Ian M Fried

Morning Briefing: Numbers You Should Know

by Ian M Fried  ::  Filed Under Daily Briefing  ::  July 17th, 2008 @ 10:25 am EST

Fundraising in June: Obama Campaign, $52 million. McCain Campaign $22 million. The national committees show a different picture, however, with the Democratic National Committee having $4 million on hand, while the Republican National Committee has $68 million in the coffers.

Inflation:  The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is the most common measure of inflation, rose  1.1% in June, which means that inflation for 2008 so far is 5.5%.  For comparison’s sake, the CPI for all of 2007 went up 4.1%.  If you take the inflation rate of the past three months and annualized it, it comes to an annual seasonally adjusted inflation rate of 7.9%

Jobs: New claims for Unemployment benefits numbered 366,000 last week. The number of people on unemployment rolls is 3.12 million — the 12th straight week it has been over 3 million.

Troops: As the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, suggests that he may suggest some troop pullout from Iraq in the Fall depending on the security situation, these numbers to note — Number of U.S. troops in Iraq, about 150,000. Number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, about 36,000.

Any numbers that you think we should be noticing this week?

The Seminal News Feed

WRAPUP 5-Major shippers skirt Gulf of Aden to avoid pirates
Friday, 21 November 2008, 1:00 am
* Maersk and other major shippers divert ships around Cape

U.S. contractors to lose immunity from Iraqi law
Friday, 21 November 2008, 12:22 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private contractors working for the U.S. government in Iraq will lose their immunity from Iraqi law under a new pact with Baghdad, senior American officials said Thursday.

Australia govt says will not monitor Japan whalers
Friday, 21 November 2008, 12:14 am
CANBERRA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Australia will not send a fisheries patrol ship this year to shadow Japanese whalers and protests near Antarctica, the government said on Friday, appealing for activists t. […]


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