Fiscal stimulus powers U.S. economy in 2021 to its best performance since 1984

The U.S. economy notched its strongest growth in nearly four decades in 2021 after the government pumped trillions of dollars in COVID-19 relief, and is seen forging ahead despite headwinds from the pandemic, strained supply chains as well as inflation. 

A surge in gross domestic product in the fourth quarter as businesses replenished depleted inventories to meet strong demand for goods was the final push. Last year's robust growth reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday supports the Federal Reserve's pivot towards raising interest rates in March. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on Wednesday after a two-day policy meeting that "the economy no longer needs sustained high levels of monetary policy support," and that "it will soon be appropriate to raise" rates. "While Omicron will lead to weaker growth in the first quarter, activity is expected to rebound nicely once the latest pandemic wave abates and supply-chain glitches ease," said Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. "The Fed will need to be 'humble and nimble' as it navigates underlying economic strength, worsening labor shortages, and stubbornly high inflation." The economy grew 5.7% in 2021, the strongest since 1984, as the government provided nearly $6 trillion in pandemic relief. It contracted 3.4% in 2020, the biggest drop in 74 years. President Joe Biden quickly took credit for the stunning performance, which he said was "no accident." Read more...

Is Indirect procurement beneficial?

 Indirect procurement is the sourcing of all goods and services for a business to enable it to maintain and develop its operations. The goods and services classified under the umbrella of indirect procurement are commonly bought for consumption by internal stakeholders (business units or functions) rather than the external customer or client.

Indirect Procurement categories include, but are not limited to:

• Marketing-related services (media buying, agencies)
• Professional Services (consultants, advisers)
• Travel Management services (Travel desk office)
• IT related services (hardware, software)
• HR related services (recruitment agencies, training)
• Facilities Management and office services (Telecoms, furniture, cleaning, catering, printers)
• Utilities (gas, electricity, water)
• Consumables (Grease, Oil etc.)
• MRO (Maintenance repair and operations)
• Capital Goods (Plant and machinery)
• Fleet Management

The overarching classification of ‘Indirect’ can vary from business to business. Increasingly, the distinction between a ‘direct’ cost and an ‘indirect’ cost can become blurred (as classic debate of what is Capex and Opex) when looking at such expenditure items, for e.g. Fleet and Transportation. Companies' senior executives are often responsible for agreeing and defining this classification for simplifying their own financial, accounting and reporting structures. Read more...

The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That's Made the U.S. Less Secure

 Like many of the virus’s hardest hit victims, the United States went into the COVID-19 pandemic wracked by preexisting conditions. A fraying public health infrastructure, inadequate medical supplies, an employer-based health insurance system perversely unsuited to the moment—these and other afflictions are surely contributing to the death toll. But in addressing the causes and consequences of this pandemic—and its cruelly uneven impact—the elephant in the room is extreme income inequality.

How big is this elephant? A staggering $50 trillion. That is how much the upward redistribution of income has cost American workers over the past several decades. This is not some back-of-the-napkin approximation. According to a groundbreaking new working paper by Carter C. Price and Kathryn Edwards of the RAND Corporation, had the more equitable income distributions of the three decades following World War II (1945 through 1974) merely held steady, the aggregate annual income of Americans earning below the 90th percentile would have been $2.5 trillion higher in the year 2018 alone. That is an amount equal to nearly 12 percent of GDP—enough to more than double median income—enough to pay every single working American in the bottom nine deciles an additional $1,144 a month. Every month. Every single year. Price and Edwards calculate that the cumulative tab for our four-decade-long experiment in radical inequality had grown to over $47 trillion from 1975 through 2018. At a recent pace of about $2.5 trillion a year, that number we estimate crossed the $50 trillion mark by early 2020. That’s $50 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of working Americans had inequality held constant—$50 trillion that would have built a far larger and more prosperous economy—$50 trillion that would have enabled the vast majority of Americans to enter this pandemic far more healthy, resilient, and financially secure. Read more...

Donald Trump has $93 million in cash, Forbes report says, citing 2020 disclosure. It's far less than he's claimed at other times.

• Donald Trump had about $93 million in the bank as of 2020, Forbes reported, citing documents.
• It is a far cry from the $793 million he claimed to have at hand in a 2015 Forbes interview.
• The New York attorney general released a trove of documents about Trump's finances last week.

Donald Trump had about $93 million in cash during the final year of his presidency, a sum substantially smaller than he had claimed to have in the bank in previous years, Forbes reported Monday. Forbes based the valuation on documents released last week by New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of a civil investigation into possible fraud schemes at the Trump Organization. The magazine compared it to previous, larger claims Trump has made about how much money he has — notably in a 2015 interview in which he claimed to have $793 million in cash. Trump's precise wealth has long been difficult to pin down, given the complexity of his business dealings and his reluctance to release independent evidence. Read more...

