Grumpy Editor cites examples of why business editors these days get premature gray hair via contrasting information and figures over the past few days such as focusing on the rise of missing auto loan payments coupled with car sales expected to grow this year, job creations topping expectations, yet most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
All this with Washington spotlighting 252,000 jobs created last month --- higher than expected, while job gains in the prior two months were revised upward by a total 50,000 as the nation’s unemployment rate fell more than predicted, to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent in November.
In addition, the government said employers added an average 246,000 jobs a month last year, making 2014 the best job growth year since 1999.
Meanwhile, auto and truck sales this year are seen growing as much as three percent, said General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra.
Sounds rosy.
But as Friday’s Wall Street Journal pointed out, “borrowers who took out auto loans over the past year are missing payments at the highest level since the recession” as new car sales reached 16.5 million, best in eight years.
MarketWatch on Saturday noted, “Americans are feeling better about their job security and the economy, but most are theoretically only one paycheck away from the street,” adding about 62 percent have no emergency savings, based on a Bankrate.com survey.
Indeed, U.S. personal savings remained low. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis tallied personal savings dipped to 4.4 percent in November from 4.6 percent a month prior. This compared to an average 6.81 percent from 1959 until 2014, reaching an all-time high of 14.6 percent in May, 1975.
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…
Among the top 10 most stressful jobs of 2015, according to CareerCast.com, Carlsbad, Calif., are broadcaster (No. 7), photojournalist (No. 9) and newspaper reporter (No. 10). Rankings are based on physical danger, unpredictability and negative psychological effects…While the U.S. reduced its military force to about 11,000 in Afghanistan after 13 years there, the country set a record for growing opium poppies last year with total area under cultivation up an estimated 7 percent from 2013, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Heroin is derived from the poppy and UNODC said opium production (5,500 tons) in Afghanistan accounts for 80 percent of worldwide opium output…In a state that relies heavily on personal vehicle transportation, Jerry Brown --- in starting an unprecedented fourth term as California governor with new environmental goals --- proposed reducing gasoline use…Wall Street Journal Sunday content that goes to 69 newspaper business sections ends Feb. 8 as the WSJ shutters that operation which started in 1999…A Rasmussen Reports survey found “more voters than ever think women are good for the U.S. military and believe even more strongly that they should be allowed to fight on the front lines."
Financial news network CNBC is opting out of Nielsen’s TV ratings that measure its daytime audience, saying the global information and measurement company underreports size and wealth of its audience.
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