Economics in the News

Economics in the News - Aug. 3-9 How Economics impacts our lives on a daily basis

Economics impacts our lives every day. Below are some of the top storylines from this past week related to economics.

"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." -- Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company.

The Mid-American Conference became the first Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference to cancel its fall sports season, including football. The MAC is considering playing fall sports, including football, during the spring semester.

Teams in the MAC face a significant financial burden by trying to maintain costly COVID-19 testing protocols, while losing the revenue generated by large payouts received from teams in the Power Five conferences – the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-12 and SEC. These conferences limited play to their own conference and canceled the majority of their non-conference games against MAC teams. [Associated Press]

While the unemployment rate recently fell from 11.1% to 10.2%, it remains historically high, and the economies of metro areas that rely on tourism are some of the hardest hit. USA Today lists the 33 metro areas that have been impacted the hardest by unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

All 33 areas have an unemployment rate higher than 15% and several of the largest cities in the United States appear on the list. [USA Today]

Based on the stock market’s performance in recent months, it’s hard to gauge the economic strain on the U.S. economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Why is there a disconnect between the stock market and the current economy? Stock prices are driven by future expectations for businesses, which means investors may discount measures of the current economy such as unemployment, GDP and consumer spending. [Deseret News]

Financial and emotional pressures grow as many of the assistance programs expired on July 31.

The $600 supplemental unemployment payment, eviction moratoriums and Paycheck Protection Programs have expired, and Congress is at an impasse on how to assist 30 million unemployed Americans. Meanwhile families are struggling to prevent evictions, fighting hunger and are unable to climb out of mounting debt and have few options. [The New York Times]

Job growth slowed in July due in part to a resurgence in coronavirus cases across the United States.

The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent in July, as employers added 1.8 million workers to payrolls – but that is well below the 4.8 million added in June. [The New York Times]

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