Common Cents Blog
This past week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its much anticipated inflation figures for January. No one was expecting prices to fall, as they did in December. Investors just hoped the data would be…
Last week I was in the Nashville area on business and was fortunate to have dinner with a close childhood friend. He is conversant on a variety of topics, even if he isn’t always correct. Obviously,…
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly report on the health of the US labor markets. It reported the US economy created an eye-popping 517,000 net, new payroll jobs during January. To…
A couple of decades ago, a movie called “The Shipping News” came out. It was an adaptation of a book by the same name by Annie Proulx. If you haven’t seen it yet, there is no…
This week, I made four public appearances. Ordinarily, I would say presentations; however, one was a webinar and another was a roundtable discussion. Regardless, I had ample ability to bloviate about the economy and have an…
During the Spanish Civil War, Francisco Franco was famous for supposedly having said he had four army columns approaching Madrid, as well a fifth that was ready to attack from inside. The implication was the Nationalists…
Here I was hoping 2023 would be less confusing and confounding than 2022. It seems I was wrong. You see, this morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released “The Employment Situation – December 2022.” While…
Every year during the holidays, I try my best to limit gorging on all the goodies that appear. Pistachios, peanuts, every type of cookie imaginable and pecans served up in a dozen different ways. It is…
This year, the primary topics of discussion have been inflation and the Federal Reserve. While the economy was noticeably weaker, it wasn’t hitting red panic buttons outside of a few industries. After all, companies were creating…
Here we are, close to the end of another seemingly dysfunctional year. Admittedly, that sentence makes me sound like a grumpy old man. I suspect there is more than a bit of truth to that. After…