The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly report was released today for the month of July. The total non farm payroll employment rose by 943,000 people. This increase follows an 850,000 increase in June. While the unemployment rate is 5.4% that number has dropped dramatically from the 6.7% rate at the beginning of the year.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased by 560,000 in July to 3.4 million but is 2.3 million higher than in February 2020.
In July, the number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was 6.5 million the report says.
In July, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in local government education, and in professional and business services.
The contradictory information in the report causes many people to question its value. My nearby restaurants have large signs seen from the street inviting people to apply for jobs as cooks, servers and other duties. My favorite barbeque restaurant provides take out only because they cannot find sufficient help. The IHOP restaurants near me are all short of help. Perhaps the message is “we don’t want to work for you on the starvation wage you pay. We have managed to get along without those crummy demanding jobs.”
There are only three countries in the world that use the English system of weights and measures. It was called the British Imperial System.
Most common are the weight in the pound divided into 16 ounces (oz) and the ounce into 16 drams.
The basic unit of length is the yard (yd); fractions of the yard are the inch (1/36 yd) and the foot (1/3 yd), and commonly used multiples are the rod (5 1⁄2 yd), the furlong (220 yd), and the mile (1,760 yd). The acre, equal to 4,840 square yards or 160 square rods, is used for measuring land area. For liquid measure, or liquid capacity, the basic unit is the gallon, which is divided into 4 quarts, 8 pints, or 32 gills.
The three countries still on the English system – the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar – still (mostly or officially) stick to the imperial system.
The rest of the world has adopted the metric system and there is a reason. It functions like the decimal system much like the United States dollar. Ten pennies equal a dime. Ten dimes equals a dollar.
We just bought a new trash can that came in a box marked “10 L.” Further examination I determined it has a 10 liter capacity. We also buy 2 liter bottles of soda (pop).
The biggest reasons the U.S. hasn’t adopted the metric system are simply time and money. That is the excuse that is provided by Encyclopedia Britannica and repeated on other internet sites.
None of these countries did not offers excuses. They simply made the switch including Great Britain (United Kingdom) at the end of 1994 under a directive of the European Union.
There is a US Metric Association but it was founded in 1916. As the United States has become ever more reliant on goods from other countries. That new trash can says the USA will join the world on weights and measures.
(In the US) Why is soda sold in liters while milk and other drinks sold in gallons? By coincidence, the large plastic soda bottle was invented right around the time that the US was seriously flirting with a conversion to metric. So it was introduced in a 2 liter size instead of a half gallon size. My 16.9 FL. OZ. bottle of water is 500 ml.
Metric is coming to America. It’s not a plot and it’s not part of an invasion.
Owners would have to pay assessments ranging from $80,190 for one-bedroom units to $336,135 for the owner of the building’s four-bedroom penthouse, a document sent to the building’s residents said. The deadline to pay upfront or choose paying a monthly fee lasting 15 years was July 1. The association had just $800,000 in reserves.
The building was in a desirable location. Owners pocketed impressive returns when sold. All, except one apartment, sold for more than double the purchase price. Unit 508, a 1,683-square-foot condo sold for $800,000 in February, more than doubling its 2012 sale price of $370,000.
When a development’s homeowner’s’ association (HOA) encounters large or unexpected expenses, the HOA needs money to repair or replace the damage. For example, what if a clubhouse roof starts leaking, the pool needs resealing, or a piece of equipment in the fitness room breaks down? At times like these, it is wise for HOAs to have a reserve account.
House in my neighborhood, asking price $800,000. Similar to the price of a condo.
Reserves for single family homes isn’t a bad idea either. When the bathroom tub backed up in my home the plumber said he needed to install a drain cleaning opening under the house. After he crawled under the house he reported that the main sewer line was leaking in many places. Cost for replacing the sewer system under the house was $5,000. There was no reserve fund. There was the retirement investments and that paid the bill. A similar situation resulted in installing new copper plumbing for another $5,500. Termites are lurking and the roof is 30 years old.
Owning a house is expensive but it provides us a place for both privacy and fun.
