protagonist
pro·tag·o·nist
-the principal character in a literary work (such as a
drama or story) -the leading actor or principal character in a television show,
movie, book, etc.
-an active participant in an event
-a leader, proponent, or supporter of a cause
-from Greek protagonistes, a word for the main actor in a
play. It is made up of the words protos, meaning “first,” and agonistes,
meaning “actor” or “competitor.”
The hero is the "first struggler", which is the
literal meaning of the Greek word prōtagōnistēs.
A character who opposes the hero is the antagonist, from
a Greek verb that means literally "to struggle against".
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TIP OF THE WEEK
Is the lender or the borrower the protagonist with
government guaranteed loans?
The borrower needs to be able to demonstrate the ability
to repay both SBA and SSBCI guaranteed loans.
The lender must explain why credit elsewhere is not
available without the SBA or SSBCI guarantee.
The similarities end there.
It would be proficuous to know the distinctions.
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Indices:
PRIME RATE= 8.50%
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SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for August
For 20 year debentures, the debenture rate is only 4.73%
but note rate is 4.80% and the effective yield is 6.115%.
For 25 year debentures, the debenture rate is only 4.73%
but note rate is 4.78% and the effective yield is 6.045%.
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AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE
Employment and inflation are the protagonist and
antagonist for Federal Reserve monetary policy.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday revised
down its estimate of total employment in March 2024 by a whopping 818,000.
Here are the latest jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
July 114,000
June 179,000
May 216,000
April 108,000
March 310,000
Feb 270,000
Jan 256,000
2023
2,700,000
2022 4,810,000
2021
7,270,000
2020 -9,370,000
2019 2,108,000
2018 2,679,000
2017 2,110,000
2016 2,160,000
2015 2,740,000
2014 3,116,000
2013 2,074,000
2012 2,193,000
2011 2,103,000
2010 1,022,000
2009 -5,052,000
2008 -3,617,000
2007 1,115,000
2006 2,071,000
2005 2,484,000
2004 2,019,000
What does all this mean?
I don't know.
No need for proditomania.
The numbers are routinely revised each month, but the BLS
does a broader revision each year when it gets the results of the Quarterly
Census of Employment and Wages.
Even with the revisions, the participation rate is still
high. The is the percentage of the
population that works.
The 25 to 54 years old participation rate increased in
July to 84.0% from 83.7% in June to the highest level since 2001.
One profligate propaedeutic has been that there is a
trade-off between jobs and inflation.
At the most recent auction of 30 year treasury bonds, the
high yield was awarded at 4.314 percent versus 4.405 percent a month ago, 4.403
percent two months ago and 4.635 percent three months ago.
Friday the 30 year treasury bond closed at 4.093%.
Will the Federal Reserve be proactive and start lowering
interest rates? Fed funds future imply
that it will happen.
At its last meeting on monetary policy, the FOMC added a
word with inflation now "somewhat" elevated.
This suggests that sufficient progress has been made in
disinflation to downgrade that risk.
In a pivotal move, the word "highly" has been
removed from the phrase "highly attentive to inflation risks" that
has been present since May 2022.
Attention is now shifted to "both sides of its dual
mandate".
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OFF BASE
Today, Monday, Danny Jansen will become the protagonist
in one of the strangest statistical oddities ever in baseball.
With one more strike he would have been the only player
while at bat to also be the catcher.
Danny Jansen, who was traded from the Blue Jays to the
Red Sox recently, was in the Blue Jays’ starting lineup and played the first
two innings as their catcher and was at the plate when the game was suspended
because of rain.
The makeup game today will force the Blue Jays to
pinch-hit for Jansen, who could be catching for the Red Sox that day.
Jansen was a member of the Blue Jays on June 26 when the
game began. He started at catcher and was batting seventh for Toronto, and he
was actually at bat, facing an 0-1 count, when the game was suspended due to
rain in the top of the second inning.
Jansen is technically still at bat for the Blue Jays --
even though he's on the Red Sox now -- with an 0-1 count, one out.
Obviously, he can't finish his at-bat since he's now on
the opposing team. So Toronto will have to pinch-hit for Jansen when the game
resumes.
But the fun part will be if Boston subs Jansen in at
catcher right away.
That would result in Jansen catching a plate appearance
that he started as the batter for the other team.
Unfortunately for the historical oddities at play,
because there were less than two strikes on Jansen, whoever the Blue Jays use
as the pinch-hitter for Jansen will get statistical credit for the result of
the at-bat no matter what.
If there were two strikes, and the pinch-hitter struck
out, that strikeout would be charged to Jansen, which would mean Danny Jansen
caught a strikeout of Danny Jansen.
If Jansen does play in the game for the Red Sox after it
resumes, he will indeed appear in the final box score for both teams, under the
original date of the game. You'd see a statistical line for Jansen on both
sides for June 26.
If that is making your head spin, a three day weekend
approaches!
