Snapshot of where jobs were added and subtracted last month---I look at these numbers and see the reason for Income Inequality in the US. What do you see??

Here is a snapshot of where jobs were added and subtracted for the month of September.

Private Sector Goods  producing industries lost 10,000 jobs. Private Sector Service Jobs gained 114,000 and Govt (at all levels) added 10,000 for a net change of 114,000.

Notice the bright spots in jobs created (ignore the Stars I put on the graph--was going to do something else with those). 

A perponderance of the jobs created went to people with elevate knowlegde/skills and education.  The income inequality story in the US is embedded within these numbers. I wish more attention were paid to this fact.

Does money create the presence of goods and services or do goods and services create the presence of money? Economists answer: Yes, No, well, maybe...

Stole this graphic below from my blogosphere friend, The New Arthurian.  Money, specifically MORE money, is MOST useful if there is a newly produced good and/or service AVAILABLE to exchange it for. Yes, I am a master of the obvious!

I guess it begs question(s): What comes first---money to buy a good or service or the availability of a good or service to buy with money?  Does money create wealth or does wealth create the need for money? 

(UPDATE: upon re-reading my first question, I find it to be very inelegant. Suggestions in how to re-phrase it would be helpful).

I don't really know. I can't quite figure it out. Seems like it depends----sometimes the chicken comes before the egg and somethimes the egg comes before the chicken.  That reminds me, I have to eat breakfast.

This is from a letter to the editor in 1933.  Is it still appropos today??

Source: The New Arthurian via Financial Times

If you want to get a deeper understanding of the relationship between "money" and "credit" and how these two merge (and diverge) to create the REAL problem with our economy---PRIVATE DEBT, then PLEASE visit The New Arthurian to get the scoop. 

Need a breakdown of what the "Fiscal Cliff" is all about? I always like to know what I am "falling into". How about you?

We have all heard the term "Fiscal Cliff" (assuming you pay some attention to current events) and have some idea what it is about and that it appears to be a bad thing. 

BUT what are the details?

This report by The Tax Policy Center is as good an explanation as I have seen,in the simplest possible terms (with NICELY organized and presented charts!!!), of the issues on the Federal taxation side. 

It does NOT address the spending cuts that are part of the "Fiscal Cliff".

I especially like the detailed breakdown as to how the different income groups may be affected by the expiration of MANY different tax breaks/cuts and the implementation of NEW taxes scheduled to take effect in 2013.

ENJOY!!

We were against child trafficking before we were for it. Nice example of conflicting policy goals...

Using the bully pulpit to address the human tragedy of human trafficking is a good thing. To exempt the most vile offenders/perpetrators of said tragedy, well, not so much...

Executive Order - Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal Contracts

"When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed -- that's slavery," Obama said in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative. "It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world. Now, as a nation, we've long rejected such cruelty."
 

Celebrate, Children of the World!

Oh, Wait. Not so fast

  Obama waives sanctions on countries that use child soldiers

""Late Friday afternoon, Obama issued a presidential memorandum waiving penalties under the Child Soldiers Protection Act of 2008 for Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen, penalties that Congress put in place to prevent U.S. arms sales to countries determined by the State Department to be the worst abusers of child soldiers in their militaries. The president also partially waived sanctions against the Democratic Republic of the Congo to allow some military training and arms sales to that country.""
 

Party is over, children. Back to work...

Source: Foreign Policy Magazine

Fracking Sand!! It is not what it sounds like. Sand is the newest natural resource craze.

When we study the Production Possibilities Frontier and the variables that can INCREASE the productive capacity of a nation, we list "New uses for existing resources" as one of those variables.

In the Mid-West there has been a boom in gas and oil drilling with a technique called "Fracking". See video below to see how this works.

Fracking requires a specific grade sand and there is plenty of it lying dormant in the farmlands of the Mid-West/Upper Mid-West.

A new industry is born to service another one.  It contributes to higher employment of a variety of resources (people being the important one), lower energy prices (theorhetically) and lowers the cost of producing goods. 


Sand boom creates prosperity, shovel-ready jobs, and ‘sand millionaires’ in America’s sandbox, but generates controversy

“High-grade frac sand commands a premium in the marketplace: $60 to $80 per ton, over five times the price of construction sand and gravel. Oil companies and oilfield service firms can pay over $300 per ton for processed sand delivered to the wellhead. No wonder that large mining firms, many of them based outside the region, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in mines and processing facilities.

Unemployment in Barron County, Wis., topped 11 percent at one point during the recession. But since 2010, sand mining companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the predominantly rural county—making its economic development director bullish on the future. “Frac sand is the biggest and best thing that’s happened in our lifetime in Barron County,” Bob Missling said. “I see frac sand becoming one of the county’s biggest sources of business revenue, moving forward.”