How to kiss babies, Donald Trump style

Politicians have a long history of trying to be elected by kissing babies. However, with about four million babies being born in the U.S. each year, there isn’t enough time in the current presidential race to kiss enough newborns to make any real difference. So Trump is trying to find another way to convince Americans he cares about babies. Continue reading

Was the May 2016 Jobs Report Really That Bad?

This past Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a press release stating the monthly employment figures for May 2016.  The headlines following the report’s release emphasized that the U.S. economy created only 38,000 additional jobs in May 2016. This figure promptly caused the stock market to fall. The next day’s Wall Street Journal front page led with a story declaring “Weak Hiring Pushes Back Fed’s Plans” for an interest rate hike. But the true figure was much higher than 38,000 jobs.

The actual number of additional jobs created between April and May was 651,000! This much larger figure is calculated using numbers found in table B1’s top line located on the press release’s 28th page. Continue reading

Cops May Feel the Biggest Impact from Driverless Car Revolution

Recently, the McKinsey Global Institute published an article that predicted self-driving cars will disrupt major parts of the economy. Positive numbers from the article, such as 90% of all accidents would be prevented and commuters would gain 50 minutes a day of free time were trumpeted in the news. The press also focused on industries that would be harmed by self-driving cars. The two largest industries McKinsey pointed out that would be hurt are auto insurers and auto repair shops. McKinsey, however, missed one of the key impacts of self-driving cars in their study. Self-driving cars will have a tremendous impact on police forces around the world. Continue reading

Did Derek Jeter Really Retire?

Yesterday at Fenway Park the famous New York Yankee baseball player Derek Jeter played his last game (see video here).  Jeter announced his “retirement” last February during Yankee pre-season training.  He felt after playing professional baseball for 20 years that it “was the right time” to leave.  Media around the world focused on how sad people felt about his “retirement” at age 40.  While watching his final at bat the thought occurred to me that while Derek Jeter might be leaving the active roster of the NY Yankees, there is little chance that he is actually retiring.  Why isn’t Derek Jeter really retiring? Continue reading