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| 5/24 |
| 2004/4/2 [Politics/Domestic/California, ERROR, uid:12987, category id '18005#6.97536' has no name! , ] UID:12987 Activity:very high |
4/2 4 more years. Like the man said, It's the economy, stupid".
http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/63342|top|04-02-2004::10:05|reuters.html
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=us&sid=a.1MWgSskH6M
\_ budget deficit, trade deficit. Do the math kiddo; if you are
making less than $200k a year or do not own your own business,
and you still vote republican, you are a big-ass sucker
\_ uhm, yeah, tossing out 2 word phrases like that makes a really
strong point. uhm, whatever. if you've got something to say, go
ahead, people will read it.
\_ i drive a j- car and use j- appliances and electronics.
blame me for the trade deficit.
\_ I blame American manufacturers for trying to sell less
reliable, less efficient products for more money. I'd
pay a premium to buy American if the quality was better
than the Japanese stuff.
\_ 300,000 part time jobs. Yawn.
\_ spoken like a college student or someone with a job.
\_ Have you worked out how much money you can make working a
min. wage part-time job? It's not enough to pay your rent
and eat.
\_ Have you lived outside the expensive SF Bay Area? Yes, it
is not only enough to pay rent and eat but some raise kids
on it as well with some assistance. Get out of your
bubble.
\_ Have you tried doing the math? $5.15/hour is a little
over $10k a year, full time. Let's assume you paid
no taxes. $200/mo for a small one bedroom in a shithole
takes out $2400. $5/day for food is 1800. A car pay-
ment, say $150/month and insurance at (really bare bones)
$50/month is another $2400. Better hope absolutely
nothing ever goes wrong.
\_ divide by 2 for part time.
\_ That's sorta the point.
\_ "with some assistance" Yeah. Better hope you or
your kids don't get sick.
\_ why not? who says they pay their medical bills?
and they don't have to either. every tax payer has
been paying for them.
\_ Every taxpayer has benefited from lower prices made
possible by paying people minimum wage. Or do you
not consume goods and services?
\_ They'll need those extra part-time jobs to make up for the loss of
all these mowing jobs:
http://csua.org/u/6qa (Wired)
\_ This number is bunk:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t05.htm
There are only 150,000 more on the payroll than there were
in January. I think they adjusted the Feb numbers down so
that this month would look good. We are only creating 60,000
or so jobs/month in the rolling average. |
| 5/24 |
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| news.myway.com/top/article/id/63342|top|04-02-2004::10:05|reuters.html -> news.myway.com/top/article/id/63342%7Ctop%7C04-02-2004::10:05%7Creuters.html Apr 2, 10:02 AM ET By Tim Ahmann WASHINGTON Reuters - United States employment rose last month at the fastest pace in nearly four years as hiring increased across a wide array of industries, the government said on Friday in a surprisingly strong report that stunned financial markets. The report offers comfort to President Bush as the jobs market - a hot political issue in the United States presidential campaign - finally made a decisive break out of a long slump. Nevertheless, United States jobs lost since Bush took office still number a hefty 18 million. Non-farm payrolls climbed 308,000 in March, helped a bit by the return of workers after a labor dispute at California grocery stores ended, the Labor Department said. This was the biggest gain since April 2000 and well above the 103,000 rise expected on Wall Street. The big jump in March payrolls stood in sharp relief to the average gains of around 75,000 seen in the prior six months. The unemployment rate, which is determined by a separate survey, ticked up to 57 percent from the two-year low of 56 percent seen in January and February. The stock market opened strongly, the value of the dollar shot higher and United States bond prices plunged as investors were caught flat-footed by the labor market strength. Economists said the report suggested the Federal Reserve could raise overnight interest rates from the current 1958 low of 1 percent sooner than had been expected. The Fed is still likely to wait and see if we see similar strong job growth in future months, said Gary Thayer, chief economist at AG Edwards & Sons in St. The department said the end to the California grocery store dispute, which had idled 72,000 workers, boosted March payrolls by 10,000 to 20,000. The impact was muted because many of the returning employees displaced temporary hires. January and February payrolls were revised upward a combined 87,000, contributing to the reports positive tone. All in all, this is a very strong report, said Kurt Karl, head of research at Swiss Re in New York. Construction payrolls shot up by 71,000, a bounce-back from a 21,000 decline in February many economists had pinned on bad weather. Retailers added 47,000 workers, in part a reflection of the