Modified Morning Report by Michigoose

Since I happen to know that Brent is on a plane right now, and the alliteration was too good to pass up for a title, herewith is a report from NPR that sums up much of what Brent usually pulls together for us:

Only a relatively low 130,000 jobs were added to private employers’ payrolls in October and the labor market in September was even weaker than first thought, according to the latest data from the ADP National Employment Report.

That survey from the payroll processing firm and economists at Moody’s Analytics signals that “the government shutdown and debt limit brinksmanship hurt the already softening job market in October,” Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi says in the report.

Evidence that the job market was already stumbling includes a revision to ADP’s estimate for September. A month ago, it estimated that private employers had added 166,000 jobs to their payrolls that month. Now, it says there were only 145,000 more jobs than in August.

The past two months’ gains are tiny in comparison to the size of the nation’s civilian labor force: nearly 156 million.

The ADP report is something of a barometer for the also widely watched monthly employment report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That agency’s estimates of the October unemployment rate and payroll growth during the month won’t be released until Nov. 8.

Wednesday’s other economic news:

— BLS says consumer prices rose just 0.2 percent in September from August. Over the past year, prices have gone up just 1.2 percent.

The September consumer price index report triggers the following year’s cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security benefits. Next year’s increase: 1.5 percent.

— Federal Reserve policymakers finish up a two-day meeting in Washington, and at 2 p.m. ET are scheduled to issue their latest statement about the health of the economy and their plans going forward. Financial markets have rallied in recent days on the expectation that the Fed will not begin scaling back its efforts to boost the economy by purchasing billions of dollars worth of bonds each month.

After the 2 p.m. announcement, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to take questions from reporters.


What else?

36 Responses

  1. Beloved Michigoose! So good to see you. Also loved the alliteration. Yay, words!

    Hope all is well. Job news seems dismal, but it could be worse (this ain’t no great depression . . . well, except for a lot of the real estate market, I guess), and there is always a silver lining. That is, it seems economic booms and huge amounts of hiring are done mostly done in bubbles that then burst, and that just treading water, while not being nearly as emotionally exciting as boom times, is probable more stable.

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  2. Kevin! Virtual hug. . .

    The move to Baltimore seems to be just what I needed. Job prospects are much better, if there isn’t an actual job offer yet, and I’m sure that I’ll have something lined up by the first of the year. Actually, being unemployed this year has been something of a blessing–it allowed me to spend time on things that I normally wouldn’t have, and I was really glad that I was able to spend time with my mom after my dad died. So all is good.

    Are you going to do another Thanksgiving cruise this year?

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  3. I wish! Hell, money be so tight, I’d be lucky to buy a picture of a boat. Gotta wait about 5 years for the debt I accumulate on my Carnival Sea Miles card to add up to enough miles to pay for the next cruise. 😉

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  4. You’re welcome, McWing!

    Like

  5. Best luck on the job search. I survived the first stage of the school merger and I expect I will survive the second just because they are short on personnel. Several of the more experienced people didn’t get picked up or have since left, leaving me like 3rd in seniority as far as experience with development for Powerschool SMS . . . despite only having had about 5 months experience with it.

    Generally, people are looking for something better and when they find it they jump. I don’t blame them, but I’m looking at the consistent benefits and being eligible for the Tennessee State Retirement fund, and less anxious to jump. My oldest daughter recently got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, so keeping the insurance in order is top priority.

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  6. Charles Pierce is exactly right. Voting against the debt ceiling increase after voting for it is John Kerry worthy.

    http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/absurdity-in-the-senate-103013

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    • jnc:

      Perhaps, but he’s still peddling the “default” lie, which is just as bad, I think. And he’s not doing it to stay electable. It’s somewhat ironic that he mocks these guys for their “fear” given his own embrace of the “fear of default” talking point.

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  7. jnc: Pass that popcorn over here, please.

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    • jnc (or anyone):

      Serious question. Apart from the fact that one is done openly and the other is done surreptitiously, what is the difference between the government collecting data on how much annual income I have and the government collecting data on what websites I am visiting or what I am saying in an e-mail? Why does the government have a right to one set of data but not the other?

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  8. Scott:

    Purely a guess from someone with no training in the area. Expectation of privacy.

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    • Mich:

      Purely a guess from someone with no training in the area.

      I didn't mean from a legal perspective. I meant from an ethical point of view, so I think you are trained enough to expound on what you think is right and wrong, and why.

