construction spending for May was up 0.8% over an April that was up 2.2% over March...i know you can see the double digit annual growth rate there...at the April rate of construction growth, i figured 2nd quarter residential construction would add .26 percentage points to 2nd quarter GDP growth, private non-residential would add .83 percentage points to 2nd quarter growth, and public construction would add .42 percentage points to 2nd quarter GDP in the various government investment components...now we're above that already in May...

the caveat to my figures is that there are dozens of construction price indexes and i just estimated a deflator

to estimate the change in PCE that applies to GDP, we have to compare April and May real PCE to the real PCE of the 3 months making up the first quarter...that's done by applying the monthly PCE price index, from Table 9 in the pdf, to the current dollar values of each month's annualized PCE; that gives us monthly PCE in chained 2009 dollars, which aren't really dollar amounts at all but merely the means that the BEA uses to compare one month's or one quarter's real goods and services produced to another...that result is shown in table 7 of the PDF, where April's annualized chained dollar consumption works out to 11,214.7 million and May's annualized chained dollar consumption is 11,276.9, which we can then compare to the 1st quarter's annualized chained dollar PCE of 11,177.9 shown in Table 8, which is identical to the inflation adjusted first quarter PCE from table 3 in the first quarter GDP report we just reviewed...since we dont yet know real PCE for June, one method of estimating the 2nd quarter change in real PCE is to average the two months we do have and compare them to the 1st quarter...when we do that, we find that 2nd quarter real PCE has grown at a 2.5% annual rate for the two months we do have; note the math to get that annual rate: (((11,214.7 +11,276.9 ) / 2) / 11,177.9 ) ^ 4 = 1.02452... given that real PCE is about 68% of GDP, we could thus estimate that growth in real PCE would add 1.67 percentage points to 2nd quarter GDP...and that has to be considered the low end estimate; even if June's PCE is unchanged from May, our equation becomes (((11,214.7 + 2 * 11,276.9 ) / 3) / 11,177.9 ) ^ 4 = 1.02830, meaning PCE growth at a 2.8% annual rate, which would add 1.92 percentage points to 2nd quarter GDP...

I don't know about y'all, but I ain't voting for any incumbent democrats who voted in favor of TPA or the TAA that was passed on Thursday. That means I won't be voting for Diane Feinstein, who voted for TPA and TAA in the Senate, or Jackie Speier, who didn't bother voting the first time TPA and TAA went to a vote in the House but voted for TAA this Thursday. I won't vote for Hillary either in 2016. I'm done with the corrupt democratic party (small caps intentional) in California. I won't vote for the democratic party in 2016 unless Speier and Clinton lose their primaries.

Don't get me wrong. I won't vote republican either. Given a choice, I'll vote Green or I'll leave the ballot blank. I am absolutely never going to vote for politicians that disrespect me as a voter and as a citizen and look at me with contempt as these democrats (and republicans) do. These politicians especially democrats believe that Americans are so stupid that American voters will continue to vote for their re-election despite a track record of opposing the interests of the voters that elected them to office. Voting for such politicians will only confirm in their minds that American voters are stupid. I ain't falling victim to this scam. I am not going to re-elect or advance the careers of any politicians that look at me with contempt. They can burn in hell as far as I'm concerned.

Unfortunately, I live in CA so, as usual, this stupid state will likely blindly re-elect Feinstein to the Senate in 2018 and Speier to the House in 2016 just because these two sellouts have a "D" appended to their last names. Elections in CA and in this country are joke courtesy of the corruption of both major parties.

I would also respectfully ask that any faux progressive, who plans on regurgitating the "vote for the lesser of two evils" slogan in 2016 to scaremonger votes for the democratic party, kindly STFU indefinitely. If you support corruption, you're not progressive. After the last seven years of watching the democratic party work against the interests of suffering middle class citizens of this country, it is perfectly clear that voting for the lesser of two evils only begets more evil and economic violence against the vulnerable and disenfranchised workers, middle class, unemployed, and poor of this country. There's absolutely no point in voting for any evil.

The trade adjustment assistance program [TAA] was approved overwhelmingly in the House (286 yeas to 138 nays)

• It funds $2.7 billion for worker re-training and education ( through June 2022).
• It makes workers in the service industry eligible for a program that was once only used for displaced manufacturing workers.
• It extends and expands a tax credit for the purchase of health insurance for displaced workers.
• It includes subsidies for the wages of workers age 50 or older who are forced to take lower-paid jobs than the ones they lost to low-wage countries — that the Times calls "international competition".
• It also includes a trade measure with Africa.
• It also ensures that Obama can complete other major trade deals with Asia and Europe [TPP and TTIP].

Representative Stephen Lynch (D-Massachusetts) said: “I would rather have my representative fighting for my job than coming up with a public assistance program after I lost my job.” 

Representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said fast track is already the law of the land: "The question for us today is whether we are going to include the last parts of the package.” The 13 Democratic Senators who gave Obama fast-track claimed it was only on the promise that "the last parts of the package" (TAA) would later be added.