Average pay just topped $15 an hour at U.S. restaurants, one of many sectors forced to raise wages to lure back millions of workers. Now hiring signs are everywhere. My nearby IHOP has signs saying now hiring cooks and servers. But no one wants those jobs because the pay is low and there is limited chances for promotion.
Employees in the hospitality industry are quick to point out that pay is still paltry compared with that in other fields. The work is grueling, including standing all day and dealing with customers who can be unfriendly or outright irate. But workers are noticing — and responding to — the higher pay. More than 40 percent of the better-than-expected hiring in June was in the hospitality sector.
What is clear from the June jobs report is that firms that are raising pay are largely seeing the benefits. Businesses advertising $15 or more an hour are luring more applicants, and the pay hikes in the hospitality sector appear to be forcing other industries to increase wages as well, to stay above retail and restaurants. After companies like Chipotle said they would go to $15 an hour and Bank of America said it would go to $25 an hour by 2025, searches for jobs at those firms jumped, according to Indeed.com.
For a limited time workers taking jobs that are a drudgery are now being called heroes. So let’s celebrate!
Monopoly is defined as the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
I heard the discussion about Amazon being a monopoly on my local NPR station The question was whether the company should be broken up because it is so large and controlling the economy. The facts way that if any company should be broken apart it should be Walmart.
My family buys lots of things through Amazon.
Walmart emerged as the top global retailer of the year, according to a new global ranking from the National Retail Federation. … The Top Global Retailers of 2021 retail sales reported to date
Walmart ($120B)
Amazon ($75B)
Schwarz Group ($85B)
Aldi ($85B)
Alibaba ($23B)
Costco ($44B)
Ahold Delhaize ($61B)
Carrefour ($43B)
Schwarz Group, Ahold Delhaize and Carrefour are European retailers. Alibaba sales are in Asia.
Sears Valley Plaza, North Hollywood, California
Historically Sears department stores were everywhere in the United States. From shoes to tools they sold everything. My family loved Sears stores and their super catalog. I recall my mother buying a stereo combo (radio and record player) through the catalog. No one ever thought Sears was a monopoly.
The Suez Canal was opened in November 1869. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with Red Sea. The completion of the canal reduced shipping time from East Asia to Europe by three weeks. Before the canal was completed ships had to travel around the horn of Africa. Today ships would take about a week longer to travel around the horn.
We have a problem that will impact the entire world. It has been reported that 12% of all goods shipped in the world pass through the Suez Canal. Right now one of the largest ships in the world has gone aground while traveling through that canal. The ship left China with a destination of Rotterdam Holland.
How the hell did this happen?
Evergreen Marine, owner of the ship, said the Ever Given, which is 59 metres wide, “was suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate from the waterway and accidentally hit the bottom and run aground.”
Jamil Sayegh, a former captain and maritime law specialist with experience navigating the canal thought that human error may also have been a factor since ships traverse the canal in convoys and none of the vessels behind the Ever Given had run into similar troubles.
Once upon a time there were three large companies that built most of the cars sold in the United States. All three were American companies. They were called The Big Three: Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. All the other car companies struggled to compete (American Motors – a combination of Nash, and Hudson, Willys Jeep, Studebaker, Packard, Kaiser Frazer. All those smaller car companies are now history.
I just received the latest issue of Consumer Reports annual auto issue. Of their top ten picks not one is made by The Big Three. Tesla’s Model 3 is the only American brand. The rest are made by Honda, Kia, Lexus, Subaru, and Toyota.
Even by category The Big Three did poorly.
Sedans under $25,000: none from The Big Three
Hatchbacks under $25,000: Chevrolet Spark with an overall rating of 45, next to last place
SUVs under $25,000: Chevrolet Trailblazer in last place with an overall rating of 55
Sedans $25,000 – $35,000: Chevrolet Malibu in last place with an overall rating of 45.
In none of these categories there were no Chrysler or Ford models.
Without listing the other categories I can inform you that The Big Three did well in high priced sedans, SUV and truck categories.