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  9. Why does the government have a right to one set of data but not the other?

    The fucked up 16th Amendment.

    #micdrop

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    • McWing:

      The fucked up 16th Amendment.

      Yes, from a constitutional point of view that would do it. But from an ethical point of view? I mean why would anyone think it perfectly reasonable for the government to be able to know and keep records on how much income they have each year, but find it to be an outrageous invasion for the government to know and keep records on who they wrote e-mails to? Seems crazy to me. I think they are both an outrageous invasion, but I think the former is far worse than the latter. (Perhaps that is why you called it the “fucked up” 16th amendment? 🙂 )

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      • BTW, apropos of nothing at all (except, of course, the constant rationalization of O-Care supporters for ACA-induced policy cancellations and premium spikes), can we all agree that whether or not an insurance policy has “good” coverage or is “better” than a previously held policy is a function of what the damn thing actually costs? It makes no sense to claim, as so many on the left are now doing, that although your premium may have gone up 3-fold, you now have a “better” policy, and it makes no sense because “better” is a function of cost.

        Which is a “better” insurance policy, one that has no deductibles and pays for literally every medical need you could ever imagine and even several that you can’t imagine, and costs $25,000 a year, or one with a deductible, co-pays and covers a limited number of defined eventualities, and costs $8,000 a year? It’s a subjective call (another problem, of course) but who would deny that cost itself is a factor in determining the “betterness” of one vs the other?

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  10. can we all agree that whether or not an insurance policy has “good” coverage or is “better” than a previously held policy is a function of what the damn thing actually costs?

    I can’t think of an objection to that. For some people a low monthly premium is more important, for some a lower deductible. . . but, yeah, cost is part of determining what is a good policy for me.

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  11. “ScottC, on October 30, 2013 at 2:02 pm said:
    McWing:

    The fucked up 16th Amendment. ”

    Corked by McWing.

    Like

    • jnc:

      Corked by McWing.

      OK, let me put it another way….Do you approve of the 16th amendment? If so, why do you approve of the government knowing and keeping records on your income, but object to it knowing and keeping records on what web sites you’ve visited?

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  12. “but, yeah, cost is part of determining what is a good policy for me.”

    And the rightward slide continues. Once you start doing cost/benefit trade-offs for entitlements, you are on the road to the dark side.

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  13. Once you start doing cost/benefit trade-offs for entitlements, you are on the road to the dark side.

    NOOOooooooooo!!!!!! You’ll never take me alive!!

    Ahem.

    I fail to see how doing a cost/benefit analysis is “right.” Seems to me like it’s just common sense.

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  14. I fail to see how doing a cost/benefit analysis is “right.” Seems to me like it’s just common sense.

    That’s why it’s considered “right.”

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  15. This statement by Obama had to constitute an impeachable offense.

    @DavidMDrucker: Obama: People are losing their plans but the replacements are better. “If you leave that stuff out, you’re being grossly misleading.”

    I you like your plan you can keep your plan. Period.

    Seriously, this statement is grounds for impeachment.

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  16. That’s why it’s considered “right.”

    Evidently you’re a leftie, McWing. Who knew?!

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  17. When economists try their hands at stand-up. Some of these are pretty funny; my favorite is the last one.


    Link fixed–thanks, Scott!

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  18. “Do you approve of the 16th amendment? ”

    I’d prefer a consumption tax, but I’d have to see the details. In general I agree with your premise that the government knowing income information is a privacy violation.

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  19. “Seriously, this statement is grounds for impeachment.”

    He wasn’t under oath at the time.

    “If a statement is so obviously false that no sensible person could possibly have believed it, does it still qualify as a lie?”

    It’s proof that Americans get the government they deserve.

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    • jnc:

      It’s proof that Americans get the government they deserve.

      Well, a voting majority of Americans, anyway. I’ve done nothing to deserve this administration.

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  20. “I fail to see how doing a cost/benefit analysis is “right.” Seems to me like it’s just common sense.”

    See recent progressive proposals to lower the retirement age to receive SS benefits and Medicare and also to establish a minimum income for everyone from the government.

    Any questioning of how these will be paid for and/or their other unintended consequences simply means you are a reactionary looking to thwart the establishment of social justice in the US.

    Like

  21. Any questioning of how these will be paid for and/or their other unintended consequences simply means you are a reactionary looking to thwart the establishment of social justice in the US.

    You forgot WMP, you Propertarian, you!

    Like

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