Wages and salaries rose in January by 0.4 percent-up 5 percent from last year-but that extra money has yet to leave consumers' pockets and get back into the economy. Other good economic news was released yesterday, too: Filings for unemployment benefits are at a four-year low. Usually, when wages rise, consumer confidence also goes up, giving the economy a big boost. That hasn't happened yet this time. The Commerce Department said that wages might not be growing enough to push spending, or extenuating factors like rising gas prices may be at play.
The Latest
- A Firewall Full of Holes The Economist
- AT&T Ends All-You-Can-Eat The Wall Street Journal
- Where the Jobs Are, the Training May Not Be The New York Times
- How NBA Fans Cost Their Teams at the Free-Throw Line Bloomberg Businessweek
Chart of the Day
A new analysis from the Tax Policy Center shows that Romney's new tax plan is even more regressive than his old one. Unless the details, which have yet to be released, enumerate many tax benefits he hopes to cut, the federal tax liability will drop by about $900 billion in 2015, amounting to a 24 percent drop in revenue.
Reason to Get Out of Bed in the Morning
Slam poet Taylor Mali-whose "What Teachers Make" video has over 6 million views on YouTube-has reached his goal of inspiring 1 million people to become educators after 12 years of spreading the teacher gospel.
- GOOD
