The ASSOCIATED PRESS ANNOUNCES MORE GOOD ECONOMIC NEWS!
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans spent more at retail businesses in June, buying more cars and trucks, furniture and clothes. The Commerce Department said Monday that retail sales rose 0.4% in June from May, after a 0.5% increase the previous month.
Sales rose in June largely because of a 1.8% increase in auto purchases, the biggest since November. Higher gas prices also pushed service station sales up 0.7%.
Sales at home improvement stores, such as Home Depot are up nearly 10% compared to the past year. Americans continued to buy cars and trucks. Furniture sales jumped 2.4% last month, a sign that the housing recovery may be encouraging more home remodeling. And sales rose at clothing stores and general merchandise stores, which include Target and Wal-Mart.
The strongest part of the retail economy has been auto sales. Over the past year, car and truck sales are up 11.4%, according to the government's data.
Earlier this month the nation's automakers also reported robust sales in June. Sales totaled 7.8 million from January through June, the best first half since 2007. And the outlook for the rest of 2013 is just as strong. Wider credit availability and hot-selling new vehicles are helping to boost sales. Demand for big pickups has been a key factor in higher sales.
Monday's government report comes after some retail chains reported their strongest sales gains since January. Revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 4.1% in June compared with the same month a year ago, according to a preliminary tally of 13 retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Retail stores are benefiting from more hiring, which gives more people money to spend. Employers added 195,000 jobs in June. Job gains have averaged 202,000 for the past six months, up from 180,000 for the previous six months.
Again, this positive economic news is great news for indicating in which direction our economy is headed. It is particularly good news for U.S. businesses and corporations and the stock market will probably continue to reflect this solid news, even though it is already in record positive territory for any 4+ years of any administration, ever. This positive economic news for corporations and businesses is not being shared with those workers who are primarily responsible for this record good economic news. These two graphs show what is happening, economically, to a majority of citizens in the U.S.:
http://eskoresident.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html
WHAT'S UP WITH JOBS AND CORPORATE PROFITS?
United States Corporate Profit Margins Are Higher Than Ever in History!
Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high. Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before.
In short, our current system, and philosophy, is creating a country of a few winners and 300 million workers who are not sharing in this amazing time in history. The system is working very well for the very few.
WHAT'S UP WITH JOBS AND CORPORATE PROFITS?
United States Corporate Profit Margins Are Higher Than Ever in History!
Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high. Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before.
Corporate profits as Percent of GDP
Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low. This is both cause and effect. One reason companies are so profitable is that they're paying employees less than they ever have as a share of GDP. And that, in turn, is one reason the economy is so weak: Those "wages" are other companies' revenue.
In short, our current system, and philosophy, is creating a country of a few winners and 300 million workers who are not sharing in this amazing time in history. The system is working very well for the very few.
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