“How do you spend the majority of your day? You likely have several options for interacting with friends and family, including social media. In a 2021 Pew survey, 72% of American adults said they use some social media site. Many of these sites are free to use. Why?” “The bottom line is that someone is…

“WASHINGTON – First Republic Bank, San Francisco, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.  To protect depositors, the FDIC is entering into a purchase and assumption agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Columbus, Ohio, to assume all of…

“Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed because of a textbook case of mismanagement by the bank. Its senior leadership failed to manage basic interest rate and liquidity risk. Its board of directors failed to oversee senior leadership and hold them accountable. And Federal Reserve supervisors failed to take forceful enough action, as detailed in the report.”…

“Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 4.6 percent from one year ago.” “Within goods, the decrease was led by motor vehicles and parts and gasoline and other energy goods. Within services, the largest contributors to the increase were spending for housing and utilities and health care services.”

“There are human behaviors or habits that we consider healthy, such as exercising and eating nourishing foods. We may strive to do our best to exhibit those behaviors, but there is usually something pulling us in a differ­ent direction. The notion of saving money, whether for something new in the future, a financial emergency, or…

“Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023.” “The increase in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, federal government spending, state and local government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by decreases in private inventory investment and residential fixed…

“The St. Louis Fed headquarters, along with our branch office in Memphis, Tenn., processes over 900 million notes (paper currency) each year. Among those processed and inspected in 2022, a whopping 136 million were removed from circulation, shredded and composted.”