3 graphs tell the story about the US economy, hidden amidst the noise of the jobs report


This is OK but its actually worse if you add in the Farm Self Employed and the Military which they do not count.

Larry Kummer, Editor's avatarFabius Maximus website

Summary:  We’ve reached a critical point in this business cycle. We enjoyed the years of fiscal and monetary stimulus; now comes the dismount. Only after the stimulus ends will we learn the true strength of our economy. Today we look at the monthly jobs report, perhaps the single most important indicator. Three graphs tell the story, cutting through the fog of confusion spread by the news media.

Economy

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Contents

  1. Why we’re ignorant and confused
  2. The weak good news: more employed
  3. The bad news: percent employed
  4. More bad news: wages
  5. For More Information

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(1) Why we’re ignorant and confused

Reports about the monthly jobs report illustrate why we’re confused and so often ignorant about important aspects of our lives.

  1. We get numbers without context. Raw numbers by themselves tell us little; the percent change has meaning. Also useful are descriptions of the trend and adjustments for inflation (vital when looking at…

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Europe & China Start Direct Trading In Euros & Yuan As De-Dollarization Expands


More good new … almost as bad as Ebola!

Massive protests rock Hong Kong as citizens reject ‘fake democracy’ controlled by communist China


I wonder if we could end up with another event like the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989

Breaking Russia’s Energy Stranglehold


The EU is in a bad spot of energy and Putin lets hope it works out for the EU!

PA Pundits - International's avatarPA Pundits International

Europe cannot afford to have its foreign and domestic policies dictated by Putin’s blackmail.

Driessenprofile2By Paul Driessen ~

20080428_PutinEuropean Union nations want to impose tougher economic sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine and providing the missiles that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. However, they are worried about biting the hand that feeds them – with the natural gas that fuels much of its economy.

Russia is the world’s second-biggest natural gas producer and third-biggest oil producer, so it can inflict tremendous pressure and damage on its neighbors without firing a shot. The 28 EU nations as a whole depend on Russia for one-third of their oil and gas. However, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania get 100% of their natural gas from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Six other European countries get more than half of their gas from the powerful Russian Bear: Czech Republic (57%), Poland (59%), Ukraine (60%), Hungary…

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Obama Is Defeated in Ukraine. Status-Quo Truce-Lines Agreed


Obama and his minions are hell bent on remaking the entire world to their way of thinking — God help us they will create WW III

Air Strikes In Syria ? Samantha Power: “we have the legal basis we need” But Won’t Explain What That “Legal Basis” Actually Is…


There are only two possible legal basis which are one a UN detraction of war or two the US congress voting on and approving a declaration of war. If that is not done then it becomes an invasion and if Russia takes offense to bombing his client state it is not good.t

Ukraine hosts military drills led by US and joined by NATO


A day late and a dollar short and not much more than a token but better than nothing.

Fast food protesters to be hit with massive job losses when Obama grants amnesty in November


As most any competent economist will tell you minimum wages do nothing for the beginning or low end workers. If yo raise the $8 worker to $15 then all those between $8 and $15 will demand increases and those from $15 to where every (especially with union contracts) will also what a raise. The bottom line is within a few years the purchasing power of $15 will be the same as it was before at $8 so there is no gain. Also with cheaper and cheaper tech the cost benefit from automation gets better and better The current order takers only push buttons and make change. Flip the terminals around and let the customers enter there own orders. How many stores today have self checkout lanes so the concept is not new and at some pay level that is what will happen.

De-Dollarization Continues: China-Argentina Agree Currency Swap, Will Trade In Yuan


Re-Posted from ZEROHEDGE
Tyler Durden's picture

It appears there is another nation on planet Earth that is becoming isolated. One by one, Russia and China appear to be finding allies willing to ‘de-dollarize’; and the latest to join this trend is serial-defaulter Argentina. As Reuters reports, China and Argentina’s central banks have agreed a multi-billion dollar currency swap operation “to bolster Argentina’s foreign reserves” or “pay for Chinese imports with Yuan,” as Argentina’s USD reserves dwindle. In addition, Argentina claims China supports the nation’s plans in the defaulted bondholder dispute.

Having met ‘on the sidelines’ in Basel, Switzerland in July, Argentine and Chinese central banks agreed to a currency swap equivalent to $11b that Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich said could be used to stabilize reserves.. (as Reuters reports)

Argentina, which defaulted on its debt in July, will receive the first tranche of a multi-billion dollar currency swap operation with China’s central bank before the end of this year, the South American country’s La Nacion newspaper reported on Sunday.

The swap will allow Argentina to bolster its foreign reserves or pay for Chinese imports with the yuan currency at a time weak export revenues and an ailing currency have put the Latin American nation’s foreign reserves under intense pressure.

La Nacion said Argentina would receive yuan worth $1 billion by the end of 2014, the first payment of a loan worth a total $11 billion signed by Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez and her Chinese counterpart in July.

In addition, Bloomberg reports

People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan expressed his support for Argentina in its legal fight against holdout bondholders

Worker Witnesses To Mike Brown Shooting ?


The case becomes more complicated …