Tag: U.S. Economy

U.S. Economic Growth Beats Expectations in Second Quarter

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The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday.

Higher growth in the second quarter follows poor growth in the first quarter of 2024, which measured 1.4 percent after being revised down from an initial estimate of 1.6 percent, according to the BEA. Economists expected that GDP would increase by around 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024, in line with typical U.S economic growth rates.

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U.S. Economic Growth in First Quarter Worse than Previously Thought

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Jerome Powell and Joe Biden (composite image)

The U.S. economy grew less than previously thought in the first quarter of 2024 amid a slowdown in consumer spending, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced Thursday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) was revised down in the first quarter from 1.6 percent to 1.3 percent year-over-year in a sign that the economy is not as strong as initial estimates indicated, according to a release from the BEA. Economists originally expected growth in the first quarter to be around 2.2 percent, more in line with the above trend growth seen in the third and fourth quarters of 2023, which were 4.9 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

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Americans are Getting Poorer While Prices Keep Going Up

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Americans’ real weekly earnings dropped sharply in April and still remain well below their level when President Joe Biden first took office, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Real average weekly earnings fell to $1,191.93 in April, declining by 0.4% in the month and 4.8% compared to the start of Biden’s term in January 2021, according to data calculated by the Daily Caller News Foundation from the BLS. Prices have risen over 19% since Biden first took office and 3.4% in the last year, degrading the value of Americans’ wages.

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Commentary: To Appease Environmentalists, the FTC Will Cripple U.S. Energy

RealClearWire
FTC Chair Lina Khan

In the movie The Perfect Storm, George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg are among the crew of a boat off the Northeast coast that is caught in the convergence of multiple powerful storms. The combination of tempests ultimately takes down the craft and its crew. We should all hope one of our nation’s most vital industries doesn’t succumb in similar fashion as it is caught in a perfect storm of ideological rigidity, bureaucratic arrogance, and regulatory overreach.

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Government Jobs Continue to Swell Under Biden as Unemployment Ticks Up

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The U.S. set another new record for the total number of government jobs in February, even as overall unemployment ticks up, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The government added 52,000 positions in February, around the average gain per month seen in the last year, totaling 23,180,000, according to the BLS. The U.S. economy added 275,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in February, far higher than expectations of 200,000, but unemployment shot up from 3.7% to 3.9%.

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‘Serious Problems’: Global Plague of Recessions Could Infect U.S., Experts Say

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The recessions currently plaguing several major countries around the world could be what drags the U.S. into an economic downturn of its own, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Germany announced on Monday that it fell into a technical recession in the fourth quarter of 2023, after reporting its second month in a row of negative growth, following several other top nations experiencing economic difficulties. While the U.S. has managed to avoid a recession due to its size and diverse industries, foreign economic malaise may drag the U.S. economy down through changes to trade and global inflation that would lead to a loss for American businesses, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: Red Warning Lights Are Flashing on U.S. Economy as 2024 Rapidly Approaches

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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 data left to collect for the year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Simultaneously, existing home sales measured by the National Association of Realtors are down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.79 million, a 16.7 percent decrease from its Feb. 2023 level of 4.5 million, and are averaging 4.16 million for the past 12 months. Overall, existing home sales are down the past 12 months by almost 32 percent from their 2021 high of 6.12 million. That’s a lot.

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Government Jobs Increasing Under Biden

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A significant portion of the jobs that have been added to the U.S. economy under Biden consists of government jobs and other public sector positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

As the Daily Caller reports, a total of 327,000 public sector jobs have been added to the economy from January to August of 2023, accounting for 17.4% of all jobs. During the same period of time in 2022, only about 175,000 public sector jobs were added, amounting to just 5% of all jobs. Overall job growth has also been slower in 2023, with a total of 1,884,000 jobs added this year compared to 3,590,000 jobs added during the same period in 2022.

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Commentary: Interest Rates Are Soaring, Raising the Alarm for a Painful Reckoning for America

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Someone with a million dollars of credit card debt probably wouldn’t celebrate if his interest rate skyrocketed. Yet some analysts are touting rising interest rates on America’s trillions of dollars of long-term debt as a good sign for the U.S. economy.

