.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Unemployment Rate Unchanged for December 09
Unemployment remains unchanged at 10%. Here’s the unemployment rates (per month) for the year:
2009
January ............... 7.7
February .............. 8.2
March ................. 8.6
April ................. 8.9
May ................... 9.4
June .................. 9.5
July .................. 9.4
August ................ 9.7
September ............. 9.8
October ............... 10.2
November .............. 10.0
December .............. 10.0
I have to admit that this is kind of a shock…I was expecting this number to lower a tad to compensate workers landing jobs for the holidays. Which brings me to the UNDERemployment rate
Which increased to 17.4%
Underemployment rate is the unemployment rate + temporary workers (part-time, temp, intern, etc,etc), discouraged workers (people who leave the workforce altogether).
Some other notes from bls...
“Temporary help services added 47,000 jobs in December. Since reaching a low
point in July, temporary help services employment has risen by 166,000.”
“Among the unemployed, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27
weeks and over) continued to trend up, reaching 6.1 million. In December, 4 in
10 unemployed workers were jobless for 27 weeks or longer.”<--Duration of Unemployment
I'm assuming the increase to 17.4% for the Underemployment Rate is attributed to workers landing more part-time gigs for the holidays and what not. However I say that with trepidation because my concern with this increase is after the holidays (say end of January or so), these temp workers will not have employment. It’ll be interesting to see this underemployment rate the next couple months and more importantly how it affects the unemployment rate and duration of unemployment numbers...
...only time will tell.
2009
January ............... 7.7
February .............. 8.2
March ................. 8.6
April ................. 8.9
May ................... 9.4
June .................. 9.5
July .................. 9.4
August ................ 9.7
September ............. 9.8
October ............... 10.2
November .............. 10.0
December .............. 10.0
I have to admit that this is kind of a shock…I was expecting this number to lower a tad to compensate workers landing jobs for the holidays. Which brings me to the UNDERemployment rate
Which increased to 17.4%
Underemployment rate is the unemployment rate + temporary workers (part-time, temp, intern, etc,etc), discouraged workers (people who leave the workforce altogether).
Some other notes from bls...
“Temporary help services added 47,000 jobs in December. Since reaching a low
point in July, temporary help services employment has risen by 166,000.”
“Among the unemployed, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27
weeks and over) continued to trend up, reaching 6.1 million. In December, 4 in
10 unemployed workers were jobless for 27 weeks or longer.”<--Duration of Unemployment
I'm assuming the increase to 17.4% for the Underemployment Rate is attributed to workers landing more part-time gigs for the holidays and what not. However I say that with trepidation because my concern with this increase is after the holidays (say end of January or so), these temp workers will not have employment. It’ll be interesting to see this underemployment rate the next couple months and more importantly how it affects the unemployment rate and duration of unemployment numbers...
...only time will tell.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Health Spending: The cost of good health
Jan 1st 2010
From Economist.com
Where health-care spending is heaviest
HEALTH-CARE spending will consume 15.5% of the GDP in North America this year, the largest share of six regions worldwide. Record levels of public debt in America will limit the scope of health-care reforms set for 2010. Meanwhile, global life expectancy will reach 72.5 years, bringing the number of people aged 65 and over to 523m, or 7.6% of the population. This will reduce the amount of tax available to fund health-care systems everywhere, prompting governments and insurers to focus on public health, preventive care and other money-saving measures.
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15096205&fsrc=facebook&sa_campaign=facebook
From Economist.com
Where health-care spending is heaviest
HEALTH-CARE spending will consume 15.5% of the GDP in North America this year, the largest share of six regions worldwide. Record levels of public debt in America will limit the scope of health-care reforms set for 2010. Meanwhile, global life expectancy will reach 72.5 years, bringing the number of people aged 65 and over to 523m, or 7.6% of the population. This will reduce the amount of tax available to fund health-care systems everywhere, prompting governments and insurers to focus on public health, preventive care and other money-saving measures.
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15096205&fsrc=facebook&sa_campaign=facebook
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