It's GDP, PCE, New Jobs, No Jobs, Economic Forecasts (adjusted), Chinese Imports, Your ID and Who was Ulysses Lee Bridgeman?
Well, that was a nice break, but back to reality…
Lots of news last week:
The biggest headline was the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. It’s kind of like the take-home pay for the country.
It was down 0.3% for the first quarter of this year, after growing 2.4% in the last quarter of 2024.
To simplify it, the nation’s take-home pay got cut in Q1. It was mainly caused by a significant import increase since everyone is trying to hoard things before tariffs kick in.
By the time this news came out on Wednesday, the stock market had already been kicked around so much that the impact was muted. In fact, the stock market was up for the day. Crazy.
More new jobs were created in April than expected: 177,000 vs. 133,000 expected, but down from 185,000 the month before.
On the flip side, there were unemployment claims of 241,000 vs. 225,000 expected and 223,000 the week before. And unemployment stayed steady at 4.2%.
Remember the PCE? That would be the Personal Consumption Expenditures index. That’s the inflation indicator the Federal Reserve looks at.
Both the full and core PCE stayed at 0% for the month. Zero.
We’ll see how long it holds there. Tariffs will make an impact.
Adjusted for the last 12 months, PCE was at 2.3%, down from 2.7%, and core was at 2.6%, down from 3%.
Remember, core does NOT include food and fuel.
Both are very good signs, but still do not measure the impact of tariffs, as this was for the month of March. Most tariffs started in April. Stay tuned.
Kiplinger Economic Forecasts
I benefit from the Kiplinger Letter and they have adjusted their year-end numbers based on the recent gyrations with tariffs.
GDP Growth – 1.5% in 2025, down from 2.8% in ’24.
Large increases in imports at the beginning of this year will do that.
At least it’s positive.
Interest rates – 10 year rate will drop to 4%.
Inflation – 4%
Unemployment – 4.5%
Crude oil - $60 per barrel
They expect the first interest rate cut in June or July.
What does the US import from China?
$124,000,000,000 in electronics
$94,000,000,000 in machinery and instruments
$37,000,000,000 in clothing
$30,000,000,000 in toys
And $19B in plastic products, $19B in furniture and home furnishings, $16B in base and fabricated metals, and another $100B in miscellaneous goods.
That should total $439B, which is 13% of US imports.
That’s down from 21% in 2018.
Just something for your next mixer, and yes, I got tired of typing zeros.
Who’s Tracking You?
Well, pretty much anyone who wants to.
Raise your hand if you have ever ego-surfed. In other words, have you ever Googled yourself?
If you Google Adam Russell, you’ll likely come up with a former 6’7” Tampa Bay pitcher.
That works for me. And he’s 20 years younger.
You can also find a musician, a PhD anthropologist, and a director of AI at USC.
Jiminy. Not only do you have to share your name, the other folks that have it are way more accomplished. I’m not sure why it’s called ego-surfing. It should be ego-bruising. But I digress.
The point is that once you drill down to your name, you’ll be surprised who has that information. For kicks and grins, go to Google’s “Results About You” tool.
You can click here to get to it.
I did that and found 26 sources with my information, including birthdates, addresses, and cell numbers. A few of the sources were:
FastPeopleSearch.com
FastBackgroundCheck.com
SearchPeopleFREE.com
It’s not all correct, but a lot of it is.
The Google tool helps you request that the sites remove your information. The fewer people who have your information, the better. Particularly that odd employee that you fired last week.
Who is Ulysses Lee Bridgeman?
In 1988, a woman was at a counter in a Wendy’s restaurant in Milwaukee. A tall man handed her the order. She did a double-take as she recognized him as an NBA player. She called into a local radio station, telling them it was a shame that, after their careers and making all that money, basketball players had to work at Wendy’s to support themselves.
Her server was Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman, formerly of the Milwaukee Bucks.
She was half right.
Born in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1953, he was one of four children. His father worked at a steel mill during the day, cleaned bars before work, and washed windows after work to make ends meet. Junior and his older brother frequently helped before school. A dad that works 3 jobs to support his family is my definition of an influencer.
Even so, the family could not afford the $1.25 uniform cost to join the Boy Scouts.
A star basketball player in high school and later at Louisville, he joined the Milwaukee Bucks in 1975 and ended up playing with them for 10 seasons, retiring from the NBA in 1987.
When he started, he had a young family and always knew the sport could not support him for the rest of his life. So, he started asking questions and planning for when he couldn’t play in the NBA.
He asked the owners of the Bucks how they were successful. One offered him an investment opportunity in a cable company, which he took. Also, the general manager was a McDonald's franchisee, and he learned from them and many others.
He didn’t want to work for someone; he wanted to own his business.
So in 1987, he started a Wendy’s restaurant, investing $100,000. He and his partner lost $150,000, and that was that. He realized he didn’t know anything about the food business.
So, he spent months in a Wendy’s training program and in 1988, used the remainder of his savings, $750,000, to purchase five underperforming restaurants in Milwaukee that were each generating $600,000 in sales.
That’s going all-in.
He worked 18-hour days, flipped burgers, washed the dishes, cleaned the bathrooms, managed the employees, and wrote the checks.
Two years later, each restaurant was generating $2,000,000.
So, the Wendy’s customer was half right. That NBA player was working fast food, but it was his restaurant.
He bailed workers out of jail, trained his staff for management positions, and hired chaplains for counselors.
One of his mantras:
“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Chauncy Billups, an NBA player and a partner, said of Junior, “He never, ever, said ‘These people work for me’. Never. He always said, ‘We work together.’”.
Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman died of a heart attack at a fundraising luncheon in March.
More than 1,200 people attended his memorial service, and another 16,000 watched online.
He was 71 years old. At his death, he had built up a business empire net worth of $1,400,000,000.
That’s what can happen when you work 18-hour days, clean the bathrooms, and show your employees how much you care.
You know, I don’t think I can add anything to that.
