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Unemployment

Pete — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:50:29 +0000

Here’s is Calculated Risk’s version of the scariest chart. It shows the change in employment as a percent since the peak employment near the beginning of the recession; for this recession, that’s Dec 2007. Don’t forget that the years up to 2007 weren’t particularly good as there was no net gain of jobs in spite of increasing population.

Inflation is at 2.2% which is lower then usual.

The dotted line is employment with the census workers taken out.

Art theft in Paris

Pete — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:18:00 +0000

Someone stole 5 paintings from Paris Museum of Modern Art:

The stolen works, part of the museum’s permanent collection, were “Dove With Green Peas” by Picasso, “La Pastorale” by Matisse, “Olive Tree Near l’Estaque” by Georges Braque, “Woman With a Fan” by Amedeo Modigliani and “Still Life With Chandeliers” by Fernand Léger.

It doesn’t sound very high-tech:

According to the authorities, surveillance images show a hooded man, dressed in black, who smashed through a window and then used bolt cutters to remove a grid.

Bye-bye Sun

Pete — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:12:07 +0000

Sun Microsystems used to be one of my favorite tech companies. Here’s the SEC filing delisting them now that Oracle owns it:

 NOTIFICATION OF REMOVAL FROM LISTING AND/OR REGISTRATION UNDER SECTION 12(b) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934.

Issuer:     SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.
Exchange:   NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

Unemployment post-recession

Pete — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:56:54 +0000

This graph has been making the rounds (I got it from Barry Ritholtz’s). It shows the percentage change in unemployment (Y-axis) and the months since the official start of the recession.

What’s particularly dramatic about this is employment continues to worsen and over a much longer period of time than past recessions. E.g. this recession is going to be deeper and longer than past ones.

What I don’t like about this chart is that it is the percentage change in a rate. For example, the unemployment in 1960 was ~6%. A 50% increase brings it up to 9%. In 2007, unemployment was 4.5%. A 100% increase brings it up to 9%, too.

Closer to a new car?

Pete — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:49:03 +0000

It’s one step closer to happening! Getting a new car based on a trade in might actually happen. It hasn’t passed the House yet (much less the Senate) but the leadership of both parties agree on doing it.

From House Reaches a Deal on ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Program:

Under the House plan, a car trade-in that improves fuel efficiency by at least 10 miles per gallon would qualify for a $4,500 voucher, as would the trade-in of a small truck that improves efficiency by 5 miles per gallon. The new vehicle must have a minimum fuel efficiency rating of 22 miles per gallon for cars and 18 miles per gallon for small trucks.

Stimulus and the Economy

Pete — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:14:07 +0000

This chart from the Fed shows how far below capacity the economy currently expressed as a percentage of total capacity.

It’s the counter argument to the proposition that the stimulus is just going to crowd out private investment. Businesses have cut back on production because of reduced demand which further reduces demand.

Job losses as a percent of peak

Pete — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:37:42 +0000

Ah, here’s the version normalized to the peak employment level before recession a started. From calculatedriskblog.com:

TED and Saturn

Pete — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:54:37 +0000

I watched this TED talk on the Cassini probe to Saturn.

You can grab images here. It’s a great collection especially for setting as backgrounds. Here’s one from Nov 2007:

or this one from Oct 2007:

Job losses and consumer spending

Pete — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:07:02 +0000

Is the past prelude? Here’s a comparison of job losses in all the post-WW2 recessions. Note how bad the slope is for the current recession. Be careful though, these are absolute numbers and not relative to population.

And here is the change in consumer spending over the past 50 years smoothed to six months — meaning some bad months have gotten smoothed over with the surrounding better months. Is this really the only the second time it’s gone negative in five decades? And that first time was only barely negative.

The world is getting better one step at a time

Pete — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:47:47 +0000

It’s William Kristol’s last op-ed in the NY Times — ending one year of the worst written columns in NY Times history. Or as Political Animal “His columns combined the three worst qualities a columnist can have: Kristol’s work was wrong, predictable, and boring.”

From Will Obama Save Liberalism?:

This is William Kristol’s last column.