Dow Near Record High - Again

[red states rule]

More 'Stagnant Wages' Myth-Busting, Courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Posted by Tom Blumer on April 18, 2007 - 11:45.
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Real Earnings News Release yesterday:

Average weekly earnings rose by 4.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, from March 2006 to March 2007. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings increased by 1.6 percent.

And here's one for Paul "the rich are getting it all" Krugman of the New York Times -- Note who is being surveyed when these numbers are determined:

Earnings series from the monthly establishment series are estimated arithmetic averages (means) of the hourly and weekly earnings of all production or nonsupervisory jobs in the private nonfarm sector of the economy.

It's Joe and Josephine Sixpack whose earnings have "really" increased in the past year.

Even more confirmation came from BLS today:

USUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS: FIRST QUARTER 2007

Median weekly earnings of the nation’s 105.9 million full-time wage and salary workers were $693 in the first quarter of 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This was 3.7 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 2.4 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.

These BLS releases won't stop the Formerly Mainstream Media from claiming that wages are stagnant. They will just make those claims even less true than they have been for some time now.

http://newsbusters.org/node/12124

 

[maineman]

massive? what has been the growth percentage from 9/11 until today?

why can't you answer simple questions?

 

[red states rule]

why can't you answer simple questions?

I could have had the same growth in the Dow - if the corporate profits reported were inflated like they were under Clinton

Pres Bush inherited that problem and the economy still grew

Love those tax cuts!!!

 

[maineman]

I could have had the same growth in the Dow - if the corporate profits reported were inflated like they were under Clinton

Pres Bush inherited that problem and the economy still grew

Love those tax cuts!!!

do you have any proof of the quantitative effect of all this book cooking you always talk about?

and you still never answered the simple question. why IS that?

 

[red states rule]

do you have any proof of the quantitative effect of all this book cooking you always talk about?

and you still never answered the simple question. why IS that?

Since the stock price is based the companies sales, revenues, and profits - if the numbers are inflated so is the stock price

Not only ENRON, but many companies were found to be cooking the books

 

[maineman]

Since the stock price is based the companies sales, revenues, and profits - if the numbers are inflated so is the stock price

Not only ENRON, but many companies were found to be cooking the books

like I said...do you HAVE any proof of the quantitative effect of this supposed rampant book cooking by corporate america on the DJIA? yes or no?

 

[red states rule]

like I said...do you HAVE any proof of the quantitative effect of this supposed rampant book cooking by corporate america on the DJIA? yes or no?

So now the corporate scandals had no effect on the Dow?




Bush vs. Clinton: The Economic Verdict
Capital Commerce hosted a compelling, no-holds-barred economics debate last week between financial pros and blogging greats Donald Luskin and Barry Ritholtz, which had the one downside of not letting me address the controversy that flared up over which economy has been superior–the Bush economy or the Clinton economy.

First, some context. When Bill Clinton became president in 1993, he was dealt the greatest hand since Phil Jackson became coach of the Chicago Bulls with probable future hall-of-famers Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen already on the team. The U.S. economy was already expanding, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union seemingly meant that defense spending could come down–which encouraged Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to cut interest rates. Then Clinton got a Republican Congress in 1995 that was also eager to bring the budget into balance.

By contrast, Bush inherited an expansion that was on its last legs, and then he had to raise defense spending to deal with the biggest attack on America in its history–of course, neither Bush nor Congress has shown a whole lot of interest in controlling nondefense spending. Now, one way to statistically compare the two economic records is by looking at the Bush expansion vs. the Clinton expansion. And 21 quarters into each, the economy has grown 16.6 percent under Bush vs. 19.9 percent under Clinton–advantage No. 42. And the unemployment rate 22 quarters into each expansion–jobs numbers come out more frequently – show that the current unemployment rate is 4.4 percent vs. 4.5 percent under Clinton. Slight edge to No. 43. Now, when you add in–or subtract out–the effects of the stock market (for Clinton) and housing bubbles (for Bush) and where each president began, I think this ends up as a "pick 'em" situation at this point. Here is what White House spokesman Tony Fratto told the Washington Examiner last week:

"This is a much stronger expansion in a lot of ways. It's much deeper and more measured ... If you go back to this point in the Clinton expansion, they would have loved to have seen the numbers that we have right now. ... On the unemployment rate, we're a full percentage point below where they were at the same point in the expansion–60 or 61 months in. They would have loved to have been at 4.4 percent. They were still up in the mid-5s, which is huge, when you think about it."
OK, let's use Fratto's methodology. I checked the employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that 60 months into the Clinton expansion, the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent vs. 4.5 percent for Bush. The last time the jobless rate was as high as 5.3 percent under Clinton was January 1997, 49 months into the Clinton expansion. Fratto and I went back and forth on the numbers and how to best date the expansions, but his bottom line–via E-mail–is this:

"The Clinton administration clearly benefited from an expansion that began well before the election and well before they ever passed a single piece of economic legislation. This administration was clearly hurt by being greeted with a recession and the implosion of the technology bubble – well before we ever passed any part of our economic policy."
But my bottom line is that neither Clinton nor Bush was or has been a game changer. (My friend Larry Kudlow has a great post on this topic here.) FDR was a game changer. Reagan was a game changer. I think to be a game changer today you have to 1) revamp America's social insurance program for the 21st-century challenges of globalization and changing demographics, and 2) reform America's creaky and complex tax system to better allow the nation to innovate and compete. Still waiting on those.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/capitalcommerce/070418/bush_vs_clinton_the_economic_v.htm

 

[maineman]

do you even bother to read what you cut and paste?? There is NOTHING in that spam that even MENTIONS corporate scandals.

