Writing

NPR

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Inflation surges to its highest since 1990 : NPR

Surging prices are steadily chipping away at Americans' buying power – as well as President Biden's approval rating.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices were 6.2% higher in October than a year ago. That's the sharpest increase since November of 1990.

Price increases were widespread, with energy, shelter, food and vehicles all costing more. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, prices were up 4.6%

Much of the upward pressure on prices is the result of a mismatch between booming demand and limited supply, as businesses struggle to find both parts and workers.

Many employers have increased pay in order to attract more workers. But growing paychecks have quickly been eroded by the rising cost of gas and groceries.

468- Alphabetical Order

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468- Alphabetical Order

11/30/21 by Daniel Semo, Joe Rosenberg

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/132021017
Episode: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/3bb687b0-04af-4257-90f1-39eef4e631b6/episodes/a1ce92f9-bc95-4feb-966b-eb65ff8f76ac/audio/128/default.mp3

In much of the western world, alphabetical order is simply a default we take for granted. It’s often the one we try first — or the one we use as a last resort when all the other ordering methods fail. It’s boring, but it works, and it’s so ingrained that it’s hard to imagine not using it. But despite its endurance for most of its history, the alphabet wasn’t initially used to order much of anything. Judith Flanders, author of A Place For Everything, a history of alphabetical order, says that in societies like ancient Rome and early medieval Europe, writing implements were still rare. So what mattered most was organizing knowledge in a way that helped you to memorize it. And that was usually much easier to do in the order you naturally came across the information, like: chronologically, or by size, or geography, or region, or hierarchically. Alphabetical Order

U.S. unemployment claims fall to 52-year low after seasonal adjustments | PBS NewsHour

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U.S. unemployment claims fall to 52-year low after seasonal adjustments | PBS NewsHour

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in more than half a century, another sign that the U.S. job market is rebounding rapidly from last year’s coronavirus recession.

Jobless claims dropped by 71,000 to 199,000, the lowest since mid-November 1969. But seasonal adjustments around the Thanksgiving holiday contributed significantly to the bigger-than-expected drop. Unadjusted, claims actually ticked up by more than 18,000 to nearly 259,000.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly ups and downs, also dropped — by 21,000 to just over 252,000, the lowest since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic slammed the economy.

READ MORE: Facing skilled worker shortage, U.S. companies try to train their own new labor pools

Since topping 900,000 in early January, the applications have fallen steadily toward and now fallen below their prepandemic level of around 220,000 a week. Claims for jobless aid are a proxy for layoffs.

Overall, 2 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment checks the week that ended Nov. 13, down slightly from the week before.

Inflation, the monster that eats everything, good or bad 👹

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Inflation, the monster that eats everything, good or bad 👹

IInflation makes everything more expensive, meaning that people cannot afford as much and must cut back. Previously affordable things must be scaled back, regardless if such scaling back is good or bad.

Inflation encourages conservation and cutting of wasteful spending but at the same time not all spending is bad. It encourages smaller cars and more insulation. It encourages people to reevaluate their budgets and work to live more within their means. 

Inflation means that some very good government programs like college tuition programs or open space conservation will be killed off or reduced. Public programs often are victims of inflation as budgets are busted. 

NPR

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Inflation is high. Here’s how it’s hurt past presidents : NPR

Economists may know (and even agree) that the current inflation is attributable to the pandemic and its aftermath: sluggish supply chains, reluctant workers, shortages and interrupted energy deliveries. We also know the government has mainlined trillions of dollars in buying power to consumers since the spring of 2020. Price hikes might be considered all but inevitable.

But one of the lessons from inflationary eras past is that voters are less interested in causal responsibility than in forcing a change. In other words, if you are in office now, you are holding the bag.

The Andy Arthur variety show…

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The Andy Arthur variety show…

Every day I try to come with new and eclectic content for the blog. Some of it is refeaturing hopefully not so moldy content from years ago and some is original and some of it is updated content.

I enjoy telling my story and sharing things I read about the world around me. Doesn’t mean you are going to agree with me on everything on the blog but that’s fine with me. It’s my space for telling my story.