Unemployed Australians Reach One Million for First Time

The Lost Art of Great Popular Song

Is the Great American Songbook still being written? The so-called Great American Songbook is defined as a canon of the memorable “standards” of popular song that helped to define American culture in the first half of the 20th century. Its great composers included Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, and Jerome Kern. These songwriters’ names were just as well-known as the names of famous singers, because it was an age when the song stood proudly independent from the performer. Standards such as “Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael would be uniquely recorded by many singers, from Frank Sinatra to Doris Day to Nat King Cole. One of the last songs to receive such multi-artist treatment was Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” (1965), the most recorded song in history, with over 4,000 versions by everyone…

More than one million Australians are out of work for the first time since records began, with the unemployment rate climbing slightly to 7.5 percent.

The situation could get much worse, given the latest jobless figures do not reflect the impact of Melbourne’s stage four lockdowns, which came into effect last week.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.5 percent in July from 7.4 percent the previous month, despite another large jump in the number of people who found work.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said every job lost as a result of coronavirus was devastating.

But she said the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed there was underlying resilience in the economy, with a further 114,700 people returning to work.

This built on the revised 252,000 increase in employment in June.

July’s rise included 43,500 full-time and 71,200 part-time positions.

“That shows you that, when you get the health crisis under control, then across Australia you are able to ease restrictions, reopen your economy, you will see those jobs returning,” Senator Cash told reporters in Perth.

The participation rate鈥攖hose people in work or actively seeking employment鈥攔ose to 64.7 percent, causing the unemployment rate to rise.

However, the ABS said the number of people employed was still more than half a million lower than seen in March when the virus first hit Australia’s shores.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said the increase in unemployment was confronting.

BIS Oxford Economics chief economist Sarah Hunter expects employment will slip back in August as Victoria’s stage four restrictions are felt.

The Reserve Bank expects the unemployment rate to hit 10 percent by the end of this year and still be about seven percent in two years time.

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe will be grilled on this outlook when he faces federal politicians on Friday.

Colin Brinsden in Canberra

Focus News: Unemployed Australians Reach One Million for First Time

White House Seeking to Cut Capital Gains Tax via Congress: Kudlow

The White House would prefer to see a tax on capital gains cut to 15 percent, said adviser Larry Kudlow, who noted that President Donald Trump will not cut them by way of an executive order. “We are looking at middle-class income tax cuts and capital gains tax cuts to spur investment and jobs and liquidity,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.  He added: “In another era, we used to call them tax cuts 2.0. The president has never lost those thoughts,” while adding that Joe Biden, the president’s 2020 rival, would raise taxes. Kudlow said that it’s imperative that legislators in Congress work to come up with a cut to capital gains taxes, adding that it’s “not part” of any Trump executive order or plans on…