08-22-2016, 10:24 PM
“There are a number of things that just seem odd,” says Jim Paulsen, the chief investment strategist and economist at Wells Capital Management. Let’s start with an alternative economic yardstick, called gross domestic income (GDI). Instead of measuring production (which is the job of GDP), GDI measures national income. It does so by summing wages, rents, interest and profits. Over the long haul, GDI tends to track GDP. But during the “weak” first quarter — the weak quarter that energized the gloom-and-doom crowd — those two measures diverged sharply. Real GDP (after inflation) was a mere 1.1%. But real GDI was a much more solid 2.9%. Which one is right? Given the preponderance of other robust economic indicators out there, I’m betting that GDI at nearly 3% is the right one.
Six myths about the U.S. economy that are just plain wrong - MarketWatch
But there’s just one little problem here. The “stagnant wage” claim is just not true. Wage gains in this recovery have been some of the biggest in the past 50 years. There are many ways to gauge wage trends. Just about all of them point to robust gains.
Six myths about the U.S. economy that are just plain wrong - MarketWatch
"Unless interest rates are going to move 150 to 200 basis points quickly, I actually think that the flow will maintain some relative performance here," despite "blown-out" valuations, Tim Seymour of Triogem Asset Management said Wednesday on CNBC's "Power Lunch." He was referring to high-dividend stocks like Kellogg's, Coca Cola, Clorox and General Mills.
Fed, shmed! This red-hot trade could keep working — no matter what the Fed does
In dramatic contrast to the rest of the developed world, the rate of women dying because of complications with pregnancy or childbirth rose in the United States by 27 percent between 2000 and 2014. During the same time period, according to a study that will be published in the September issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 157 other countries reported a decrease in their maternal mortality rates.
American Women Are Still Dying in Childbirth at Alarming Rates | Mother Jones
Perhaps you’ve heard of the mysterious, microscopic animals that can survive being crushed, frozen, boiled and subjected to the vacuum of outer space. Tardigrades, better known as water bears, are tiny, nearly indestructible creatures with eight pudgy legs and snouts. They’re found around the globe, swimming in pockets of wet moss or in the capillary water between grains of sand. When the water dries up, they retreat into a semi-animate state – a survival mechanism that amazes scientists.