Biden's Economy?

[K Graham]

Record 14.5 Million Signed Up For ACA Coverage This Year, White House Announces

Hmm, wonder if this correlates with medical costs increasing below the rate of inflation. Millions more Americans insured during Obama and now Biden. Seems like a good thing.

[K Graham]

How many times did we see even half this in any quarter under Trump?

Never.

U.S. economy grows 6.9% in fourth quarter, GDP shows, as businesses restock and consumers boost spending

Also good signs on the inflation front as car prices are dropping.

New-car prices down in January for first time in 10 months: TrueCar

[Binger]

Oh how I hope you're right about that! If things continue to stand as they are right now, there are several red states that have passed or are trying to pass laws that permit state legislatures to nullify what the majority of the state-wide electorate has voted for if whatever party currently holding a majority in the legislature doesn't like the results.

Gunnar, I don't think the federal government can do anything Constitutionally about that particular issue. I think the Constitution specifically gives state legislators the power to decide how a state's electors are appointed in a Presidential election. I think a state legislature could pass a law saying that the electors are chosen by the state legislature and skip voting by the citizens entirely. That's a situation that the citizens of those states will have to address with their state legislatures.

In fact, the bill that the Republicans want to pass will make sure that the federal government can do nothing by clarifying that the VP does not have the power to do what the coup plotters wanted him to do: reject the certified electors of a state. While I agree that the VP does not constitutionally have the power to refuse to accept the certified electors, I don't think the congressional republicans care much about the what the constitution requires -- they want this legislation in place so that Harris can't do what the coup plotters wanted to do if any state legislatures choose to override the choice of the people in their state. It's purely tactical. If we had a republican President and VP, they wouldn't vote for any reform.

What federal legislation could do is prohibit voter suppression. But the Rs don't want that, because their suppression legislation is aimed at the folks who tend to vote for Dems. So, it's either break the filibuster or suppression is the order of the day in states controlled by Rs.

Well, there is also this.

[K Graham]

Surprisingly strong jobs report: America adds 467,000 positions in January



The U.S. added over 467,000 jobs in January 2022 amid strong demand for workers at restaurants, retailers and mail and parcel delivery companies.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which the Covid-19 pandemic has hit especially hard, added more than 150,000 jobs in the first month of 2022.

Retail had healthy job gains in January as employers added 61,400 to payrolls, the industry’s second-best print over the last 12.

Workers who pick up and deliver packages and mail saw employment pop by 21,200 last month while warehousing and storage facilities added 13,400.

The report blew expectations out of the water. The consensus forecast had been for only 150,000 jobs. Plenty of economists even expected job losses, warning that business closures and worker absenteeism in jobs without sick leave could lead to people being counted as unemployed. A similar dynamic played out last winter, when rising infections temporarily weighed on the jobs recovery in December 2020.

[Binger]

Surprisingly strong jobs report: America adds 467,000 positions in January



The U.S. added over 467,000 jobs in January 2022 amid strong demand for workers at restaurants, retailers and mail and parcel delivery companies.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which the Covid-19 pandemic has hit especially hard, added more than 150,000 jobs in the first month of 2022.

Retail had healthy job gains in January as employers added 61,400 to payrolls, the industry’s second-best print over the last 12.

Workers who pick up and deliver packages and mail saw employment pop by 21,200 last month while warehousing and storage facilities added 13,400.

The report blew expectations out of the water. The consensus forecast had been for only 150,000 jobs. Plenty of economists even expected job losses, warning that business closures and worker absenteeism in jobs without sick leave could lead to people being counted as unemployed. A similar dynamic played out last winter, when rising infections temporarily weighed on the jobs recovery in December 2020.

Companies cut jobs in January for the first time in more than a year as the spread of the Covid omicron variant appeared to hit hiring, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday.

Private payrolls fell by 301,000 for the month, well below the Dow Jones estimate for growth of 200,000 and a marked plunge from the downwardly revised 776,000 gain in December. It was the first time ADP reported negative job growth since December 2020.

The pandemic-sensitive leisure and hospitality industry was responsible for more than half of the decline, as companies reported a drop of 154,000. Trade, transportation and utilities cut 62,000 while the other services category declined by 23,000.

Manufacturing also lost 21,000 positions, while education and health services reported a drawdown of 15,000 and construction fell by 10,000.

Service-providing industries were responsible for 274,000 of the job losses, with goods producers falling by 27,000.

“The labor market recovery took a step back at the start of 2022 due to the effect of the omicron variant and its significant, though likely temporary, impact to job growth,” ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, said.

The ADP numbers come two days before the more closely watched nonfarm payrolls count from the Labor Department. Wall Street expects that report to show a gain of just 150,000 jobs, though economists and White House officials are warning the month’s numbers could be rough due to omicron and statistical effects from the way the Labor Department compiles the data.

While ADP’s report could signal a weak number Friday, the two counts can differ substantially. In December alone, ADP’s total — initially put at 807,000 before the revision — was well above the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ count of 211,000 for private payrolls and 199,000 for the total nonfarm number.