Are they right? Are rising long-term interest rates a good thing? Certainly not for anyone looking to secure a 30-year mortgage at two-decade-high rates. And certainly not for the federal budget. Not when America is sitting on $32.7 trillion in debt.

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Feds Continue Borrowing over $5 Billion Per Day Despite Credit Downgrade

The Center Square

The federal government is borrowing an average of $5.3 billion per day this fiscal year, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday. The new estimate come just days after a top international creditor downgraded the U.S. credit rating.

“The federal budget deficit was $1.6 trillion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2023, the Congressional Budget Office estimates – more than twice the shortfall recorded during the same period last year,” CBO said. “Revenues were 10 percent lower and outlays were 10 percent higher from October through July than they were during the same period in fiscal year 2022.”

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DeSantis Unveils ‘Declaration of Economic Independence’ Plan to Revamp Economy in New Hampshire

The Center Square

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his economic plan to revamp the U.S. economy at a presidential campaign event in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Monday.

He launched his “Declaration of Economic Independence” platform at a manufacturing facility with local business owners and workers suffering from 40-year high inflation, higher costs and regulatory burdens resulting from what he says are Biden administration policies.

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U.S. Economy Grows Moderately as GDP Ticks Up

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The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 2.4% in the second quarter of 2023, according to gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday morning.

Real GDP increased by 2.0% in the first quarter of 2022 after being revised up from an initial estimate of 1.1%, according to the BEA. Economists expected the GDP would be around 2% in the second quarter of 2023, following high inflation and an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

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U.S. GDP Ticks Up, but Recession Fears Remain

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The U.S. economy grew modestly in the fourth quarter of 2022, despite signs of weak domestic demand, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Thursday.

In the fourth quarter, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) grew by roughly 2.9%, down slightly from 3.2% in the third quarter, the BEA reported. Recession concerns among economists linger, however, amid fears that the Federal Reserve’s campaign of interest rate hikes — intended to reduce economic demand to slow inflation — will lead to reduced spending and layoffs, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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Biden’s Energy Policies Costing U.S. Economy $100 Billion a Year: Study

Just the News

President Biden and senior officials in his administration have repeatedly said this year that the U.S. is near “record levels” of domestic oil and gas production. According to a new study, however, that’s not exactly the case.

The analysis by economists Stephen Moore and Casey Mulligan found that the Biden administration’s policies have caused the U.S. to produce significantly less oil and gas during Biden’s presidency than it would have during a second term for former President Trump — to the detriment of the national economy.

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Pennsylvania Governor Touts State’s Revenue Intake, Republicans Urge Caution

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), amidst his push for a larger state budget, is welcoming reports of high revenue intake, but Republicans are urging caution in response to the new economic downturn.

Data from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue indicate the commonwealth’s General Fund took in $6.5 billion in April, an amount exceeding the department’s prediction by 38.7 percent. It is the largest sum of taxpayer dollars that the state has collected in one month. In Fiscal Year 2021-22 so far, the General Fund has received $40.7 billion, or 12.4 percent more than forecasted.

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JPMorgan Stashing Away Hundreds of Millions in Fear of ‘Powerful Forces’ Shaking US Economy

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JPMorgan Chase stashed away hundreds of millions of dollars in cash amid growing fears that the U.S. economy will enter a recession, The Wall Street Journal reported.

JPMorgan Chase put aside $900 million in cash in preparation for an economic downturn, The Wall Street Journal reported. JPMorgan chief executive officer Jamie Dimon has increasingly warned that the Federal Reserve has been behind the curve fighting inflation and their efforts will bring the U.S. economy into a recession around the fourth quarter of 2022.

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25 States Urge Biden to Rescind Fed Nominee over ‘Radical’ Climate, Social Views

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A large coalition of state financial officers announced their opposition to one of President Joe Biden’s top nominees for the Federal Reserve over her “radical” policy positions.

