THE DON JONES INDEX… |
GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED |
3/12/14…
15,076.06 |
|
3/5/14… 15,121.73 |
|
6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
|
(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 3/12… 16,316.64; 3/5… 16,359.57; 11/19/12… 12,592.22)
LESSON for MARCH 12, 2014
Well, the defeatist
lobby’s on its high horse now, twittering that… now that Russia has taken the
Crimea… we can all go out to lunch and eat some organic tofu salad because the
crisis is over and Mr. Putin would never… never!...
think of doing anything that would violate the mental sanctuary of the humane
community.
On February 24th,
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
formally unveiled the department’s $496 billion budget for the 2015 fiscal
year. In shrinking the United States
Army to its smallest size since 1940, the New York Times reported that Pentagon
officials were willing to assume more risk the next time troops are called to
war.
But assuming more risk,
they acknowledged, meant that more of those troops would probably die.
“You have fewer troops,
fewer ships, fewer planes,” Hagel admitted.
“Readiness is not the same standard. Of course there’s going to be
risk.”
Two days later, the Times
editors seconded Hagel’s decision. “The
truth is that the United States cannot afford the larger force indefinitely,
and it doesn’t need it. The country is tired of large-scale foreign occupations
and, in any case, Pentagon planners do not expect they will be necessary in the
foreseeable future. Even with a smaller Army, America’s defenses will remain
the world’s most formidable, especially given Mr. Hagel’s proposed increase in
investment in special operations, cyberwarfare and
rebalancing the American presence in Asia.”
Three days later, after a
popular revolt ousted Ukraine’s unpopular President Yanukovych, Russian troops
swarmed into the Crimea… Ukraine’s southernmost province and
home to an ethnic Russian majority.
Europeans, including most
NATO members, have been quick to distance themselves from the conflict, even as
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent strong signals that Crimea was only the
opening shot of Moscow’s aim to reassemble the Soviet Union, then absorb former
satellite states into a greater Soviet Empire, finally to conquer the world
itself.
Ukaraine’s acting Prime Minister, Arseniy
P. Yatsenyuk, nervously said he was “convinced”
Russia would not intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine, “since this would be
the beginning of war and the end of all relations” with Russia.
"My feeling is that if this remains just Crimea, the
Ukrainians will let it go for now," agreed Dmitry Gorenburg,
Russia analyst at the US government-funded Center for Naval Analyses, part of
the larger not-for-profit CNA Corporation.
"But if Russia looks like it's going to take the
rest of eastern Ukraine, they will fight even if it means they know they will
lose."
Diplomats have been doing
what they do best… decrying and demurring. Foreign Secretary William Hague
called Russian action a 'potentially grave threat' to Ukraine's sovereignty,
independence and territorial integrity.
“I’m concerned about developments in Crimea,” twittered Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general of NATO. “I urge Russia
not to take any action that can escalate tension or create misunderstanding.”
And…
predictably… U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to 'urgently engage in direct
dialogue with the authorities' in Kiev.
So what of the Euros?
With Germany too worried
over its gas to move beyond paying fifteen billion dollars in Russogelt to Kiev as conscience money (and tugging the
beard of Uncle Cheapskate, who’s tossed only a bil
into the pot to stave off Ukrainian bankruptcy), the EU has been
floundering. 'Everything must be done to
avoid outside intervention and the risk of a highly dangerous escalation,'
Monsieur Hollande's office said in a statement to
neighboring foreign ministers. How
French!
The Swiss, playing to their
strength, have announced they’ve launched a criminal investigation
against Yanukovych and his son Aleksander
over 'aggravated money laundering.'
Given the deposed dictator’s predilection for $30 million chandeliers,
there’s probably a lot of swag in those hidden bank accounts for some astute
banker to wrap his claws around.