From a business-size standpoint, the job losses were concentrated at small firms, with companies employing fewer than 50 people seeing a drop of 144,000. Businesses with more than 500 employees lost 98,000, while medium-sized firms declined by 59,000.

Federal Reserve officials are watching the jobs numbers closely. Policymakers have said they think the U.S. economy is around full employment, and they have teed up a series of interest rate increases this year.

[Binger]

Surprisingly strong jobs report: America adds 467,000 positions in January



The U.S. added over 467,000 jobs in January 2022 amid strong demand for workers at restaurants, retailers and mail and parcel delivery companies.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which the Covid-19 pandemic has hit especially hard, added more than 150,000 jobs in the first month of 2022.

Retail had healthy job gains in January as employers added 61,400 to payrolls, the industry’s second-best print over the last 12.

Workers who pick up and deliver packages and mail saw employment pop by 21,200 last month while warehousing and storage facilities added 13,400.

The report blew expectations out of the water. The consensus forecast had been for only 150,000 jobs. Plenty of economists even expected job losses, warning that business closures and worker absenteeism in jobs without sick leave could lead to people being counted as unemployed. A similar dynamic played out last winter, when rising infections temporarily weighed on the jobs recovery in December 2020.

Maybe you should go back to posting pics from cruises. Leave the conversation about guns, numbers and Lamborghinis to the experts.

[K Graham]

Surprisingly strong jobs report: America adds 467,000 positions in January



The U.S. added over 467,000 jobs in January 2022 amid strong demand for workers at restaurants, retailers and mail and parcel delivery companies.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which the Covid-19 pandemic has hit especially hard, added more than 150,000 jobs in the first month of 2022.

Retail had healthy job gains in January as employers added 61,400 to payrolls, the industry’s second-best print over the last 12.

Workers who pick up and deliver packages and mail saw employment pop by 21,200 last month while warehousing and storage facilities added 13,400.

The report blew expectations out of the water. The consensus forecast had been for only 150,000 jobs. Plenty of economists even expected job losses, warning that business closures and worker absenteeism in jobs without sick leave could lead to people being counted as unemployed. A similar dynamic played out last winter, when rising infections temporarily weighed on the jobs recovery in December 2020.

Maybe you should go back to posting pics from cruises. Leave the conversation about guns, numbers and Lamborghinis to the experts.

Says the guy who just posted an economic prediction that turned out to be false. Why would you do that? Economists predicted a net job loss for January because of Omicron, but today's official numbers show the exact opposite happened. I post the actual numbers, and you respond with a false prediction based on a poll/ADP expectations. Again, that turned out to be drastically incorrect.

Do you have any idea how much of an idiot this makes you look like?

Hell even FOX News had to admit it.

"Democrats are touting an unexpectedly positive jobs report Friday after the economy added 467,000 jobs last month – a number that's much higher than expected after a massive surge in coronavirus cases late last year. "

[K Graham]

Oh, and by the way, those "poor" job numbers from December that had Ajax all giddy, were revised upwards in a big way:

"The BLS also revised its December jobs addition estimate to a whopping 510,000 from its original estimate of 199,000. The BLS noted that hourly wages were up 0.7% in January, and 5.7% on the year, to $31.63 per hour, with the year-on-year reading coming in well ahead of Street forecasts."

That's literally a swing into the positive by 700,000 new jobs above expectations the past two months.

[Binger]

Maybe you should go back to posting pics from cruises. Leave the conversation about guns, numbers and Lamborghinis to the experts.

Says the guy who just posted an economic prediction that turned out to be false. Why would you do that? Economists predicted a net job loss for January because of Omicron, but today's official numbers show the exact opposite happened. I post the actual numbers, and you respond with a false prediction based on a poll/ADP expectations. Again, that turned out to be drastically incorrect.

Do you have any idea how much of an idiot this makes you look like?

Hell even FOX News had to admit it.

"Democrats are touting an unexpectedly positive jobs report Friday after the economy added 467,000 jobs last month – a number that's much higher than expected after a massive surge in coronavirus cases late last year. "

Hey dummy. Focus.

I posted the private payroll numbers. You should really stick to what you know, which is being a believer.

[K Graham]

Says the guy who just posted an economic prediction that turned out to be false. Why would you do that? Economists predicted a net job loss for January because of Omicron, but today's official numbers show the exact opposite happened. I post the actual numbers, and you respond with a false prediction based on a poll/ADP expectations. Again, that turned out to be drastically incorrect.

Do you have any idea how much of an idiot this makes you look like?

Hell even FOX News had to admit it.

"Democrats are touting an unexpectedly positive jobs report Friday after the economy added 467,000 jobs last month – a number that's much higher than expected after a massive surge in coronavirus cases late last year. "

Hey dummy. Focus.

I posted the private payroll numbers. You should really stick to what you know, which is being a believer.

No, you posted a prediction from two days ago which anyone familiar with US economics understands are usually wrong. A smart man would have waited for the official numbers before trying to make a point with them. Just a few months ago the ADP was way off by estimating a quarter million more jobs than what were actually reported in the Friday report. This month they got it wrong in the other direction.