LyrArc Article Gist
Job seekers and job stayers make no difference in pay increases about 4.6% increase for the US in Jan and Feb 2025.

LyrArc Article Gist
Consumer Reports is published by nonprofit advocacy group with 640 employees. It is based in Yonkers, New York, and was founded in 1936. It takes no advertising and answers only to buyers of the magazine and to consumers. Its labs based in Yonkers test a whole range of products and Consumer Reports does not hesitate to put a "Don't Buy" rating on products. In June it pointed out the defect in the Apple iphone that made it lose reception when the left corner was touched by a user. It tested the Lexus 460 a few months ago, and when it found that it was a rollover risk, Consumer Reports gave it a "Don't Buy: Safety Risk" rating. The magazine has come up with new contraptions that test different products. In the 50's it created a smoking machine that accumulated what was left of a smoker's inhalations in a container device. And it was credited by the Surgeon General's Report in 1964 warning of the dangers of smoking, as having done some of the serious research on the subject of smoking dangers. The magazine suffered a loss in 2001 of $9.4 million, but has since recovered under the leadership of Guest, who had earlier served as chairman. Guest moved the testing to more expensive products like Lexus cars and made another important decision. He expanded testing so that when it came to laptops, cell phones and flat screen TV's (which were becoming rapidly popular in the market), the testing would be ongoing. Guest moved announcements and postings of new product results to the internet and online subscriptions have tripled in the last 7 years. As a result the company has been profitable since 2003. Other decisions have been to add user opinions and comments, buying Consumerist.com which puts up reader opinions, and to attract younger readers. And though initially feared by scientists at Consumer Reports, who preferred to avoid user opinions and stick with the scientific facts, the moves have not affected its credibility. About 7 million subscribers subscribe to Consumer Reports, and about half of these subscribers pay $26 a year for access to its website, ConsumerReports.org. This makes it one of the handful of information publications that have paid digital subscribers, including the Wall Street Journal Online, which has only a fraction of the subscribers of Consumer Reports....

LyrArc Article Gist
Efforts by Greece's government officials in October 2011 to meet demands from the IMF, The European Commission and the ECB- collectively referred to as the "troika" in Greece- for 30,000 public sector job cuts. The first step was putting together layoff lists, and effectively create a special labor pool at reduced pay for 12 months, after which those not finding new jobs would be layed off. There is considerable difficulty doing this, as heads of departments are reluctant to do this. There is a constitutional provision that protects public sector workers from layoff in Greece. The troika is insisting on the lists, or across the board cuts in the event lists are not prepared. The 30,000 job cuts are part of job cuts in the public sector which would be a total of 100,000 by 2015.

LyrArc Article Gist
Cost of Living Crisis under Biden, Affordability Crisis under DJT, and the situation in Feb 2026 with 2.4% inflation and job creation at 130,000 jobs in January 2026. Is this a sign that the tariffs policy is greatly misrepresented and misunderstood? The flexibility in tariffs, attention to financial markets through Scott Bessent's keen sghts at the Treasury shared with the president, the cutouts for key countries such as India to exclude semiconductors and cell phonesand other products from tariffs. For instance under tariffs increase India actually increased its exports by diversifying its economy and signing a trade agreement with Germany and the EU, followed by the trade agreement with the US, so that it remains an enven stronger economic partner. The same is true for Japan where elections are leading to a parliamentary majority for PM Sanae Takaichi who wants to work with the US and build a strong economic partnership, and make the large investments in the US it has promised.  Japan and India are two of the five largest economies in the world (US, China, Japan, India, Germany). German Foreign Minister Wadephul for the CDU welcomed Marco Rubio's call for a "new Western Century" and for strengthening western civilization common heritage of the US and Europe. This means 4 of the 5 largest economies in the world are in sync for the future of world trade, and their economic future.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The U.S. "quit rate" reflecting job churn in the economy with workers leaving for better job opportunities increased to 1.8% in Nov. 2013, increasing from 1.2% low in Sept. 2009, according to the Labor Department. 2.4 million workers resigned in Nov. 2013. This includes workers retiring and choosing not to work. The quit rate was about 2.1% betwen 2000 and 2006. About 20% of the churn is from the lower paying hotel and restaurant sector. As the U.S. population ages and workers look for more stable jobs the number of workers leaving jobs is declining since the 1990's.

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT and US diplomacy given a chance, patient waiting for Iran to make a unified proposal with split in Iran government, while the US naval blockade goes on- April 21 2026. About 2 million people lose their jobs in Iran as inflation exceeds 50% and economic activity, steel, car making and petrochemical industries are affected with major disruptions and supply chain issues.