Why is JPMorgan Chase closing the most branches?

 Bank tellers have started to become a thing of the past. Years ago, cash machines began the process. Online banking pushed it even further forward. Shortly after, people could bank from their phones. 

Today, some branches have huge teller machines where human tellers once worked. These can take deposits, which include huge ones from businesses. Even the mortgage business has been revolutionized. Products from operations like Rocket Companies allow consumers to go through the entire mortgage process online. Finally, cash is almost a thing of the past. The day when humans collected paper money and coins has come and gone. Bank branches have several disadvantages for banks. Some are in rented locations, often located in expensive areas. These must be cleaned, heated, and cooled. The most expensive part of these physical locations is the cost of people. The largest banks employ tens of thousands of workers to perform these services. As might be expected, the largest banks have thousands of locations. Wells Fargo, for example, had 4,894 at the end of 2021. Bank of America had 4,084. JPMorgan Chase had 4,842. A recent Bloomberg headline read “Banks Set Record for U.S. Branch Closures As Pandemic Took Toll”. The Bloomberg story was based on an S&P Global Market Intelligence study titled “US bank branch closures increase 38% to new record high in ’21”. The primary conclusion of the research was: “On net, accounting for openings and closings, U.S. banks shuttered 2,927 branches, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. That included more than 1,000 branch openings and nearly 4,000 branch closings.” Read more...

A growing share of Americans say affordable housing is a major problem where they live

Prospective homebuyers and renters across the United States have seen prices surge and supply plummet during the coronavirus pandemic. Amid these circumstances, about half of Americans (49%) say the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem, up 10 percentage points from early 2018, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in October 2021.

Another 36% of U.S. adults said in the fall that affordable housing availability is a minor problem in their community, while just 14% said it is not a problem. Americans’ concerns about the availability of affordable housing have outpaced worries about other local issues. The percentage of adults who say this is a major problem where they live is larger than the shares who say the same about drug addiction (35%), the economic and health impacts of COVID-19 (34% and 26%, respectively) and crime (22%). Opinions on the question of housing affordability differ by a variety of demographic factors, including income, race and ethnicity, and age. A majority of adults living in lower-income households (57%) say availability of affordable housing is a major issue in their community, larger than the shares of those in middle- (47%) or upper-income households (42%) who say it is a major problem. Fewer than half of White adults (44%) say that availability of affordable housing is a major problem where they live – lower than the shares of Black (57%), Hispanic and Asian American adults (both 55%) who say the same. Adults under 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. More than half of adults ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 say this (55% in both age groups), compared with smaller shares of those 50 to 64 and those 65 and older (44% and 39%, respectively). Read more...

The importance of upskilling in today's workforce

 The meaning of UPSKILL is to provide (someone, such as an employee) with more advanced skills through additional education and training. Upskilling can include “soft” skills that can be advanced and specialized to fill workforce skills gaps. Increasingly, these skills are in high demand in the marketplace. Emotional intelligence, for example, can be advanced to support better leadership in remote and hybrid work environments.  

Upskilling is also crucial for technical skills. Aptitudes for working with technology must be consistently improved to successfully carry your company through digital transformation. An HR professional with some data analytics experience, for example, can advance their data analysis skills to move into a more specialized workforce analysis role.

3 Benefits of Upskilling Your Workforce (source: betterworks)

Upskilling produces several benefits, both for the business and for individual employees. Here are some of the most significant benefits upskilling brings to your company.

Adapt to Change in Real-Time

With the capacity to upskill internally, your company can adapt immediately rather than as talent becomes available externally. Companies with internal upskilling programs can train and deploy existing talent to fill those needs as they arise, without becoming reliant on an unstable labor market.

Save Time and Resources

Developing an internal upskilling strategy saves time and resources. The cost of internal learning and development is significantly lower than hiring and onboarding a new employee. With the quickening pace of change, by the time you find and train a new hire to fill a skills gap, their skillset may no longer even be what you need. 

Improve Productivity, Engagement and Retention

A robust training and development program improves productivity, engagement, and retention. Learning new skills helps employees stay productive at your company longer. Instead of becoming outdated, they become more agile and able to work more efficiently.

When employees can see the learning opportunities available, they’re more likely to envision themselves with your company long-term. Options for upskilling prevent them from feeling trapped in their current role. Additionally, offering professional development signals interest in your workforce’s wellbeing, which also promotes employee loyalty and retention.

According to Gallup, As the U.S. economy recovers from the impact of COVID-19, upskilling programs -- defined as training or education that teaches new skills or advances existing skills -- present a compelling opportunity for workers and businesses. Gallup, commissioned by Amazon, conducted the most comprehensive study to date on upskilling -- The American Upskilling Study: Empowering Workers for the Jobs of Tomorrow. The survey found that upskilling is becoming a sought-after employee benefit and powerful attraction tool for employers amid the current labor shortage.