All That Empty Office Space Belongs to Someone If the nearly 100 million square feet of office real estate stays empty, who loses? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/business/office-vacancies-gural-gfp.html
Finally, a very important step in the right direction toward a huge deal. Bush expanded Medicare to cover prescription drugs but denied the government the power to negotiate drug prices, which led to massive profits for the pharma (massive pharma lobbying spending prevailed). Finally, the IRA corrected this by enabling the government to negotiate directly on drug prices. Of course, Pharma is not sitting quietly and accepting this. They have filed lawsuits, lobbied Congress to change the law, and have launched a public campaign to confuse the public (saying this is going to harm innovation, limit drugs, and even increase prices - the usual scare tactics we've heard over the years). PS - The pharma and broader healthcare industries are scared about this first step, as this opening is breaking these industries' core business model: extremely high prices with huge profits. Now that the government is able to negotiate, once the public sees that everything is still okay (innovation will continue, profits will happen but not at super yacht levels, and costs will go down), it opens the door to negotiating prices for all healthcare. That scares the **** out of these industries.
Hybrid work is here to stay. As technology advances to allow even better remote collaboration, these massive physical spaces will be less needed. This is a sign of change, not a sign of how the economy is doing.
Who loses? Real-estate shareholders. Check the value of and dividend of that REIT you bought before covid.
according to healthcare analysts at Wall Street firm, RBS, Medicare drug price negotiations unlikely to be derailed by lawsuits The lawsuits cite either the First, Fifth, or Eighth Amendments, alleging the powers granted to Medicare by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional. "Given that IRA disallows 'administrative and judicial review' of how CMS determines negotiation-eligible drugs and maximum fair prices, lawsuits are challenging the implementation on constitutional grounds," UBS wrote. Some legal experts see this strategy as a likely path to the Supreme Court. UBS analysts echoed a similar sentiment, saying the lawsuits, filed in various district courts around the country, could help fast-track the suits to what they called a "business-friendly" Supreme Court. The lawsuits citing the First Amendment claim the companies believe their freedom of speech is being taken away as they are only given a negotiation window, but not a chance to opt out of the negotiations. The lawsuits citing the Fifth Amendment claim the lack of option qualifies as government seizure of their property, and the Eighth Amendment was cited for excessive fines — or the penalty that Medicare can levy for noncompliance.
We May Finally Be Witnessing a Normal Labor Market - The Washington Post Analysis by Karl W. Smith | Bloomberg September 1, 2023 at 12:13 p.m. EDT A passing glance at the August jobs report released today by the US Labor Department would suggest an economy headed in the wrong direction. After all, the unemployment rate shot up to 3.8% from 3.5% in July, marking the biggest increase since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020. A more measured look, though, reveals something completely different. That jump in the unemployment rate was not a reflection of companies firing workers in anticipation of a slowdown, but rather because of very large 700,000 increase in the number of people looking for a job. This caused the labor force participation rate to jump to 62.8%, the highest since before the pandemic.(1) What all this means is that more people are confident that they can find a job that meets their needs, skills and qualifications. We know that for much of the past 3.5 years, many workers chose to stay on the sidelines for a variety of reasons, including caring for dependents stricken by the pandemic or because of their own health issues. If they believe employers are willing to accommodate their needs, such as through flexible work arrangements, they are more inclined to enter in the labor force and look for a job — which they are now doing in droves. This development is a huge help to the Federal Reserve in its efforts to tame inflation. More workers looking for jobs reduces the need for employers to pay up attract help. While employers fighting each other to pay you more money might sound like a good thing, too much of it can make the overall economy worse by putting upward pressure on inflation as companies pass on higher labor costs by raising the prices of their goods and services. Indeed, the jobs report showed that average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from July, the smallest increase since February 2022. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has long cited the strength in wage growth as one of the reasons the central bank was having a tough time bringing down the inflation rate. Powell also said in a major speech he just delivered at the Fed’s annual late summer Jackson Hole symposium that he stood ready and willing to push benchmark interest rates even higher and keep them there if that’s what it took to bring down inflation. The not-so-subtle subtext was that the Fed was willing to knee-cap the labor market to reduce the pressure on employers to raise prices. August’s jump in labor force participation makes Powell’s threat less likely as employers will have an easier time finding workers without the need for big wage increases. What we have is a labor market that is neither so tight that it makes it hard for the Fed to bring down inflation, nor one so loose that it’s setting the stage for an economic downturn. This latest labor market report is also another example of how the economy continues to deliver pleasant surprises. Coming into 2023, the consensus among economists was that a recession was all but assured. Now, though, economists are tripping over each other to raise their forecasts for how fast the economy will expand this year. The economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrote in research note Thursday that they now expect gross domestic product to expand at a 3.5% annualized rate this quarter, up 3 percentage points from what they forecasted at the start of August. It’s starting to look like the economy might pull off the type of soft-landing that even the best and brightest thought would take a miracle.
here is another Bloomberg article analyzing the Aug jobs report, Fed-Friendly Jobs Scenario Boosts Odds US Will Avert Recession Overall, the new jobs data revisions support the soft-landing thesis for the economy, as the labor market is easing without major layoffs and wage dips. While there was less demand in many sectors (including a continued drop in the level of temporary workers), more people joined the labor market in August -- including the highest number of new entrants since 2019. The participation rate for prime-age workers also rebounded. This seems like an ideal report for the Federal Reserve. Wage gains are coming down and payrolls are rising but at a much slower pace. Central bankers have highlighted the strength in the labor market as a key challenge in getting price growth to cool. but this kind of jobs report is more evidence for analysts calling for a hold in interest rather than hike.
