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The US economy added 379,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate dropped to 6.2%.
But that good news hides just how much the labor market is really struggling.
Nick Buffie is an economic-policy analyst and graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School.
This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
On Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its February jobs report. Over the coming days, the media will likely focus on two statistics: the unemployment rate (which fell to 6.2%) and the number of jobs created (379,000), both of which were better than economists expectations. But despite the focus on these numbers, both measures greatly overstate the strength of America s labor market.
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If it seems to you like suddenly Reddit traders and Chamath Palihapitiya are everywhere, they are.
That s what happens during Wall Street bubbles, the most relentless promoters are unleashed on all of society.
They are not your friends. They don t care if you make money. And, yes, they are available for an interview.
This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
In a stock-market bubble, it may sometimes feel as if there are two stock markets one is normal, the other weird and almost entirely scammy.
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Texas and Mississippi are lifting COVID restrictions too soon.
To get people to wait, you need to level with them about how long they ll be waiting.
That message should be weeks, not months, because of the rapid vaccine rollout.
This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
Why is Scott Gottlieb the only person who seems to be any good at this?
On CNBC Wednesday, anchor Becky Quick asked Dr. Gottlieb, the former FDA director and a Pfizer board member, whether Texas immediate lifting of statewide COVID restrictions, including mask mandates, is a problem. The answer to this question is obviously yes. But it also needs to be more than just yes.
The United States has one of the highest child poverty rates of developed countries, which reflects one simple fact: our investment in children systemically fails to match our society s collective rhetoric about them, something the pandemic has made painfully clear. Our inordinately high rates of child poverty are the result of our political priorities currently less than 10% of the federal budget is spent on children.
Children have been among the most harshly impacted by COVID-19 with more than 4 in 10 children living in a household struggling to meet its basic needs. Even before the pandemic, more than 10 million children in the US lived in poverty a condition which has disastrous downstream consequences.