Tag Archives: economic data

Manufacturing Outlook and History In the USA and Globally

Posted on February 27, 2014 by John Hunter

I write primarily about management improvement on this blog – which makes sense given the title. In the very early days I had more on investing, economic data, science, engineering and travel. Then I created three new blogs (Curious Cat Investment and Economics Blog, Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog, Curious Cat Travel Photos blog) and that made this blog more focused. Even so the lines of what fits where can be a bit fuzzy and I continue to write … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Leading Manufacturing Countries from 2000 to 2010: China, USA…

Posted on August 13, 2012 by John Hunter

Over the years I have been posting data on the manufacturing output of leading countries. In 2010 China finally overtook the USA to becoming the leading manufacturer (long after you would have thought listening to many news sources and political leaders). In a previous post on the Curious Cat Economics Blog I looked at the output of the top 10 manufacturing countries with a focus on 1980 to 2010. In 1995 the USA was actually very close to losing the … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Looking at Auto Manaufacturing in the USA

Posted on February 6, 2012 by John Hunter

America’s Dirty War Against Manufacturing Bob Lutz, the former head of GM, says it was neither uncompetitive wages nor unions that drove the Big Three into decline. It was a management with its eye focused on the bottom line and the short term. That sentiment should be familiar to students of Deming (it is one of Deming’s 7 deadly diseases). It is sad that this bad management practices, short-term thinking, continues to do harm several decades later. Hopefully we can … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

USA Spent $2.6 Trillion, $8,402 per person,17.9% of GDP on Medical Expenses in 2010

Posted on January 19, 2012 by John Hunter

The federal government financed 29% of total health spending in 2010, a substantial increase from its share of 23% in 2007. Meanwhile, the shares of the total health care bill financed by state and local governments (16%), private businesses (21%), and households (28%) declined during the same time period. Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Manufacturing Jobs Increasing for First Time Since 1998 in the USA

Posted on September 29, 2010 by John Hunter

Surprise! Blue collar jobs are coming back [the broken link was removed] Manufacturing employment began its decline long before the recession, losing jobs every year since 1998. But since the start of this year, there’s been a 1.6% gain in manufacturing jobs — about twice the pace of growth in other private sector jobs. … The unemployment rate for manufacturing workers has also shown much greater improvement than for workers overall, dropping to 9.5% in August from 13% in December. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Taxes per Person by Country

Posted on April 7, 2010 by John Hunter

I think that the idea that data lies is false, and that such a notion is commonly held a sign of lazy intellect. You can present data in different ways to focus on different aspects of a system. And you can make faulty assumptions based on data you look at. It is true someone can just provide false data, that is an issue you have to consider when drawing conclusions from data. But often people just don’t think about what … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, Management | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Biggest Manufacturing Countries in 2008 with Historical Data

Posted on December 7, 2009 by John Hunter

Once again the USA was the leading country in manufacturing for 2008. And once again China grew their manufacturing output amazingly. In a change with recent trends Japan grew output significantly. Of course, the 2009 data is going to show the impact of a very severe worldwide recession. Chart showing the percentage output of top manufacturing countries from 1990-2008 by Curious Cat Management Blog, Creative Commons Attribution. The first chart shows the USA’s share of the manufacturing output, of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Loan Default Rates Continue to Increase

Posted on September 9, 2009 by John Hunter

Chart showing loan default rates for real estate, consumer and agricultural loans for 1998 to 2009 by the Curious Cat Investing Economics Blog, Creative Commons Attribution, data from the Federal Reserve. Default rates on commercial (up another 151 basis points) and residential (93 basis points) real estate continued to increase dramatically in the second quarter. Credit card default rates increased but only by 20 basis points. Real estate default rates exploded in 2008, in the aftermath of the financial market … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged , ,

Another Year of CEO’s Taking Hugely Excessive Pay

Posted on April 6, 2009 by John Hunter

I continue to do my part to publicize the abusive CEO pay packages that the current crop of unethical CEO’s, and those sitting on corporate boards have supported (Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay 2008 – 2007 post on CEO pay abuses). It does seem there is more anger now at the looting these corrupt CEOs have engaged in; though far too many people seem to think the corruption is some isolated few CEO’s. The widespread failure of ethical standards by … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management, Management Articles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

USA Spent $2.2 Trillion or $7,421 Per Person on Health Care in 2007

Posted on March 16, 2009 by John Hunter

Health spending in the United States grew 6.1 percent in 2007, to $2.2 trillion or $7,421 per person. For comparison the total GDP per person in China is $6,100. This continues the trend of health care spending taking an every increasing portion of the economic output (the economy grew by 4.8 percent in 2007). This brings health care spending to 16.2% of GDP (which is yet another, in a string of record high percentages of GDP spent on health care). … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged , ,

Global Manufacturing Data 2007

Posted on October 30, 2008 by John Hunter

The updated data from the United Nations on manufacturing output by country clearly shows the USA remains by far the largest manufacturer in the world. UN Data, in billions of current US dollars: Country 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 USA 1,041 1,289 1,543 1,663 1,700 1,831 China 143 299 484 734 891 1,106 Japan 804 1,209 1.034 954 934 926 Germany 438 517 392 566 595 670 Russian Federation 211 104 73 222 281 362 Italy 240 226 206 … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, India, Manufacturing, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

USA Spent $2.1 Trillion on Health Care in 2006

Posted on February 20, 2008 by John Hunter

The percent of GDP spent on health care in the USA increased again in 2006 – to 16%. Health care spending reached a total of $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person in 2006, up from $6,649 per person in 2005. Related: USA Healthcare Costs Now 16% of GDP – Measuring the Health of Nations – USA Paying More for Health Care

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Top 10 Manufacturing Countries

Posted on January 28, 2007 by John Hunter

The newest data from the UN* confirms most of the recent trends in manufacturing output – most notably that China continues to grow dramatically. The data also shows a stagnation in USA manufacturing output over the last several years, though the USA remains by far the largest manufacturer. The most significant news from this latest data, I believe, is that that manufacturing output growth in the USA has been slower than global manufacturing output growth from 2002-2005. This was not … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Data, Economics, India, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Evidence-based Management

Posted on October 3, 2006 by John Hunter

Bob Sutton’s writing includes the excellent article “Management Advice: Which 90% is Crap?” (which we discussed in: Management Advice Failures) and the Knowing Doing Gap. I just discovered his blog today which is quite good: Work Matters. A recent post includes some good advice on data and process improvement Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Deming, Health care, Management, Process improvement | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Manufacturing Jobs

Posted on September 23, 2006 by John Hunter

The article, Manufacturing Lost 3.4 Million Jobs Since 1998 [the broken link was removed], indicates “The increased output should lead to job recovery.” I doubt it. While it is true there is a correlation between output and jobs by far the most significant trend is more manufacturing output and fewer manufacturing jobs everywhere in the world. Like so many articles talking about manufacturing job losses in the USA this one could leave many readers thinking that the USA needs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Future for Investors

Posted on July 15, 2006 by John Hunter

I completed The Future for Investors: Why the Tried and the True Triumph Over the Bold and the New by Jeremy Siegel today. It provides a great deal of analysis of what historical stock market returns for various strategies have been. The subtitle captures the basic theme of the book. Investing in the boring old stocks that people are not excited about is what have performed best. His basic advise is still to buy the broadest market index fund (such … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing | Tagged ,