Current Events

• Of Dollars and Data explains the racial wealth gap mentioned in Tim’s post on NGPF yesterday. WaPo tracks the gap back to 1968…and there has been little change.

Economics

• After Thursday’s news that another 1.9 million people files for unemployment last week (AP), today’s unemployment rate announcement stunned most economists, going down to 13.3% when it was expected to go up as high as 20% (Forbes). The recovery of 2.5 million jobs added from mid-April to mid-May likely reflects the reopening of parts of the economy. Now the question is, what will it look like going forward?
  • Confirmation from the BLS: according to household survey data, 2.7 million people who were temporarily unemployed went back to work (PPP?), but 295,000 permanent jobs were lost in the month ending May 15. (This is consistent with establishment data.)
• However, one sector hit hard is state and local government, specifically, education (Chalkbeat).
• What happens if businesses can’t pay their rent? Just under half of all commercial tenants did not pay rent in April and May. Now what? (WaPo)
• I found this episode of “Planet Money” answering questions like “where did the money go?” to be helpful in explaining the difference between loss of wealth and loss of income.  There is also a great segment on the housing market. For more on why the housing market still has high demand, read this BuzzFeed piece. (This drives home the point that the pandemic has created two economies—one hit hard, and one not suffering at all, just working from home.)

Investing

• The market marches on in spite of the pandemic, unemployment, shrinking GDP, and now, nationwide (global) unrest. (Reuters, CNBC) And with the stock market jumped on the unexpected positive jobs report Friday (CNBC2). Even airline stocks are headed back up. (Investor's Business Daily)
• This on may be a little dry, but offers great historical perspective for anyone interested in the history and evolution of mutual funds and ETFs. (Mutual Fund Observer)

Taxes

• As people have moved home, often in another state, they may be liable to pay income taxes in additional locations for 2020. This is something to be aware of. (CNN)

Managing Credit

• I believe we have included an article about this in the past, but payday lenders are targeting those suffering financially from Covid-19. (WSJ-subscription)

Education

• This article from the Guardian (a couple of weeks old) that offers some positive news about schools reopening around the world without outbreaks of coronavirus.
• Colleges and Universities are cutting tuition to keep applications/enrollment up. (Inside Higher Ed)

About the Author