Factory Orders Rise; Productivity Jumps

But Remember When The Boy Had To Kill Brave Ol' Yeller? Gosh, That Was Sad... And Ol' Yeller's Never Coming Back

For every optimistic sign, there is an even more optimistic sign, but for ever even more optististic sign, there is the ominous threat of full-blown Mad Max style civilizational collapse:

Orders to U.S. factories posted a solid increase in October while - worker productivity jumped by the largest amount in two years, the government reported Tuesday. It was the latest evidence that the economy is rebounding from the Gulf Coast hurricanes and a spike in energy prices, leading analysts to predict the economy will turn in a solid performance in coming months.

"The momentum of growth has been very strong," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. "This suggests that growth in the fourth quarter of this year and early next year will remain robust."
...

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported that the productivity of American workers shot up at an annual rate of 4.7 percent in the July- September quarter, the best showing in two years. The new figure was revised upward from an initial estimate of 4.1 percent growth in productivity.

The big jump in worker efficiency helped to push labor costs down by 1 percent at an annual rate in third quarter, double the 0.5 percent drop in unit labor costs that had originally been reported. The stronger productivity and falling labor costs should help ease fears at the Federal Reserve that overall inflation was on the verge of worsening because of rising wage pressures.

Click for the song that's sweeping the nation:

Guess What? I got a fev-ah.
And the only. Prescription.
Is More Cowbell.

posted by Ace at 01:42 PM

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