Others whose escape from
the Soviet Union is more recent, hence more memorable, are taking a dimmer view
of the occupation. While Hungarians, who… wrote Paul Craig
Roberts in The Economist… expected “streets of gold” upon joining the West
found themselves indebted to the IMF, instead, and are worried about a tidal
wave of refugees should Russian troops occupy Kharkiv,
then cross the Don, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the Ukrainian
conflict could accelerate Warsaw's efforts to modernize the army and gain energy
independence.
Zygimantas Pavilionis,
Lithuania's ambassador to the United States, told NPR that “what is happening
with this invasion, some people say the end of the history. If you have a powerful state who is rejecting the post-World War II order and is marching
in Europe with its armies, defending the ethnic rights, well, I heard it from
Hitler in '39. You know, my country was sacrificed between Stalin and Hitler
then. So I'm looking to American friends. I really admire the leadership of
America in this situation but this is about also American responsibility.”
The Turks, meanwhile, are waiting and watching…
particularly for any signs of persecution of Turkish-speaking Tatars who, at
about 13%, comprise the peninsula’s third-largest ethnic population.
“Turkey's
dependence on Russia for around half of its natural gas imports and historic
Turkish fears of the Russians will temper Ankara's reaction to Moscow's
takeover of Crimea,” wrote Soner Cagaptay
and James Jeffery of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “In case of
NATO action in the Black Sea, for instance, Turkey would balance its NATO
affiliation with its treaty obligations [with Russia],” referring to a1936
treaty known as the Montreux Convention, which limits
the size and number of warships not based in Black Sea ports that can
enter the body of water, and determines how long they can remain there.
Do American
responsibilities and treaty obligations give President Obama has
no choice but to drag the United States into World War III?
Technically, some observers
admit, yes.
Back in 1994, wrote the
Daily Mail, UK, Bill Clinton, John
Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma (then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine), agreed
to the The Budapest Memorandum as part of the
denuclearization of former Soviet republics after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union.
One assumes that even Mr.
Putin would have entertained second thoughts about invading a nuclear-armed
neighbor.
Sir Tony Brenton, who
served as British Ambassador from 2004 to 2008, said that war could be an
option “if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum (which promised to protect
Ukraine's borders, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons) is
legally binding.”
In a BBC radio
interview, Mr. Brenton said: “If indeed this is a Russian invasion of Crimea
and if we do conclude the [Budapest] Memorandum is legally binding then it's
very difficult to avoid the conclusion that we're going to go to war with
Russia.”
Anti-war factions
allege the Budapest Memorandum on
Security Assurances, signed on February 5, 1994, is not a formal treaty, but
rather, a diplomatic document. “It is
binding in international law, but that doesn't mean it has any means of
enforcement,” Barry Kellman (a professor of law and
director of the International Weapons Control Center at DePaul University's
College of Law) told Radio Free Europe.
Most pundits doubt that NATO and Russia would go to
thermonuclear war based on legalities… some scoffing that treaties weren’t
worth the paper that they were written on.
“Ask the Native Americans and the Poles,” was a typical response.
The Russians, meanwhile,
are letting their fingers on the triggers do the talking.
Underscoring the extent to
which the crisis has become part of Russia’s broader grievances against the
West, Reuters further reported that Russian warhawks
are focused on Mr. Obama and the United States as much as on the fate of
Russians in Ukraine, hoping to goad him into more unsupported rhetoric and,
again, playing the Nazi card (as detailed in last week’s Index) with the West comparing
events in Crimea with Nazi Germany's 1938 annexation of Czechoslovakia's
German-speaking Sudetenland, followed months later by the rest of the country
and the next year by Poland, sparking the Second World War. Moscow’s hardliners assert that Western
Ukrainians were Fascists during their Great Patriotic War and remain Fascists
today.
“All this is being done
under the guise of democracy, as the West says,” Nikolai I. Ryzhkov,
one member of Parliament, said during the debate.
“They tore apart Yugoslavia, routed Egypt, Libya, Iraq and so on, and all this
under the false guise of peaceful demonstrations.” He added, “So we must be
ready in case they will unleash the dogs on us.”