return of the idled grocery store employees. While a long-hoped for rise in manufacturing employment did not materialize, the department said factory payrolls were unchanged last month, finally breaking a string of 43 consecutive monthly declines. The big payrolls jump offered hope the United States economy was finally moving out of an unusually long spell in which employment was either falling, or rising too slowly to keep up with the usual growth in the labor force. While the economy climbed out of recession in November 2001, employment has yet to regain its pre-recession peak. In the only other jobless recovery since World War II, which was the crawl back from the 1990-91 recession, it took 14 months for the number of employed to get back to where it stood when the recession ended. |
| quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=us&sid=a.1MWgSskH6M The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims dropped to 342,000 last week from a revised 345,000 and producer prices rose less than expected in February, the Labor Department said in Washington. The purchasing managers employment index rose to 57, the highest since December 1987, from 563 the prior month. That bolsters speculation that tomorrows monthly jobs report will show the first gains for manufacturing since July 2000. Total employment is projected to rise by 120,000 workers, the most since December 2000, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The United States has shed 23 million jobs in three years, which Democratic challenger John Kerry says positions Bush as the first president since Herbert Hoover to end a term with fewer jobs than when he started. Jobs and Politics Tax cuts Bush won last year have helped spur the economy to its fastest growth in 20 years and at least six straight months of job gains. The president is pushing Congress to make the tax cuts permanent to help create jobs at a faster pace. Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, is promising to create 10 million jobs over four years as president. Part of Kerrys plan includes a tax credit for companies that create jobs in the United States, paid for by an end to tax breaks on some overseas income. United States producer prices rose 01 percent in February, restrained by declines in costs of drugs, light trucks and home heating oil, the Labor Department said separately. United States construction spending fell 01 percent in February, a second straight drop, led by declines in homebuilding and government projects, the Commerce Department said. The fall to a $9211 billion annual rate of spending followed a revised 08 percent decline in January. Forecasts Economists had expected a reading of 595 in the factory index, based on the median of 67 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. Economists had projected claims would edge up to 340,000, based on the median of 37 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey, from the 339,000 initially reported for the week earlier. The benchmark 4 percent note due February 2014 declined 11/32 point, pushing up its yield 4 basis points to 388 percent at 4:23 pm in New York. Companies in the United States Midwest are preparing to hire more workers to keep pace with strong demand, Michael Moskow, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said in a speech at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Many of our business contacts have told us that they will have to hire soon if strong demand continues and I think that it will. Companies produced more cars, electronics and business equipment last month as they attempted to restock depleted shelves and warehouses. Avnet, which distributes semiconductors used in products such as automobiles, wireless phones and computers, said earlier this month the time it takes to fill orders has lengthened significantly to between 10 weeks and 14 weeks, according to Chief Executive Roy Vallee. Prices Rise Work at factories, which accounts for almost 90 percent of industrial production, rose 1 percent last month after rising 02 percent in January, according to a report from the Federal Reserve issued earlier this month. Production of consumer durable goods, which includes automobiles, furniture and electronics, rose 1 percent while production of business equipment, such as transportation and information processing equipment, rose 11 percent in February. The supply managers prices paid index rose to 86 last month from 815 That was the highest since January 1995. If that trend continues, the economy may experience some weakness due to commodity inflation, said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York. The 01 percent increase in prices paid to factories, farmers and other producers that the Labor Department reported today followed Januarys 06 percent rise. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core rate also climbed 01 percent after rising 03 percent a month earlier. |
