Labor

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

If the "experts" were assessed on results, they'd all be fired.

The mainstream media continually hypes the authority of "experts," i.e. people with a stack of credentials from top institutions.

But does the mainstream media ever check on whether the "experts" got anything right? Let's compare the "experts" (conventional PhD economists) diagnoses and fixes with the results of their policies.

Underfunded government pensions to the tune of $1.3 trillion, with a gap that just can’t be filled, is the ticking time bomb facing the US economy which faces dramatic cuts in public services - and potentially riots reminiscent of Athens six years ago - according to former Federal Reserve advisor, and President of Money Strong, Danielle DiMartino Booth.

On Wednesday, Greek yields surged when it emerged that diplomatic relations between Greece and the Eurogroup had broken down once again, after European finance ministers suspended negotiations over granting short-term debt relief to Greece as a result of pledges by embattled Greek PM Tsipras unexpectedly said he would grant low-income pensioners a pre-Christmas payoff by spending €600 million to the nation's 1 million low-income pensioners, to replace a Christmas bonus scrapped by the Greek bailout supervisors.

There is seemingly no stopping the runaway train that is the economic momentum of the past month, as confirmed by the just released Philly and Empire Fed surveys, which printed at 21.5 and 9.0, smashing expectations of 9.1 and 4 respectively, in fact printing above the highest estimate for both reports, and well above the recent print of 7.6 and 1.5. The one blemish was the sharp drop in labor market conditions at the Empire Fed, which saw a big drop in both employment and hours worked.

Remember when everyone was excited about wage growth re-appearing and escape velocity, and textbook wage inflation appearing thanks to tight labor markets... well that's all gone! Average weekly earnings grew at just 0.5% YoY in November - the slowest pace of wage growth since July 2014.

In fact real average weekly earnings decline 0.4% in November MoM (despite the post-Trump exuberance)

Probably time for calls for $20 minimum wage.. or how about $30?