More than two-thirds of U.S. counties with an urban center and a population of 250,000 or more lost population last year for the first time in 50 years, according to federal data analyzed by the bipartisan Economic Innovation Group. Eighty percent of exurban counties—those lying outside suburbs but not far enough out to be “rural”—gained...
Tag: may 3 2022
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DURABLE GOODS ORDERS GAINED IN MARCH
U.S. orders for durable goods posted a 0.8-percent gain in March, reaching $275 billion. Durable goods are items intended to last at least three years, such as cars, washing machines, and lawn mowers. Demand for cars and electronics propelled the increase, notching the fifth month of gains out of the past six. New orders for...
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ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS DOUBLE IN APRIL
During April’s third week, the number of applications for adjustable rate home mortgages doubled from the last quarter of 2021 as interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages climbed to their highest since 2009. Fixed-rate loans averaged 5.37 percent late last month, compared to 5.20 percent the week before. The rate averaged 3.17 percent a year...
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STRAPPED AMERICANS HITTING UP FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR LOANS
About 25.6 million Americans, more than 10 percent of all adults, borrowed money from family or friends between 30 March and 11 April to meet basic expenses, the U.S. census bureau’s Household Pulse survey reported. The number is 25 percent more than a year earlier. Millennials did the most borrowing. There are nearly 40 million...
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CONSUMERS GET RECORD RAISES, BUT INFLATION BEATS THEM
Private and government employers boosted workers’ compensation by 4.5 percent in this year’s first quarter, compared to a year earlier, the U.S. labor department reported, exceeding the 4-percent bump in 2021’s final quarter and outpacing any quarterly gain since at least 2001. Benefits were worth 1.8 percent more at the end of the quarter, notching...
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TOP 2022 TREND, DRAGFLATION: U.S. MOVES CLOSER TO DRAGFLATION
The U.S. economy contracted by 1.4 percent during this year’s first quarter, the commerce department reported on 28 April. The GDP’s implosion moved the country to the precipice of a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. Several factors contributed to the economy’s reversal after rocketing ahead 6.9 percent during 2021’s...
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CRYPTO’S FLURRY OF SUPERBOWL ADS COMES UP SHORT
The cryptocurrency industry spent billions of dollars promoting itself during this year’s Superbowl, including an ad proclaiming “fortune favors the brave” and another featuring basketball star LeBron James urging people to “call your own shots.” Now reality has set in: inflation is rampant, the world economy is teetering, and crypto prices bounce like a LeBron...
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THIS WEEK IN SURVEILLANCE
FBI DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE ABUSE: NO WARRANT, NO PROBLEM. According to U.S. intelligence officials, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted millions of searches of American electronic data without a warrant last year, a revelation that underscores corrosive government abuses of the Constitutional rights of Americans via illegal government monitoring. The FBI performed up to 3.4 million...
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WILL THE ALGORITHM LET YOU KEEP YOUR CHILD?
Social workers are relying on AI algorithms to help determine families that should be examined for possible interventions. Not families that have done anything allegedly illegal, as reported by anyone. Just families whose data, culled by government agencies, trigger an algorithmic probability warning. The Associated Press recently detailed the story, and concerns surrounding the program...
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BIDEN’S PICK TO HEAD NEW DOMESTIC “DISINFORMATION GOVERNANCE BOARD”: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO
People are still coming to grips with the fact that fighters deemed wild “Conspiracy theorists” and purveyors of “pessimism porn” like Alex Jones and Gerald Celente have been providing the roadmap for America’s 21st century descent into an elitist controlled Authoritarian police state. But at this point, virtually every day news breaks that sadly shows...