Most of us are staying home more than ever. Obviously it’s due to the COVID-19. Museums are closed as are zoos. Theaters are closed. Sports venues offer only limited seating. Even if some places are offering outdoor dining many of us are not comfortable with that arrangement either.
So life has changed in ways that may never go back to what they were. Not just adults but children too. Barbie sales are surging amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hobbies that do not include close interaction with other people are thriving. Model making, drone flying, photography. playing computer games are all examples of those stay way from others are all great examples. Maybe that is why podcasts are all the rage. Broadcast studio equipment is advertised in the Atlantic for $595.
The United States is unlikely to be invaded by the military of another nation.
In his final speech from the White House, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned that an arms race would take resources from other areas — such as building schools and hospitals.
Despite that conclusion under President Donald Trump there was a build up of America’s military might. It’s true that under President Obama military spending did decline.
U.S. military spending/defense budget for 2019 was $731.75B, a 7.22% increase from 2018. U.S. military spending/defense budget for 2018 was $682.49B, a 5.53% increase from 2017. U.S. military spending/defense budget for 2017 was $646.75B, a 1.08% increase from 2016. U.S. military spending/defense budget for 2016 was $639.86B, a 0.95% increase from 2015.
It’s nice to know we are well protected. But from who?
USA Today asks the question is this really necessary?America outspends every other nation in the world. Almost three times the money spent by the second largest military in 2019. The USA spent $731.8 Billion. China spent $261.1 Billion. The sum of military spending for the next ten largest military spenders is less than the US military budget.
In Germany, about 45,000 Americans go to work each day around the Kaiserslautern Military Community, a network of U.S. Army and Air Force bases that accommodates schools, housing complexes, dental clinics, hospitals, community centers, sports clubs, food courts, military police and retail stores. About 60,000 American military and civilian personnel are stationed in Japan; another 30,000 in South Korea. More than 6,000 U.S. military personnel are spread across Africa, according to the Department of Defense.
About 220,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel serve in more than 150 countries, the Defense Department says. But in today’s world it is not military invasion that is the issue. It’s the cyber invasion that is in process now.
David Sanger of the New York Timesreported on December 13, 2020, “The Trump administration acknowledged on Sunday that hackers acting on behalf of a foreign government — almost certainly a Russian intelligence agency, according to federal and private experts — broke into a range of key government networks, including in the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and had free access to their email systems.”
Remember the cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. The FBI blamed a North Korea scheme to retaliate for the comedy ‘The Interview.’
More recently Business Insiderreported on February 25, 2021 SolarWinds, a major US information technology firm, was the subject of a cyberattack that spread to its clients and went undetected for months. US agencies — including parts of the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Treasury — were attacked. So were private companies, like Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, and Deloitte, and other organizations like the California Department of State Hospitals, and Kent State University, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The military Industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about is still a reality. Jobs manufacturing military hardware are consequential in almost every state. Is President Joe Biden prepared to face the 21st century world? He must or the United States will be overwhelmed by its enemies.
When my local Fry’s store opened parking was a challenge despite the large size of the parking lot. They had 20 check out windows and that wasn’t enough. You had to wait in line for fifteen minutes or more to get to a check out window.
To make the store even more fun the store was decorated in an Alice in Wonderland motif.
The store was the place to go to buy a PC computer. That was about the time the Windows operating system was implemented. Thousands of us wanted that new system. Fry’s offered a wide variety of units and the components to build your own computer.
In addition to computers there were printers, software, and a variety of other electronic components. Weather stations, electronic test equipment of every kind lined the aisles.
They added televisions, sound equipment and cameras in the hope of remaining relevant. However their prices were not particularly low and so there was no motivation to visit the store.
But time has passed and today the novelty has worn off. Computers have become as prolific as televisions. Low cost laptop computers and small portables called tablets are no novelty. In other words these units are just viewed as commodities. Software in many cases is now sent to our computers via the internet.
I have not been in that store in the past two years. Many others weren’t going either.
Like Sears and Montgomery Ward what they had to offer just was not what the public wanted. I am sure the Fry family became wealthy and will go on to other endeavors.
Coast Contact 