A photo you can paste on your Facebook Wall...

http://www.bud-meyers.com/TPP/

U.S. polling shows strong opposition to fast tracking trade deals (from Independents to Republicans and Democrats alike). But yet, Congress still votes against the will of the American people. Over half the people in Congress must be just plain evil; and President Obama (if not evil himself) must be gullible for believing his manipulative advisors.

http://www.citizen.org/documents/polling-memo.pdf

Why would anyone represent that this bill would be acceptable if it contained funds to retrain displaced US workers?

I am a displaced worker, BTW. I lost my job to several engineers in China, who collectively are paid about as much as I was, and who collectively do not appear to me to be able to get as much done. I'm doing alright, because I saw it coming, but I am still not happy about the situation.

Saying it is better if it has funds to retrain displaced workers is like saying it is OK to import polio, as long as the importer will pay part of the cost of wheel chairs and iron lungs.

It is like saying it is OK to kill American workers, as long as you agree to pay part of the cost of their funeral plots.

How is that OK?

The things we built, created, invented being given to people who don't have a clue what they are or how they work is offensive.

My son, who has more mechanical aptitude that anyone I have ever seen, (and I have seen a lot) will not enjoy the privilege of following me in a technical career, because our technology is being given to people who could never have developed it, don't understand it, can barely maintain it.

This is not a zenophobic rant. I have worked for years alongside of organizations in Asia which were developed with the idea of eliminating my job. I know these people personally. They are not bad guys, and on a personal level, I like some of them. But I was to some extent responsible for their technical development. I have seen their work product, over a period of many years. I have reviewed their work. This is a large organization. I am not talking about a few individuals. My observation is that they do not compare at all well with Americans with similar paper qualifications.

There are aspects of American culture and world view which account for American exceptionalism. It isn't an accident.

Right now, there is some money to be made for technical people, in the business of disemboweling US industry, and sending it overseas. But once everything is packed up and shipped off, it is going to get really unpleasant.

So is this like good cop - bad cop? The good cop says "I'll make sure there are bandages for you after the bad cop beats you up?"

The idea that people sell you out, but want to make sure before they do that they give you 5 cents worth of compassion in exchange for every dollar they take, and that because of this they are your friends is repulsive. (And by the way, that 5 cents actually comes from you).

Better open hostility than feigned affection. The republicans want to rob you and don't care if you know. The democrats want to rob you, but want to make sure you know they are your friends. Do I have that right?

I just don't get it. Requiring funds to retrain the displaced is an open admission that this bill will injure US workers. No question. It will displace people. Who? People in higher paying and productive jobs. Who will it benefit? Wal-Mart shoppers.

I can understand the appeal of fast track to politicians. After all, it means they don't have to pretend to defend the interests of their constituents.

But why isn't everyone up in arms about the idea it is OK to destroy the lives of American workers, as long as you promise to train them to do something they don't want to do, that pays less? Why isn't the mere suggestion of this offensive? I don't get it.

End of rant.

People are wicked. That's why they need a Savior.

What a show, of course the American people, U.S. worker get royally screwed here.

This illustrates a point I have made before. The Democrats are no more the friend of the working man than the Republicans. They always manage to get enough votes for their corporate paymasters. All the rest is just theater.

It is a lot like a WWE WrestleMania event. It is pretty unsophisticated to think that those guys are really on opposite "sides", since they are all paid by the same paymaster. The "Good" guys aren't good, and the "Bad" guys aren't bad. They are all motivated by self interest, and basically wicked, which is the normal state of fallen humanity. Actually, they are friends, like Scalia and Ginsberg. or Bush I and Clinton.

The game is played this way: Some democrats will pretend to oppose legislation that favors the wealthy, while others (those in safe districts) will quietly vote for it. So it is assured to pass, but they get some credit for "fighting against" it.

So in that case, since there is no difference between the politicians at all on the economic issues, you might as well be a values voter.

Maybe Dennis and Bernie aren't for sale (maybe) but those two are just mascots, trotted out to burnish the party reputation. They don't actually represent where the party is going. To see where the party is going, follow the money.

Of course, if voters at large were more sophisticated, and spent the time people in this forum do evaluating political candidates and their actions, the world would be a different place. But, as Churchill noted "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

So there really is very little hope for the political process. Especially with the sensory bombardment of the population with distracting and disinformational messages, which takes their attention away from anything of significance.

Perhaps, if things got worse, people would "wake up", but it seems more likely that instead of investing 10 minutes in serious thought on the matter they would attach themselves to some opportunist that promised them "Hope" and "change". Not much chance of improvement there.

And some would say there needs to be a revolution, but revolutions usually result in a lot of bad things happening to a lot of people. Not a prospect any reasonable person would look forward to.

So it seems to me that we should enjoy the good in life that we can find, since we will not be able to prevail by force (of logic, persuasion, arms, or organization) against those who own the political process.

And preach the Gospel! It is the only thing that changes mens' hearts. And that is where the problem is.