A couple of weeks ago the Labor Department reported that while the economy added 175,000 jobs in May, the unemployment rate actually went up from 7.5% to 7.6%. The unemployment rate had been trending down and to the casual headline surfer this could be concerning. But the educated Weakonomics reader knows better. First, you know [...]

Things aren’t always so great for the 1% you know. Sure they have more money than 99% of the richest country on earth, but problems are relative my friend. And it seems that many of the richest Americans are having trouble finding second third fourth homes to live in. The reason for that problem is [...]

Peter Orszag, formerly Obama’s budget director, has some interesting thoughts on the interstate mobility of Americans. It would appear that we’re moving across state lines less, and this lack of movement can create problems of finding the right job match for people and employers. This can hold back the economy. Unfortunately, this is a trend [...]

Think back to the last jobs report. Do you remember much about it? Probably not thanks to a news cycle that so quickly moves from one headline to the next.  And it’s only bee a week. But in that report the Labor Force Participation rate was reported at 63.4%. It’s been on a gradual decline [...]

The Gang of Eight, one of the most non-threatening gangs ever (even in the history of Congressional gangs), have finally achieved the most basic of first steps towards getting some real immigration reform in this country. The matter will at least be discussed on the Senate floor in the coming weeks. Ignoring the fact that [...]

The unemployment rate in Washington DC is currently 5.3%. The national unemployment rate is 7.6% and we’ve all known these numbers have been falling for some time. In the modern era, “The District” has always had a stronger economy than the rest of the country. Even the other major cities in the US (NY, Chicago, [...]

Inflation is something we hear about all the time. Inflation is all around us in tuition, hospital bills, gasoline, and food. We all remember how much cheaper things used to be. Economists are generally okay with a bit of inflation. Stable and predictable inflation is seen as a good thing. We know from history and [...]

The idea of a 30 year mortgage at less than 4% interest is preposterous. It’s not something that’s likely to happen, unless your country’s reserve bank is in the midst of its most ambitious stimulus program in its history. The Fed’s aggressive programs have lowered interest rates to a level many would consider “unnatural”. This [...]