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Welcome to Friday, jobs day.  Your federal government may be shut down, but Atlas is not.  A quick glance at the economic calendar will show you that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is supposed to release the September 2025 labor report later this morning.  This would in turn cause Atlas to send you a note about the release’s details.  That initial condition was not met

Housing affordability in America is right around all-time lows.  The percent of median income needed to buy a median-priced home now far exceeding traditional affordability benchmarks.  According to this article

Like the first crisp breeze that signals summer’s end, the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower the overnight interest rate on Wednesday suggests a chill in the economic air, one marked by growing concern over the labor market. 

At the core of economic growth are two main factors: population growth and productivity.  All else equal, a larger population enables more production and consumption, but the quality and skills of the workforce are equally important.  When output per hour rises due to higher productivity, the cost per unit tends to fall, potentially driving down prices and increasing consumption, espe

The calendar has turned, and we find ourselves on the backside of Labor Day.  Halloween, however, is nearly two months away.  America finds itself in a sort of doldrums.  Summer is unofficially over, yet the holiday season has not arrived.  Many Americans resort to Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL) as a way of taking the edge off of this uneventful period.  If that’s you

Every August since 1982, the Kansas City Branch of the Federal Reserve System hosts an event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  It’s like an economic summer camp, although they probably forego the sticky fingers that come with s’mores.  The idea is to foster open discussions about the economy, exchanging ideas and probably a few barbs.  Typically, the event centers around a s

For many food is an art; for others, it’s an economic indicator.  When times are good, Americans spend on eating out instead of preparing less costly equivalents at home.  As the tide changes, diets tend to change.  Instead of frequenting venues with menus, consumers opt for more affordable, shelf-stable items like rice, pasta, beans, lentils, and oats, along with canned go

Steam engines and factories transformed the modern way of life during the Industrial Revolution.  It rendered many technologies and skills obsolete while opening up an entirely new set of opportunities for those willing to transition away from a cottage industry into the more scalable competition that mechanization created.  Today, the economy could be in the middle of a similar trans

The Federal Reserve heavily influences the American economy.  Every six weeks the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) gathers to determine the correct course for monetary policy; they do this by setting the Fed Funds Rate (the amount charged for overnight loans between banks).  In short, they are trying to strike a balance between controlling inflation and supporting the labor market