Yuri L. Vorobyov,
the body’s deputy chairman, said Mr. Obama’s speeches have been a cause for
Russia to act. “I believe that these words of the U.S. president are a direct
threat,” he said. “He has crossed the red line and insulted the Russian people.”
Inevitably, the Fascist question has drawn anti-Semites…
left and right… into the fray. Are the
troubles in Crimea simply another manifestation of the immortal worldwide
Zionist plot? Of course!... say the usual suspects from the Peanut Gallrey.
“The sufferings of gentiles,” boasts a blogger, Avi, “will not cause the members of the fraternity who
controls the US today to lose any sleep. Actually, the one desired potential
development as far as Israel and its supporters is concerned is the possibility
that several hundred of thousands Russian and Ukrainian Jews will flee to
Israel because of the turmoil.”
“WWIII will be
fought because of Israeli and Zionist manipulations,” predicts “Dunthorpe” on thehill.com, “and while the Zionists may very
likely sacrifice the Jews once again trust that nothing that happens will come
as surprise to the Zionists. Right now the EU wants to get their hands o the
Ukraine so that he bankers can steal their assets, undermine their Sovereignty
while the IMF and world bank bury them in debt. Putin
knows exactly what’s going on and has acted accordingly and I believe that he
will do whatever it takes to keep the parasites out of the Ukraine.”
To which “bonaventure
candes” replies that, on the other hand, the Crimean crisis might be an anti-Zionist plot, or a smokescreen behind which powers other than Washington, Moscow or the EU are making a bid for world conquest and glory, predicting: “(1) The destruction of Israel (if there is a war, Iran will use the opportunity to attack Israel); (2) The rise of Islam (if there is a war, the Islamists are going to fill-in the void left by fallen decrepit regimes); or, alternately, (3) The fall of America (if there is a war, China will suddenly demand America to repay its debt, and we have an overnight economic collapse).Others have noted
the Chinese and Iranian warships creeping ever closer to America’s coastline.
LTJG Brett Davis, a
U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer, predicts that “…the Chinese People’s
Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) will deploy ballistic missile submarines on
deterrence patrols in the Pacific Ocean later this year, placing them within
striking distance of Alaska, Hawaii, and the western United States,” while Hillster Phil Blank even concluded that the whole scenario is a
scenario cooked up by the geniuses in Pyongyang… "Ukraine and Russia is a
cover and a distraction while N. Korea recently test
launched 3 missiles!"
“If Ukraine
develops an administration that is in fact anti-Russian then this can very
easily go from a cold war to something a little bit more hot – but it’s a war
between nuclear powers,” Bill Jones, with Executive Intelligence Review newsmagazine
from Washington, said in an interview with Press TV on Sunday.
The analyst argued that Russian citizens and the
Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine’s semi-autonomous Crimea region feel
threatened by the new administration in Kiev, giving Russia “a responsibility
to come to their rescue.”
“Given the fact that much of… [Ukraine’s] opposition consists of openly
fascist parties… it does seem that the Russians have justification in measures
that are being taken,” the analyst Bill
Jones, with Executive Intelligence Review added.
There, too, is the belief among many observers that
Americans… Barack Obama in particular… are not manly
men comparable to the Russian troops, or to their leader. Xavier Lerma of the now-anti-Communist Pravda
calls Barry a drug addict, a weak-
kneed, lying, war mongering punk and (worst of all!) a “community
organizer”. (Nor does his
Republican opposition, nor the American media escape Pravda’s
provocations.)
“The western media prefers to shriek like spoiled brats
against Putin. "Evil dictator!" they shout, while they
themselves have rejected the Holy Spirit and proudly wear the seal of the
Antichrist. They laugh, but God is not mocked. Christ is Victorious in Russia
where homosexuality is still a sin; blasphemy a crime; where crosses and holy
images are in public view.
Stateside,
another of Time’s more cynical respondents to Hagel’s proposal posts “It matters little
what cuts happen...we could see an Army made up of 10 guys, with
maybe a Girl or Gay Guy, with BB Guns as
our entire Military and none of the savings will ever be seen in your Tax
Bill...all savings will be spent somewhere else by whoever you Elect.”
