Archive for December 2021

Published on December 29th, 2021 Across the board, we’re seeing the capitalist principles of supply and demand both drive and curb U.S. economic activity. As more people have emerged from their hermit-like existence throughout the past year and a half, consumer spending is shifting from goods to services. For example, the services industry (e.g., restaurants,…

Published on December 22nd, 2021 This past August, close to 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs — the most ever in just one month (since the government began collecting data two decades ago).1 But there isn’t just one reason people are quitting their jobs. There are dozens. Some who had to juggle care for children…

Published on December 15th, 2021 It is interesting to evaluate how various economic events throughout time affect different demographics. For example, the 2007-2009 Great Recession saw higher losses in male-oriented jobs, such as construction and manufacturing. The pandemic-induced recession of 2020 was quite the opposite, affecting women to such a degree that the event spawned…

Published on December 8th, 2021 Low inventory, low-interest rates, and pandemic-induced retirements have been driving a very tight, competitive residential real estate market for several years. In the third quarter of 2020 alone, nearly 27 million Baby Boomers decided to retire rather than return to a work environment that might threaten their health and shorten…

Published on December 1st, 2021 The Federal Reserve wields a fair amount of power in the U.S., with reverberations that can affect the broader global economy. The Fed’s job is to monitor and adapt monetary policy to support favorable economic conditions, and it pays particular attention to the effects of inflation and employment levels.  …