Sarah Bloom Raskin would put U.S. financial and economic stability at risk to achieve her “preferred social outcomes” if confirmed, the top financial officers of 25 states wrote to Biden in a letter Monday. Raskin, the former deputy secretary of the Treasury Department during the Obama administration, has taken particular aim at addressing climate change through aggressive financial policies.

“As State Treasurers, Auditors, and financial officers, we write to express our strong disapproval of Sarah Bloom Raskin as your choice for Vice-Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank. We urge you to withdraw her nomination,” the letter stated.

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Commentary: 2022 Won’t Be More of the Same

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End of the year reviews, along with predictions for the coming year, are a staple around this time. But, as Yogi Berra wisely said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

I took a look at what I wrote last year, and a lot of it held up reasonably well (You can be the judge). I argued that the system and its managers are not doing a great job, the coronavirus crisis exposed their incompetence and malevolence, and that bad economics and crime would be major factors in marring the year ahead. Specifically, “a crisis of authority and legitimacy is emerging from failures in the most fundamental tasks of a society: the provision for basic needs, physical security, and a fair and accepted means of making decisions and picking leaders.”

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U.S. Economic Growth Slowed to Two Percent in Third Quarter as Supply Chain Worsens

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The U.S. economy grew at a 2% rate in the third quarter of 2021 as supply chain issues and the delta variant slowed gains.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of net services and goods produced, grew at a 2% rate during the third quarter of 2021, the slowest gain of the pandemic era, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Thursday.

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Federal Reserve Begins Taking Steps to Fight Growing Inflation

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The Federal Reserve said in September that it would begin taking steps to combat growing inflation in the U.S. economy, according to notes from a Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 Open Market Committee meeting first obtained by The Wall Street Journal. 

The Federal Reserve will be scaling back its $120 billion monthly purchases of U.S. Treasury and mortgage securities due to the growing surge in inflation and strong consumer spending leading to heightened demand, according to minutes from a September meeting released Wednesday by the WSJ. The reduction in spending, commonly referred to as tapering, will begin in mid-November, and experts believe it could end by June, according to the meeting notes.

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GDP Surges 6.5 Percent as Economy Reaches Pre-Pandemic Size

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The U.S. economy surged 6.5% in the second quarter of 2021 as states continued to end coronavirus-related restrictions that triggered an economic recession last year.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of net services and goods produced, jumped at a 6.5% annual rate between April and May, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released Thursday. GDP plummeted 31.4% in the second quarter of 2020 amid the massive nationwide economic shutdowns that occurred during the first coronavirus outbreak.

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U.S. Added 379,000 Jobs in February, Unemployment Rate Fell to 6.2 Percent

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The U.S. economy reported an increase of 379,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate fell to 6.2%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.

Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 379,000 in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, and the number of unemployed persons fell slightly to 10 million. Economists projected 210,000 Americans to be added to payrolls and the unemployment rate to increase to hold at 6.3% prior to Friday’s report, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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U.S. Constitution Does Not Guarantee That You Can Always Pay With Cash

Gregory Watson

In its Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, the United States Constitution provides:  “The Congress shall have Power…To coin Money, [and] regulate the Value thereof….” And since the Constitution’s drafting in the year 1787, cash has played a vital role in the nation’s economy as the generally-accepted medium of exchange.  Barter still exists, but on a relatively limited basis and, although there has been chatter for decades about America one day becoming a completely “cashless” society, that day has yet to arrive. In modern times, there are, of course, multiple methods of payment for goods and services as well as to pay down debt in installments — or to completely extinguish it in one fell swoop.  In addition to cash, there are checks, credit cards, electronic money transfers and other means of payment. Pursuant to the above-quoted provision from the U.S. Constitution, Congress enacted the Coinage Act of 1965 (last amended by two bills approved by the 97th Congress in Public Laws Nos. 97-258 and 97-452; the 1965 Act is the successor to the Coinage Act of 1792 as well as the Coinage Act of 1873).  The 1965 version includes Title 31 United States Code Subchapter 5103 which, from 1983…

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