Seems things always devolve
downwards into God (and those pesky Jews), gays and guns.
The crisis has also brought
to the fore that oddball character as first surfaced immediately after the Big
O replaced the Not-So-Big W… the right-wing peacenik, a paleo-Isolationist
creature not only disgusted with America’s first Black President, but with most
of his opposition, too.
Some conservatives, alleges
Justin Raimondo of Freedom Outpost, “…seem to have
crossed the line and followed behind Obama rather than lead from in front of
him, men like the Speaker of the House John Boehner, who at times cries like a
baby. What have we as a people done to allow a man who cries like a baby be a leader? However, we cannot just stop here; let us call
into play the Vietnam Veteran Senator John McCain, who seems willing to jump
the fence like a lost sheep. With leaders like these, we have become our own
enemy!”
Reaching back into history,
a spokesman for the once-notorious Lyndon LaRouche
campaigns asks: “Will the American people and the U.S. Congress act now to
remove Obama from office before "the costs" he warned of tonight blow
up into the thermonuclear confrontation that Lyndon LaRouche
has warned about?”
“I could see this one from
Alaska,” seconds Alaska’s princess of hindsight, Sarah Palin.
“Russia is just being
opportunistic,” suggests Black Sid of Birmingham, UK. “They're using the crisis to swoop in and
annex Crimea before Ukraine joins the EU. Do you really think they're gonna give up Crimea to the EU when they have their Black
Fleet docked there? Big gamble though, Ukraine is effectively a protectorate of
the US/UK (a previous agreement for disposing of its nuclear missiles). Could
be a win for Russia or World War 3 - step right up, step right up, place your
bets!!!”
“Let's say goodbye to
Ukraine as an independent country,” concludes a typical netbeef. “We won't go to war with Russia; we would be
insane to.”
But peace, like a budget
deal, requires two sides to concur, whereas wars can (and usually are) started
by only one. In the event that something
“insane” breaks out, how do the major players currently stack up… and how might
things differ if Sec. Hagel gets his military cutbacks?
We’ll take a closer look at
that in next week’s Lesson.
Meanwhile, Don Jones had
one of his worst weeks in a long time – even worse than last week! Just about every indicator was down, except
for government revenues (taxes) and the weather (bad, but not terrible!). Funny thing, though, we all seemed happier
this week – maybe because we were all still alive, despite the
politicians. As for the increase in
unemployment, the experts said it was a good thing because it meant more people
had resumed looking for work (the percentage of “official” unemployed much
greater than that of everybody, counted or not). So it wasn’t that bad of a week… again, if
you believe the experts…
________
THE DON JONES INDEX
CHART of CATEGORIES w/ VALUE ADDED to
EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000.00
(REFLECTING…
approximately… DOW JONES INDEX
of June 27, 2013)
See a further explanation of
categories here…
Simply
recording gains or losses is deceptive, because some of the indices here represent
GOOD things (like incomes and life
expectancy) while others represent BAD things (unemployment, terror). So, increases in good things and decreases in
bad things are considered GOOD (and are depicted in GREEN) – decreases in good things and increases in the bad are considered BAD
(and are depicted in RED).
The
sum of good things, less the sum of bad things, equals the gain (or loss) to
Don Jones.