| csua.org/u/6qa -> www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,62853,00.html First came the wave of robot vacuum cleaners , led by Roomba from Burlington, Massachusetts-based iRobot . Now engineers in the fast-growing consumer robotics market are selling autonomous machines designed to give residential lawns that professionally manicured look, which only professional landscapers could offer in the past. With blades whirring at speeds up to 5,800 rpm and lights blinking steadily atop their hard plastic shells, the robotic mowers trim lawns right up to walkway edges and around flower beds and swimming pools, their developers say. And one contraption for trimming that precious Kentucky bluegrass goes way beyond the needs of the owner of a typical quarter-acre residential lot. An industrial-grade robotic mower from Carnegie Mellon University is trimming golf-course fairways and greens, as well as the training field for the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. Toro is sponsoring the robot project, called the Automated Turf Management system. Golf-course owners who use robots to cut grass at night will be able to reduce labor costs and accommodate more players on their courses during the day. At home, seniors and those with bad backs and allergies can watch from the comfort of their screened-in porches as their robotic mowers do the work. Parents of lay-about teens can recoup the cost of their robotic mowers, which start at about $500, with the allowance money they save. Robotic mowers like the Robomower, from Kadima, Israel-based Friendly Robotics , are among the growing number of autonomous machines designed for home use. Friendly Robotics credits Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner familiar to watchers of home-shopping channels, for boosting interest in its robotic lawn mowers. Roomba has given us a lot of forward momentum, said Mike Dunigan, vice president of sales at Friendly Robotics USA. Friendly Robotics has sold 25,000 Robomowers in the past four years. Lawn-tool company Toro has also marketed the Robomower under the brand name iMow. Husqvarna , a division of Electrolux, also sells a robotic lawn mower, the Auto Mower . Determined consumers have been able to find robotic lawn mowers on the Internet for several years, and hobbyists have been building the machines for even longer. But technology that makes the robotic lawn mowers safer and more convenient has improved recently. The latest Robomower, the RL1000, for example, automatically navigates back to its docking station when it needs recharging. A slight pressure on any side of the Robomower will cause it to turn around, and the mowers blades shut off in less than a second if the machine is lifted off the ground. Dogs bark at it about an hour before they give up on it, said Dunigan. Half of the people who have purchased the Robomower to date are seniors, said Dunigan. But others are green consumers like Bryan Embry, of La Grange, Kentucky, who surrendered his electric push mower after a job-related injury. I like it because it doesnt give off any fumes, and it mulches the grass, said Embry, who also drives a gas-electric hybrid automobile. Since some bounce around the yard in random patterns to cover the lawn completely they are kept in bounds by above-ground wires and electromagnetic fields emitted by buried wires, battery use can be inefficient. One problem with home robotic lawn mowers is that they dont scale up, said Carnegie Mellon University associate research professor Sanjiv Singh . If you have a very big yard, one mower wont be able to complete the job on a single charge. Carnegie Mellons golf-course mower uses the global positioning system to cut grass in straight rows, and laser sensors to detect obstacles on the course. The home robotic lawn mowers can also flatten grass with their safety guards, leaving many blades uncut, said Singh. Those uncut blades then grow too long for the robotic mowers to cut the next time. But Embry, whose lawn covers only an eighth of an acre, says hes satisfied with the job his Robomower is doing. Send it More stories written by Mark Baard Page 1 of 1 Related Stories Robots to Get Boss Upgrades Mar. |
| www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t05.htm OTHER AVAILABLE ECONOMIC NEWS RELEASES -Employment Situation -Commissioners Statement on the Employment Situation -Consumer Price Index -Employment Cost Index -Producer Price Index -Productivity and Costs -Real Earnings -US Import and Export Price Indexes . Employed persons by class of worker and part-time status HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-5. Employed persons by class of worker and part-time status In thousands Not seasonally adjusted Seasonally adjusted Category Mar. Part time for noneconomic reasons excludes persons who usually work full time but worked only 1 to 34 hours during the reference week for reasons such as holidays, illness, and bad weather. NOTE: Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series. Beginning in January 2004, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey. Table of Contents Last Modified Date: April 02, 2004 Back to Top . |