Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

As a result of politicians’ draconian lockdown orders, New York City will collect $11.3 billion less in taxes through fiscal 2023 than it had expected according to a 6 January report from NYC’s Independent Budget Office. Through that time, employment in the City will remain below 2019 levels, the report added. New York City lost...

The U.S. economy lost a net 140,000 jobs in December, the first net loss since April. Economists had forecast a 50,000-job gain. Once again, the leisure and hospitality industry – including hotels, bars, and restaurants – showed the greatest losses, hitting particularly hard among young, minority, and less-educated workers, labor economist Julia Pollack at ZipRecruiter...

The yield on 30-year U.S. treasury securities closed at 1.863 percent on 8 January, up almost a quarter-point since the year began, TradeWeb reported, as investors bet that soon-to-be president Joe Biden and a Democratic Congress will unleash “trillions” more stimulus money and federal spending by promising to take on expensive infrastructure projects and offering...

STOCK-BUYERS GO GLOBAL. Investors, i.e., gamblers, are looking beyond the booming U.S. stocks for bargains in Europe and the developing world, which they expect to rebound sharply as vaccines spread and COVID cases recede. U.S. equities markets are trading at or near record highs. Other markets offer greater chances for profits without as much risk...

As reported thoroughly in this and previous issues of the Trends Journal, draconian lockdowns persist and intensify in many nations across the globe. With each passing day, more businesses go bankrupt, unemployment claims increase, suicide rates climb… and equity markets keep rising. There is absolutely no connection between Wall Street and Main Street. As Gregory...

As we have forecast, the 20th century was the American century – the 21st century will be the Chinese century. The business of China is business; the business of America is war. While America spent countless trillions waging and losing endless wars and enriching its military industrial complex, China has spent its trillions advancing the...

On 28 December, meeting in a rare session between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the New York State legislature overwhelmingly passed a ban on almost all evictions in the state for 60 days. The measure renewed a ban, implemented by order of Governor Andrew Cuomo, that was set to expire at the end of 2020...

Shoppers’ visits to physical stores were 39.1 percent fewer on the Saturday before Christmas this season compared to the same day in 2019. For the entire pre-Christmas weekend, foot traffic in stores plummeted 40 percent year on year, according to data from Sensormatic Solutions, a tech firm tracking store visits. The firm had predicted traffic...

COMPANIES SHEDDING OFFICE SPACE AT RECORD RATE. As we had forecast when the COVID War began, the economic shutdown will hit commercial real estate hard. Beginning with Silicon Valley last February, they were the first to tell their employees to work from home.  And what a boost it was for them, as the tech-heavy NASDAQ...

As painful as it was to hear her talk during her stint as Chairwomen of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2014 into 2018, it was reported that Janet Yellen, Joe Biden’s choice to be treasury secretary, raked in more than $7 million in speaking fees during 2019 and 2020.  Among those paying to hear Yellen...