5 days before that , this happened Biden’s NLRB Brings Workers’ Rights Back From the Dead , a decision last Friday makes union organizing possible again. In a party-line decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, the Board ruled that when a majority of a company’s employees file union affiliation cards, the employer can either voluntarily recognize their union or, if not, ask the Board to run a union recognition election. If, in the run-up to or during that election, the employer commits an unfair labor practice, such as illegally firing pro-union workers (which has become routine in nearly every such election over the past 40 years, as the penalties have been negligible), the Board will order the employer to recognize the union and enter forthwith into bargaining. The Cemex decision was preceded by another, one day earlier, in which the Board, also along party lines, set out rules for representation elections which required them to be held promptly after the Board had been asked to conduct them, curtailing employers’ ability to delay them, often indefinitely.
opinion piece https://www.wsj.com/articles/labor-...-teachers-3eb93545?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s Labor Unions Have Lost Their Way The AFT and the NEA are more concerned with left-wing causes than their members’ interests. By Elisabeth Messenger Sept. 1, 2023 at 1:30 pm ET From the earliest days of American industry, labor unions played a major role in championing workers’ rights, fighting for fair wages, safe working conditions and better benefits. As Labor Day approaches, unions will be sure to remind us how much we have to thank them for. And they’ll be right. But we’ll also be reminded how far they’ve fallen. The labor movement successfully improved working conditions in the 20th century, but it has lost its way in the 21st—veering from its original purpose and putting politics above workers’ needs. Many union members in America don’t work in industry at all—they are government employees. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2022 “the union membership rate of public-sector workers (33.1 percent) continued to be more than five times higher than the rate of private-sector workers.” Government unions are some of the most powerful in the country—especially the teachers unions. The American Federation of Teachers, with more than 1.6 million members, paints a rosy picture of financial prosperity, with $152 million in assets and a net financial-position improvement of $15 million since 2020. A closer examination, however, reveals an alarming trend: the union increased its membership dues while losing more than 10,000 members since 2020. No wonder teachers are turning away from the union when only 34% of its spending goes toward acting on behalf of its members. The AFT diverts large sums to political activities, supporting left-wing causes and candidates, taking no account of the diverse political affiliations among its members. Political spending accounted for 17.3% of the AFT’s total outlays in the 2021-22 fiscal year. AFT President Randi Weingarten pulls in roughly $488,000 a year—more than eight times what a teacher makes. The situation is arguably worse at the even larger National Education Association. It spent $49.2 million on political activities in 2021-22, surpassing the amount spent on membership representation by $3.5 million. Like the AFT, the NEA protected revenue from membership losses by hiking dues. The union’s emphasis on financial investment further highlights its shift away from representing teachers and toward building its own wealth. I work with public employees who feel abandoned by their unions. I’ve seen the positives and negatives of the labor movement. But it’s clear that unions’ emphasis on political activity is detrimental to members’ interests and erodes the trust workers once placed in them. Union alternatives—such as Christian Educators and the Association of American Educators along with local, independent unions—aren’t part of a national monopoly and have the potential to fulfill the true purpose of unions: advocating workers’ rights and improving working conditions. The heart of the labor movement should be the pursuit of a better future for workers. We want unions to do better. National unions such as the AFT and the NEA should refocus their efforts on the needs and concerns of their members rather than pouring vast sums of money into divisive politics. True representation means standing up for all members, regardless of their political beliefs, and ensuring their voices are heard. Ms. Messenger is CEO of Americans for Fair Treatment. Appeared in the September 2, 2023, print edition as 'Labor Unions Have Lost Their Way'.
You've spent the entirety of this thread trumpeting how great a job Biden has done economically .... but I look around and see a totally different picture than what's been painted here. The economy is teetering on the brink of disaster with inflation. Home ownership is at its lowest in decades, there's not enough homes and they are far too costly (while we continue to invite more and more people to join the struggle) - building is difficult when interest rates are high. Individual, corporate and governmental debt are at their highest levels ever - with increasing interest rates many are defaulting. Fuel prices are high, the average new car is $48,850, the average used car is over $30,000 with an UAW strike looming in the next week - production will cease and prices of existing new and used vehicles will increase further. Food prices have risen 6.5 percent this year alone. Wages aren't keeping pace with inflation .... almost 70 percent of US households are living paycheck to paycheck. Keep telling me what a wonderful job Biden has done
What other developed country in the world has had lower inflation and more growth over the same time? There is none you troll. Blaming biden for global inflation shows how illiterate you are. Wages have outpaced inflation for over 8 months now. Try to keep up instead of spinning braindead conspiracies
Say's the idiot who doesn't know the definition of the insult he attempted to use. Talk about braindead ..... Have a nice day, I should know better than to participate in this festival of stupid.
Today, 61% of workers live paycheck to paycheck. In a survey in Aug 2017 (during the Trump admin), 78% of workers were living paycheck to paycheck. IIRC, the number of workers living paycheck to paycheck was also around 60-70% in the early 2010s. These numbers are not great, even for those making a decent salary (some surveys show 50% of those earning 100k+ salaries are living paycheck to paycheck, and 25% of those earning 250k salaries are also living paycheck to paycheck). It shows struggle, especially for poorer Americans, but there is also a lack of saving attitude in America in general. It also isn't a recent problem, but one that has been around for at least a decade, or at least since the Great Recession. If this is evidence for "the economy is teetering on the brink of disaster", it has been so for a long time.
Are there examples of other countries that have had less inflation in the last 3 years? Germany, Japan, Canada, England, China, etc etc? I have no idea I am just curious.
