U.S. Economy: Recovery Creates Few Jobs, No Inflation

[brentspeak]

The recovery is "intact"??

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-17/u-s-economy-recovery-creates-few-jobs-no-inflation-update2-.html

U.S. Economy: Recovery Creates Few Jobs, No Inflation

By Shobhana Chandra and Courtney Schlisserman

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The world’s largest economy will keep expanding in the second half of the year without stoking inflation or generating many jobs, reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s low-rate policy, reports today showed.

The index of leading indicators, a gauge of the outlook for growth over the next three to six months, climbed 0.4 percent in May, according to data from the New York-based Conference Board. Other figures showed the cost of living dropped, claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly increased to the highest level in a month and manufacturing in the Philadelphia Fed region cooled.

“The recovery is intact,” said Ellen Zentner, a senior U.S. macroeconomist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, who correctly forecast the gain in the leading index. “With price data like we saw today, the Fed is absolutely able to stand pat through this year without any qualms about inflation. The labor market is still in a precarious position.”

snip

“The labor market is not improving,” said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York. “If you really are going to have a sustainable recovery, you need the labor market to improve.”

[MrSlayer]

1. A massive rebuilding of infrastructure project would help.

Getting rid of a all leased federal buildings and building new ones would help as well. It really shouldn't be that hard to get people back to work.

[RC]

2. How do you expect to outsource the rest of our jobs if we rebuild our own infrastructure?

When they get that figured out, then we will get our infrastructure up to snuff.

[TheKentuckian]

3. There's plenty of inflation in the subsistence area

Food, power, housing (especially rent), water, the occasional movie, booze, tobacco

You know the stuff that us "small people" spend the vast majority of our penance on.

The inflation on what "small people" buy is huge, especially with wage stagnation and loss.

[DJ13]

4. Stagnation is no way to run an economy