| john3859 |
 Wysłany: Czw 8:31, 27 Sty 2011 Temat postu: said Maki |
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| employers remain reluctant to hire. Payrolls expanded by 103,000 workers in December, less than the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. A healthier labor market would put more money in the hands of shoppers across the board, further lifting consumption. "The labor-market recovery will become more widespread as we go through 2011, which should take away some of the imbalance" in purchases, said Maki, who specialized in researching household finances at the Fed from 1995 to 2000. "We definitely expect to see some catch-up in spending by middle and lower-income households. It's one of the ways the recovery will become more entrenched." Rising share prices signal rich shoppers will retain an edge in driving spending. The top 20 percent of income earners own about 80 percent of equity wealth and half of housing wealth, Maki estimates. The S&P 500 Index has soared 91 percent from its March 2009 low. On top of that, President Barack Obama on Dec. 17 signed into law an $858 billion bill extending Bush-era tax cuts for two years for all income groups, instead of letting them expire for family earnings that exceed $250,000 a year, the cutoff the administration uses for the middle class. The Census Bureau estimates the poverty threshold for 201 |
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