 

[red states rule]

do you even bother to read what you cut and paste?? There is NOTHING in that spam that even MENTIONS corporate scandals.

The scandals clearly inflated the value of the companies and their stock prices

The article points out a nasty fact to libs

The Bush economy is equal to, if not better then, Bill's

 

[maineman]

The scandals clearly inflated the value of the companies and their stock prices

The article points out a nasty fact to libs

The Bush economy is equal to, if not better then, Bill's

the article does not mention corporate scandals. I asked you to show some quantitative effect on the DJIA that all that supposedly rampant book cooking caused...and you, of course, cannot produce any facts...just more opinions and spam..

do us both a favor: ether produce something that can show the quantitative effects that corporate scandals had on the stock market or shut the fuck up.

 

[red states rule]

the article does not mention corporate scandals. I asked you to show some quantitative effect on the DJIA that all that supposedly rampant book cooking caused...and you, of course, cannot produce any facts...just more opinions and spam..

do us both a favor: ether produce something that can show the quantitative effects that corporate scandals had on the stock market or shut the fuck up.

Using the same lame argument that Dems did not raise taxes

Anyone with any common sense would underatnd if you inflate corporate profits you inflate the stock price and thus the Dow

Well, if your case I understand why you don't get it

Sorry

 

[maineman]

and you have some proof of rampant and widespread inflation of corporate profits?

please produce it.

 

[red states rule]

and you have some proof of rampant and widespread inflation of corporate profits?

please produce it.

You must have some brian disorder. MM will always bow at the alter of the DNC

 

[maineman]

You must have some brian disorder. MM will always bow at the alter of the DNC

just say that you can't produce it...that would be more honest, don't you think?

and what is a BRIAN disorder? does it have something to do with Monty Python?

 

[red states rule]

just say that you can't produce it...that would be more honest, don't you think?

and what is a BRIAN disorder? does it have something to do with Monty Python?

As usual your mouth over took your ass

[edit] Big Four major audit firms
(Audit firms are listed, followed by select clients ensnarled by accounting scandals)

Deloitte & Touche: Adelphia, AES, Duke Energy, El Paso, Merrill Lynch, Reliant Energy, Rite Aid, Parmalat
Ernst & Young: AOL Time Warner, Dollar General, PNC Bank, Cendant
KPMG: Citigroup, Computer Associates, General Electric, ImClone, Peregrine, Xerox, Siemens AG, Banco Nacional S.A. (Brazil)
PricewaterhouseCoopers: Bristol Myers, HPL, JP Morgan Chase, Kmart, Lucent, MicroStrategy, Network Associates, NKFS, Tyco

[edit] Predecessor and other U.S. audit firms
Arthur Andersen: CMS, Cornell, Dynegy, Enron, Global Crossing, Halliburton, Liberate Technologies, Omnimedia, Merck, Peregrine, Qwest, Sunbeam, Waste Management, Inc., WorldCom. Arthur Andersen was a former major audit firm that began to unwind its operations in 2002 after being indicted for obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to its Enron audit.
David Duncan
Coopers & Lybrand LLP: Network Associates, Phar-Mor. Former major audit firms Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse merged in 1998 to become PricewaterhouseCoopers (see above).
Gutierrez & Co.: Vivendi
Grant Thornton: Parmalat

[edit] Accounting scandals by year first reported
Nugan Hand Bank (1980)
ZZZZ Best (1986)
MiniScribe (1989)
Polly Peck (1990)
Bank of Credit and Commerce International (1991)
Phar-Mor (1992)
Q. T. Wiles
Bio Clinic (1994 to 1995)
Sunrise Medical (1994 to 1995)
Cendant (1998)
Xerox (2000)
One.Tel (2001) (Australia)
Enron (2001 - Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay,
Andrew Fastow)


[edit] 2002 scandals
The neutrality and factual accuracy of this section are disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

AOL
Adelphia
Bristol-Myers Squibb
CMS Energy
Computer Associates
Duke Energy
Dynegy
El Paso Corporation
Enron
Freddie Mac
Global Crossing
Halliburton
Harken Energy
Homestore.com
ImClone Systems
Kmart
Liberate Technologies
Lucent Technologies
Merck & Co.
Merrill Lynch
Mirant
Nicor Energy, LLC
Peregrine Systems
Qwest Communications
Reliant Energy
Sunbeam
Tyco International
Waste Management, Inc.
WorldCom

[edit] Later scandals
Royal Ahold (2003)
Parmalat (2003)
Calisto Tanzi (2003)
HealthSouth
AIG (2005)
CF Foods
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals

 

[maineman]

problems at four accounting firms....

but, oddly enough, no proof of any quantitative impact on the DJIA.

keep trying. I'll wait

 

[maineman]

and many of those scandals came to light early in the Clinton adminstration, which disproves your allegation that Clinton benefitted from cooked books and Bush dealt with the aftermath.

 

[red states rule]

problems at four accounting firms....

but, oddly enough, no proof of any quantitative impact on the DJIA.

keep trying. I'll wait

You must have "overlooked" all the companies that were caught cookin the books

 

[red states rule]

problems at four accounting firms....

but, oddly enough, no proof of any quantitative impact on the DJIA.

keep trying. I'll wait

The scandal broke while Pres Bush was in office you twit

 

[maineman]

The scandal broke while Pres Bush was in office you twit

from your spam:

Accounting scandals by year first reported
Nugan Hand Bank (1980)
ZZZZ Best (1986)
MiniScribe (1989)
Polly Peck (1990)
Bank of Credit and Commerce International (1991)
Phar-Mor (1992)
Q. T. Wiles
Bio Clinic (1994 to 1995)
Sunrise Medical (1994 to 1995)
Cendant (1998)