Barack Obama deepens economic focus, challenges opponents

GALESBURG: President Barack Obama on Wednesday repackaged his economic message, a six-point plan for putting a floor under the country's diminishing middle class, and lashed out at opponents for creating ``an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals.''

Hiring Probably Limited by Slowing Growth: U.S. Economy Preview

The pace of hiring in July probably failed to reduce the U.S. jobless rate, which has been stuck above 8 percent for more than three years, economists said before a report this week.

Manufacturing shrinks, first time in nearly three years

(Reuters) - Manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years as new orders plummeted, according to one measure of the sector that showed the starkest sign yet of the extent of the slowdown in the economy.

Manufacturing grows at fastest pace in 6 months

WASHINGTON (AP) — Manufacturing grew in December at the fastest pace in six months and hiring at U.S. factories picked up. The data helped bolster the view that the economy gained momentum at the end of last year.

Destruction of U.S. Manufacturing: The Unusual Suspects (Guest Post)

By Andrew Butter

If you want to know the real “culprits”, have a look at this chart:


The blue line is US Employment in Manufacturing (from the St Louis Fed), the purple line is the cumulative amount of money that Americans (mainly US Corporations) invested in projects outside of USA, instead of inside USA; (from the BEA time series on International Transactions Line 51).