DON JONES’ PERSONAL ECONOMIC
INDEX (45% of total Index points) |
|||||||||||
INCOME |
(24%) |
BASE 6/27/13 |
RECKONINGS
LAST CHANGE NEXT |
DON 3/5 |
DON 3/12 |
OUR SOURCE(S) |
|||||
Wages (per cap.) |
10% |
1500 points |
1/1/14 |
+0.1% |
3/5/14 |
1513.96 |
1513.96 |
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 10.31 nd |
|||
Equality |
5 |
750 |
9/10/13 |
n/d |
? |
711.55 |
711.55 |
||||
Unemployment |
9 |
450 |
2//14 |
+1.5% |
Mar. 2014 |
531.39 |
523.46 |
||||
Official |
450 |
2/26/14 |
+5.2% |
3/19/14 |
532.03 |
504.62 |
|||||
Unofficial |
450 |
2/26/14 |
+1.5% |
3/19/14 |
541.87 |
534.60 |
|||||
WEALTH |
6% |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Dow Jones |
2 |
300 |
2/26/14 |
+0.26% |
3/19/14 |
305.3 |
304.5 |
Dow Jones index 16316.64 |
|||
9Home Valuations
|
2 |
300 |
2/26/14 |
sales
-5.1 price -4.6 |
3/20/14 |
169.77 181.12 |
169.77 181.12 |
http://www.realtor.org/topics/existing-home-sales -5.1% nd http://www.realtor.org/research-and-statistics
188.9 nd |
|||
Debt (Personal) |
2 |
300 |
2/19/14 |
+.07% |
3/19/14 |
287.53 |
287.33 |
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/data
indicators/household index.html
and http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 51633 |
|||
OUTGO |
15% |
(See a below) |
|
|
|
|
|||||
Inflation |
9 |
1350 |
2/26/14 |
+0.1% |
Feb. 2014 |
1335.61 |
1335.61 |
||||
Food |
2% |
300 |
2/26/14 |
+0.1% |
Feb. 2014 |
296.85 |
296.85 |
||||
Gas |
2% |
300 |
2/26/14 |
-0.1% |
Feb. 2014 |
265.74 |
265.74 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -1.0 nd |
|||
Taxes |
2% |
300 |
variable |
n/d |
? |
300 |
300 |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
UNITED STATES ECONOMIC INDEX (15%) |
|||||||||||
ANNUAL |
5% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Income (per cap.) |
1% |
150 |
4/23/12 |
n/d |
Yearly |
151.08 |
151.08 |
||||
Expends. (cnsmr.) |
1% |
150 |
12/24/13 |
n/d |
Feb. 2014 |
149.70 |
149.70 |
||||
U.S. Debt |
3% |
450 |
3/5/14 |
+0.43% |
3/19/14 |
431.22 |
429.35 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 17409 17485 |
|||
CUMULATIVE |
5% |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Revenues |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
+0.17% |
3/19/14 |
161.18 |
161.46 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 2866 2871 |
|||
Expenditures |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
+0.06% |
3/19/14 |
150.86 |
150.77 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 3506 3508 |
|||
Total Debt
|
3% |
450 |
3/5/14 |
+0.64% |
3/19/14 |
435.44 |
432.66 |
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 60936 61328 |
|||
WORLD TRADE |
5% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Exports |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
+0.63% |
Apr. 2014 |
154.56 |
155.53 |
http://www.census.gov/foreign-
trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html 1913 192.5 J |
|||
Imports |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
+0.69% |
Apr. 2014 |
147.41 |
146.39 |
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html 2300 2316 J |
|||
Trade Deficit |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
+0.26% |
Apr. 2014 |
153.52 |
153.13 |
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html 387* 390 391* |
|||
Foreign Debt |
2% |
300 |
3/5/14 |
-0.01% |
3/19/14 |
310.30
|
310.28
|
http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5957.5 5957.1 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
EDUCATION INDEX (10%) |
|||||||||||
World Standard |
4% |
600 |
2010 |
n/d |
Yearly |
599 |
599 |
||||
Test Scores |
2% |
300 |
2010 |
n/d |
Yearly
+ |
300 |
300 |
|
|||
Dropout Rate |
2% |
300 |
2010 |
n/d |
Yearly
+ |
300 |
300 |
|
|||
Costs |
2% |
300 |
8/15/12 |
n/d |
? |
286.36 |
286.36 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
HEALTH INDEX (10%) |
|||||||||||
Life Expectancy |
4% |
600 |
2012 |
n/d |
unknown |
600 |
600 |
n/d |
|||
Medical Costs |
2% |
300 |
2/26/14 |
n/d |
3/14 |
297.30 |
297.30 |
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -.8 nd +0.2 |
|||
Environment |
3% |
450 |
3/5/14 |
+0.1% |
3/19/14 |
442.24 |
442.68 |
Well hey!
