Can there be a Thanksgiving in the Middle East?

It’s Thanksgiving in America, and as many families are gathered around the dinner table exchanging news amidst forkfuls of turkey and green beans, and other side dishes, and anticipating a slice, or even two, of pie, but tensions, as well as apprehensions are high in the Middle East as a pause in the Israel and Hamas war, where after the carnage of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7th in Israel, and the subsequent shootings of Palestinians in the Gaza strip, families are anxiously awaiting new of hostage releases, and prisoner exchanges, hoping to share a meal, of sorts, but most importantly the sight of a loved one.

This war has brought horrors on both sides of the divide and in America the war of words for and against Israel, amidst the death tolls of Palestinians living in the Gaza strip have created a series of horrors, both of mind and body, where the unimaginable has taken hold of hearts and minds, forcing many people to exclaim, to shout, to cry, to weep, and to to social media to explain their sheer frustration and anger, from rich to poor, from celebrities to the average citizen, we are all awash in dimensions of misery.

As sides are taken the images, and the news, has forced Israel, to a have a 4 day pause in the fire, brokered by Qatar, and pushed by the United States government, in the face of growing disillusionment, by some, for their support of Israel, as well as the last reported figure of 11,708 Palestiansn killed, but the figure may be far higher, since communication disruptions have hampered data collection. 1,200 Isrealis have died and that gulf between the numbers has created a grieving space that can never be filled.

The images of Egyptian doctors waiting to receive premature infants from Al Shifa hospital, and the pictures of keening women weeping into their hijabs has taken, and torn, much of the world, as are the worried and care worn faces of Israeli’s waiting for news of their family and friends taken hostages.

With a ratio of 3 to 10 hostages, released in the prisoner exchange, can this establish any sense of trust, or even an end solution for the end of hostilities, or lead to a future between the warring parties? These are some of the questions that are being asked, as the world holds its breath.

Women and children are being given priority for the hostages, and teenagered boys, mostly, for the Palestenians, imprisoned for a variety of aggressions, minor, some say, for throwing rocks.

Against this background the Israel Defense has taken the Al Shifa hospital to search for what they believe are the remains of the Hamas headquarters that they have said was why the hospital was attacked, as doctors tried to deliver babies and perform surgeries by the light of their smartphones, since Israel had cut off power, and generators were low, and what little power remained, had to be rationed.

For many, after the fighting has resumed, the question remains, unanswered for the moment, is what will happen next?. Can a two state solution be brokered, or when the fighting continues, is there a void never to be filled?

Can there be a space where politics can create a solution, many are wondering, and the UN HIgh Commissioner for Human RIghts Volker Turk has said, “There has been a breakdown of the most basic requirements for human values,”’ and “the killing of  so many civilians cannot be dismissed as collateral damage,” and that the result, unchecked, “is likely to be extremes and further extremes.”

October Jobs slow, with no interest rate increase

The US Dept of Labor reported, on Friday, that there were 150,000 jobs created in the month of September, a decrease of an expected 190,000 showing that the efforts of the Federal Reserve in increasing interest rates has contributed to less employment by the nation’s employers and also the decrease in inflation from a June 2022 high of 9.1 percent to 3.7 in September is undoubtedly good news for Chair Jerome Powell, as the country regains from the Covid pandemic.

The result was that he and the members of the Federal Open Markets Committee agreed to hold off on another rate increase for fear of harming business and consumers. And, the FOMC can pat themselves on the back for their careful calibration, as we noted before.

3.7 percent is still higher than the preferred rate of 2 percent, but with only a soupcon of new jobs in the coming months, full employment may be reached. But that’s the future, as working families still face higher prices, and a conundrum to that is that American shoppers are still spending, and spending. While no one person, or entity, can find the exact reason, what is given is that shoppers are dipping into their savings to buy, yet even more, and while consumerism is the driving force of the United States economy, can it be done at the expense of savings?

That  question might remain unanswered, at the moment.

The Hill reported that Joseph Brusuelas, chief U.S. economist at audit and tax firm RSM, wrote in a Friday analysis, “The economy needs to add only 75,000 jobs a month, compared with 200,000 a decade ago, to stabilize employment given demographic changes.”

This report and earlier examples show that recession fears are vanishing, despite some chatter about a “soft landing” recession on Wall Street, as well as Main Street.

A note of caution is warranted, as the lowered numbers also reflect those UAW workers that were on strike, totalling 96,000 in combination with other striking workers, but it also shows the strength of the American worker, in what will become a major force in hiring, as well as protections against inflation.

There are also those who were laid off at the time of the report which increased the unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, to 3.9 percent, but can have a deleterious effect on working families, and single parent households; and, as Nick Bunker, economic research chief at Indeed, told Hill reporters, “The rise in unemployment is concentrated among workers who recently lost their jobs and the job finding rate of unemployed workers ticked down.”

Overall, despite these concerns, American workers are better off than they were in 2019, and the median figure for being unemployed is 8.9 weeks, Brusuelas noted in another interview.

Backtracking to wages we see, as he noted, that while there was an easing of 0.2 percent, it is still, at 4.3 percent, it is staying ahead of inflation, making the upcoming holiday season a little rosier for retailers.

Notwithstanding the Biden administration was pleased with the report and attributed the success to Bidenomics, its campaign styled label, and in a statement the White House said, “Today’s report shows that Bidenomics is growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.”

With more than 13 million jobs added since President Biden took office, he is justified in claiming that he has added more than his predecessors. Economists have also noted that this is the 34th straight month of employment gains.