Category Archives: Business and economics

Economy slowing but growing; debt just growing

Business and economics, Debt and deficits

By Steve Brawner,

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 21, 2019

No one can predict the future, and that includes economists. So I’m simply going to tell you what a really smart guy said, and you can do with it what you will.

The smart guy was Bob Costello, the American Trucking Associations’ chief economist. He was in Little Rock May 16 to speak to the Arkansas Trucking Association. I should tell you I do some freelance writing for publications produced by both associations.

That stuff out of the way, here’s what he said: The economy is “slowing, but we’re still growing.” Costello does not expect a recession until 2021 or later.

If he’s right – sorry, Democrats. You can still beat President Trump, but you’ll have to do so in the face of a decent economy. No one should hope for bad economic news as a way to win an election, anyway. But if you were, you wouldn’t be the first. Continue reading Economy slowing but growing; debt just growing →

About that record low unemployment rate

Business and economics
Dr. Michael Pakko
Dr. Michael Pakko speaks to engineers Nov. 7 about the state’s economy.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Economics has been called the “dismal science,” so leave it to an economist to offer a dose of reality regarding Arkansas’ “record low unemployment rate.”

That rate is 3.5 percent, the lowest ever measured and one that is slightly lower than the national 3.7 percent rate.

Elected officials understandably brag about those numbers because they are much better than in the recent past – particularly October 2009, when 10 percent of Americans were unemployed. The Great Recession supposedly had ended in June that year, but nobody knew it – certainly not those 10 percent.

Dr. Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Institute for Economic Advancement, offered a different take during his annual economic forecast Nov. 9. I heard him speak a couple of days earlier to an engineering association.

Pakko, whose overall forecast was positive, particularly regarding the next two years, is looking at another number – the labor force participation rate.

It tells us more. The unemployment rate measures only workers with a job or looking for one. The labor force participation rate includes people who aren’t trying to find one. Continue reading About that record low unemployment rate →

Head Hog’s must-do list: revenues, wins

Business, Business and economics, Education

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The University of Arkansas athletic director has two must-accomplish responsibilities: first, keep the money flowing, and second, keep the fans happy by winning football games. Hunter Yurachek knows as well as anyone he’ll have to succeed at both.

Yurachek, who was hired last December, spoke Monday before a capacity crowd at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. His predecessor, Jeff Long, spoke to that same group nine times before being fired because he succeeded only at the first responsibility. Continue reading Head Hog’s must-do list: revenues, wins →

A few less Arkansas tumbleweeds?

Business, Business and economics

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Plastic shopping bags have been nicknamed the “Arkansas tumbleweed” because of the way they drift across the landscape in the wind. If more retailers follow the example set by one national chain, there might be fewer of them tumbling.

Kroger last Thursday announced it will begin phasing out the plastic bags companywide, starting with its Seattle-based QFC division by next year. The transition to reusable bags in other parts of the company will last until 2025.

It probably will take that long to reach the stores in Arkansas. Old ways die hard, even when people have good intentions. The Brawner household is trying to reduce its plastic use, but numerous times I’ve found myself behind a shopping cart and realizing I’d left the reusable bags at home. Lately I’ve been skipping bags entirely on short trips when I forget. I don’t need a plastic bag to carry my lettuce that comes in a plastic bag. Continue reading A few less Arkansas tumbleweeds? →