Last week, pollution in China was reportedly so bad that they were
considering doing something. Now, it
seems they will… at least in talking about it… |
|||
Natural Disasters |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
+0.2% |
3/19/14 |
136.06 |
136.33 |
6.8 quake in California? No big deal! Drought ending rain and only a little
Eastern snow? Big deal! |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
SECURITY INDEX (5%)1204 |
|||||||||||
Crime Rates |
3% |
450 |
2013 |
n/d |
unknown |
447.80 |
447.80 |
n/d |
|||
Prison Population |
1% |
150 |
2013 |
n/d |
unknown |
155.15 |
155.15 |
n/d |
|||
Terrorism |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
-0.2% |
3/19/14 |
146.68 |
146.97 |
Funny how
jingoists here decry Al Qaeda, then seem glum that Ukrainians haven’t blown
up gas lines. Now, if someone would
figure out what happened to the Malaysian plane… |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
LIBERTY INDEX (5%) |
|||||||||||
Freedom |
3% |
450 |
3/5/14 |
n/c |
As
occurs |
449.30 |
449.30 |
No further |
|||
Corruption |
1% |
150 |
11/26/13 |
n/d |
As
occurs |
170.28 |
170.28 |
n/c |
|||
World Peace |
1% |
150 |
3/5/14 |
n/c |
3/19/14 |
141.94 |
141.94 |
Plenty of jaw jaw, not much in the way of war war. And that’s |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
TRANSIENT INDEX (10%) |
|||||||||||
All |
10% |
1000 |
3/5/14 |
+0.2% |
3/19/14 |
978.00 |
979.96 |
Instead of the end of the
world, Don Jones had the mystery in Malaysia to distract and entertain him. But what if the plane was raptured? |
|||
SUMMARY:
The Don Jones Index for
the week of March 5th through March 11th was DOWN 45.67
points.
The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the
Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential
candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan,
Administrator/Editor. The CNC denies,
emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as its officers
(including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America Firster Austin Tillerman and
cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and
Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-off” are fictitious or mere pawns in the
e-serial “Black Helicopters” -
and promise swift, effective legal action against all parties promulgating this
and other such slanders.
Comments, complaints,
donations (especially SUPERPAC donations):
feedme@generisis.com
* Trade figures for December
were adjusted.
GOODS BY
CATEGORY (CENSUS BASIS)
The December to
January increase in exports of goods reflected increases in industrial
supplies and materials ($1.2 billion), capital goods ($0.4 billion),
and consumer goods ($0.2 billion). Decreases occurred in foods,
feeds, and beverages ($0.8 billion); other goods ($0.3 billion); and
automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.2 billion).
Top Increases
for Exports of Industrial Supplies and Materials
(Billions of Dollars)
The December to
January increase in imports of goods reflected increases in industrial
supplies and materials ($3.7 billion); capital goods ($0.3 billion);
and foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.2 billion). Decreases occurred in automotive
vehicles, parts, and engines ($1.4 billion); consumer goods ($1.0
billion); and other goods ($0.1 billion).
Top Increases
for Imports of Industrial Supplies and Materials
(Billions of Dollars)
SERVICES BY
CATEGORY
Exports of
services increased $0.2 billion from December to January. Increases in other
private services ($0.3 billion), which includes items such as business,
professional, and technical services, insurance services, and financial
services, and in royalties and license fees ($0.1 billion) were partly
offset by decreases in passenger fares ($0.1 billion), in travel
($0.1 billion), and in other transportation ($0.1 billion), which
includes freight and port services. Changes in the other categories of services
exports were relatively small.
Imports of
services decreased $0.4 billion from December to January. The decrease was more
than accounted for by decreases in travel ($0.2 billion) and in
passenger fares ($0.2 billion). Partly offsetting these decreases was an increase
in other private services ($0.1 billion). Changes in the other
categories of services imports were relatively small.