The Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) has a major impact on the economy. Its monetary policies affect employment, inflation, interest rates, and economic growth. It has the power, by making a policy mistake, can tip the economy into recession. (The Fed also has important regulatory responsibil[...]
Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Backordered
You can order, but you can’t buy. You’d better get used to it, Vox says (here), because shortages aren’t going away. Why? Because the pandemic has throttled the world’s far-flung supply chains. And while the U.S. economy may be reviving, albeit in fits and starts, the rest of[...]
Topps loses baseball card business
Major League Baseball is dropping Topps as its vendor of baseball trading cards, “ending a relationship that’s been in place since 1952,” CNBC reported on Thursday, August 19, 2021, although the current licensing agreement that runs through 2025 remains in place. So Topps will sell bas[...]
Help wanted
Given a tight labor market, I’d guess these jobs will go unfilled. Read story here. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
August 2nd, 2021 - 12:14 pm § in Business
What worker shortage?
Companies who really want to hire don’t treat job applicants like this. Mike Conley, 49, an Indiana-based software engineering manager, lost his job in the pandemic and was looking for work. Here’s how it went: “Five companies told him they had to delay hiring because of Covid-19 â[...]
The $15 minimum wage is here
It wasn’t enacted by Congress, but by the free market. Employers have over 9 million unfilled job openings. With inflation over 5%, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour (many states have enacted higher) doesn’t cut it. No one can live on that, and no one has to. Employers like Amazo[...]
This is what happens to businesses who cater to extremists
“Evan Hafer just wants the vitriol to stop. The founder and CEO of veteran-owned Black Rifle Coffee Company has received copious hate mail, social media backlash and disparaging phone calls in the wake of a New York Times’ article profiling the company, which paints itself as an organi[...]
Branson’s space flight
This was touted as the maiden commercial space flight, potentially heralding the dawn of a new industry. But there’s a long way to go. All Richard Branson’s toy rocketship did was shoot straight up to 280,000, and glide back down. The entire “spaceflight” lasted a few minutes[...]
July 9th, 2021 - 10:19 am § in America, Biden, Business, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Misc., Politics
Who’s to blame for gas prices?
Republicans want to blame Biden (see story here), but that’s ridiculous. Gas prices are tied to supply and demand. Bottom line, supply is down from years of disinvestment in oil production, and demand is jumping as America comes out of pandemic hibernation and millions of us resume commuting t[...]
Retail workers are quitting. What took them so long?
Retail jobs are lousy jobs. In many cases, they don’t pay enough to live on. Fluctuating hours make it difficult or impossible to arrange child care and/or work a second job. Since the pandemic began, they’ve been at exceptionally high risk, because they work indoors and are exposed to l[...]