Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears on Fox Business News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss President Trump, the Democratic Party’s shift to the left, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments, the budget battle, China trade tensions and issues with Iran.
Earlier this morning President Donald Trump called in to CNBC to discuss a variety of subjects including: the ongoing trade negotiations with China; the threat of tariffs on Mexico over illegal immigration; the federal reserve; the status of the economy; the duplicity of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; collusion by democrats; the upcoming G20 summit in Japan, and much, much, more.
During the interview President Trump directly calls out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for their anti-American position and self-interested advocacy for Wall Street multinational corporations. Additionally, President Trump pushes back against the claim that tariffs lead to higher U.S. prices, citing examples of China subsidizing their exports and low U.S. inflation. Must Watch:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides the May jobs report. Top line job gains were moderate at 75,000 and the unemployment rate holds steady at 3.6%. However wage growth of 3.1%, and a monthly shift of 299,000 jobs from part-time to full-time reflects tight labor market in specific Main Street (blue and white collar) jobs.
The overall gain of 75,000 for May is low considering the economic growth. However, a review of the underlying data tells a story of a tightened labor pool; specifically inside the Main Street, middle-class, blue and white collar labor market. [Table B-1]
Overall wage growth of 3.1% is very strong, and driven primarily by increased wages in “non-supervisory” payroll; ie. the actual workers (non mgmt). May was the 10th straight month with annual wage gains of at least 3 percent. Wages for non-supervisory workers continue to rise at a faster rate of 3.4 percent.
With inflation remaining low (1.4%); and assuming inflation is unchanged in May; the 3.4% non-supervisory wage growth, at current wage rates, is equivalent to nearly $900 per year in real wage growth for a blue-collar worker at 40 hours per week. [Table B-8]
We see the second large indicator of a tight Main Street labor market in the shift from part-time to full-time employment:
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Council of Economic Advisor Chairman Kevin Hassett appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the current state of the U.S. economy. Hassett compares current outcomes to the prior congressional budget office predictions; and shares the results for middle-class growth.
White House Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Kevin Hassett gives an interview to discuss the current state of the U.S. economy. After discussing President Trump’s Fed pick Herman Cain, Hassett outlines how inflation is non-existent; and also discussions around ongoing U.S-China trade discussions.
LOL, an interesting albeit typically lighthearted discussion with CEA Chairman Kevin Hassett on the budget proposal and status of U.S.T.R trade talks with China.
Earlier this afternoon White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Acting OMB Director Russell Vought held a press conference to brief reporters on the president’s fiscal year 2020 budget and answer questions on current political events:
National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News Sunday to discuss economic policy, budgets and taxes. Since the discussion is the economy, Wallace quickly puts on his doomsday hat.
Economic analysis can get weedy…. so a simple way to look at productivity is to think about baking bread in your kitchen.
If you were going to bake 4 loaves of bread it might take you 2 hrs start to finish. However, if you were going to bake 8 loaves of bread it would not take you twice as long because most of the tasks can be accomplished with simple increases in batch size, and only minor increases in labor time. Your productivity measured in the last four loaves is higher.
Economic Productivity is measured much the same way, within what’s called a production probability equation. Additionally, if two hours of your time are worth $40, each of four loaves of bread costs $10; but if you make 8 loaves in the same amount of time the labor cost is only $5/per loaf.
From 2007 through 2017 the average rate of productivity increase was 1.3%. In the fourth quarter of 2018 productivity was 1.9%. That means total business output increased as more product was demanded from within the business operation. Throughout the economy people just wanted more stuff. However, the most important numbers for MAGAnomics (Main Street USA) center around manufacturing and durable goods.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman appears on Fox News to discuss the border security funding bill. Senator Graham urges President Trump to accept the deal that is presented and move on.