Category: Economy
How Biden’s first year became a tale of two presidencies
But the legislative process has been marked by intense Democratic infighting and the failure to move the rest of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. In [...]
Price spikes threaten to ground Biden’s big-spending plans
Manchin has repeatedly warned that another round of what he has called "a historic expansion of social programs" like Build Back Better — a sweepin [...]
U.S. consumer prices soared 7 percent in past year, most since 1982
On Tuesday, Chair Jerome Powell told Congress that the Federal Reserve was prepared to accelerate the interest rate hikes it plans to begin this year [...]
Powell’s warning to Congress: Inflation a ‘severe threat’ to jobs
The Fed, which has poured trillions of dollars into the markets to fuel lending and spending, is already starting to pull back on that support as [...]
Powell was called on to save the economy. His next challenge will be even tougher.
Powell is widely credited with taking quick and sweeping action to keep the economy afloat during the severe pandemic disruptions, so his confirma [...]
U.S. unemployment claims drop to 198,000
Altogether, 1.7 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment aid the week that ended Dec. 18. That was the lowest since March 2020, [...]
Despite supply issues and Omicron, holiday sales rise 8.5%
Holiday sales were up 10.7% compared with the pre-pandemic 2019 holiday period.
By category, clothing rose 47%, jewelry 32%, electronics 16%. Onli [...]
Health spending growth more than doubled in first year of pandemic
“The substantial growth in health care spending was … driven by the unprecedented government response to the global pandemic,” Micah Hartman, a st [...]
Fed clears path for multiple rate hikes for next year
Now, the Fed plans to cease its bond buys entirely by March, rather than its earlier target of June to give itself room to begin raising interest [...]
Consumer prices surge at blistering pace in new setback for Biden
The data "will only reinforce the conclusion that price pressures are more persistent than previously expected,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. econo [...]
Opinion | How Returning to Office Work Is Impoverishing the Middle Class
Since Covid hit, there has been much discussion of the profound health risks low-income essential workers took on to keep the economy running, and [...]
Powell: Fed may pull back economic support more quickly as prices spike
“The economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are high, and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of o [...]
Why Biden picked Powell – POLITICO
There also wasn’t an overwhelming case to fire Powell, though the scary surge in inflation offered one potential way out. Democrats arguing for ch [...]
Raimondo: Commerce ‘war room’ seeing improvements on supply chain woes
“There is no one thing [that will fix supply chains], that has become crystal clear to me,” Raimondo said. “So we have to do everything and all of [...]
Opinion | Inflation Is Bad. Killing Jobs Is Worse.
So, what would the U.S. economy look like if an ambitious fiscal response to the pandemic recession had not been implemented?
First of all, in tha [...]