NWSOFA Fiscal and Economic Issue Team September Meeting

Hi NWSOFA Fiscal and Economic Issues team,

Come join us to learn the facts about fiscal and economic issues. These facts will inform your discussions with friends and your vote in November.

Can you come? Click here to RSVP: https://actionnetwork.org/events/nwsofa-fiscal-and-economic-issues-september-schaumburg-meeting-on-economics-of-single-payer?referrer=karl-faulstich&source=direct_link

On September 13th the Fiscal and Economics team will be back at the Schaumburg library. Since there was an issue last time as to which room we were meeting in, please check the meeting announcements posted by the elevator to confirm which 2nd floor meeting room we have this month.

Sara Horan and Bill Davis will update us on the limited political work NWSOFA is doing this fall.

Our special guest this month is John Perryman, M.D. from the Illinois Physicians for a National Health Program (pnhp.org). He will be speaking on the economic issues of single payer. Given the recent headlines on the estimated costs and potential savings of Medicare for All, we are excited to have this knowledgeable guest speaker.

In addition we will have an update on the U.S. economy and budget, including:

• August employment report, due 9/7 – These monthly reports have been showing solid job growth over the past year and a half, albeit slightly lower than before Trump became president. What they haven’t been showing is real wage growth. The July job s added number was somewhat low. Was that an anomaly or the start of a downward trend? The August report will start to answer that question. There will be two more monthly reports before the November midterm elections.
• Updated estimates of the current FY 2018 (Oct 2017-Sept 2018) budget deficit and the forecast for next year – Before President Trump took office in January 2017, the CBO forecast the FY 2018 deficit at $487 billion.  Deficits are up due to last year’s tax bill and increased spending. Current estimates are between $800-900 billion. The CBO will have an initial estimate of the actual deficit the 1st week of October and will formally report the number in mid-October.
• 2nd estimate of 2nd quarter real GDP growth = 4.2%. This is good growth, albeit not as high as some quarters during the Obama administration.  This number will be updated one more time by the end of September, and then continue to be updated for years as more economic data b ecomes available. The initially reported numbers tend to be revised up or down significantly over the years.
• There is also a question whether this 2nd quarter growth was an anomaly caused by increased exports prior to retaliatory tariffs. The 3rd quarter preliminary number, to be released at the end of October, should start to answer that question.

Also, real median household incomes and other data for 2017 will be released on Wednesday, September 12th. I will plan to incorporate some of this in our national presentation.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/iphi-advisory.html

We will also have a brief update on the Illinois economy and budget.

After the formal meeting ends by 9:30, everyone is invited to join us at Lou Malnati’s for food, drinks, and further discussions, which can be more political than allowed by OFA.

Can you come? Click here to RSVP: https://actionnetwork.org/events/nwsofa-fiscal-and-economic-issues-september-schaumburg-meeting-on-economics-of-single-payer?referrer=karl-faulstich&source=direct_link

Thanks!

Karl

PS – Attached are the PowerPoint presentations from our August meeting.  I will send out the ones for September when available.

PPS – You can view videos of some previous fiscal meetings at http://www.nwsofa.org/videos/

2018 – 08 – August meeting – State issues NWSOFA Fiscal & Economic Issues

NWSOFA – August – Federal Fiscal Econ – v9

NWSOFA – Trade Slides – August 2018 – v6