Yesterday brought two bad pieces of news. First, the June jobs report brought too many jobs and unemployment increased because more people went looking for work. The second and more important sad news was an Australian legend of economics, CommSec’s Craig James, went public with his admission that he’s now battling Parkinson’s disease.

Mayoclinic.org explains the medical challenge Craig faces this way: “Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder that affects the nervous system and the parts of the body controlled by the nerves. Symptoms start slowly. The first symptom may be a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder also may cause stiffness or slowing of movement.

“In the early stages of Parkinson's disease, your face may show little or no expression. Your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinson's disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time.”

I’m very familiar with Parkinson’s because my wife’s father, Frank Jordan, another champion bloke, later in life had to cope with the disease with the help of his family.

Anyone who has seen that great movie about Michael J. Fox called Still that explains how Parkinson’s disease progressively attacked his normal acting and social life, understands what my old mate faces.

My historical action after a big economic number such as yesterday’s 50,200 new jobs being created, when 20,000 was tipped and unemployment increased by a measly by 0.05% from 4% to 4.05%, would be to read Craig’s take on the number.

And if I needed to test out my ‘outside the square’ view on the number and the implications for interest rates, I’d give him a call. Over the years, both he and AMP’s Shane Oliver were my ‘go-to’ economists and if my calls have been good, I can publicly thank them for sharing their views and knowledge. (Off the record, my calls have been pretty good!)

Yesterday I didn’t know about Craig’s condition, which was revealed in The Daily Mail Australia this morning, after he went public on Linkedin.

Aside from updating Australia on the latest on economics, which he pioneered for CommSec in the early 2000s, Craig kicked off as an economist at the State Bank of New South Wales, and then became chief economist at The Colonial Group before writing for The Australian Financial Review.

He was then headhunted by CommSec which was run by our business partner Paul Rickard, who claims he gave Craig his start on TV. It was great for Craig, great for the fledgling online stockbroking business that got the right exposure on heavily watched news services, and it was great for the audiences who gained important information from him.

And Craig became great at explaining ‘stuff’ for normal people (which is an education service that he and I both enjoyed doing).

A few years back he and I travelled the country for a CBA roadshow for their small business customers. He did the economics presentations, and I threw my two pence worth in, as well as looked at the lessons from great small business legends. Then I’d interview Craig.

I remember two amusing takes from Craig. The first was on Gen Y staff, about which he said: “Training your staff is really important. If you have some Gen Y employees, who’ve been with you for a long time, you know, three or four weeks….” Yep, that always drew a laugh from businessowners.

At the time, the CBA had just launched their “CAN” commercials. With that he shared this aside, as he talked about the outlook for wages and inflation: “I know the bank is now saying “yes we CAN” to customers but when I asked for a pay increase, I got “no we CAN’T!” That too brought a big laugh! These are impressive efforts for a profession not known for funny gags!

Craig isn’t only a champion economist and a competitive sprinter on the track, he’s a good family man and the best of human beings, who I know will take on the challenges of Parkinson’s Disease.

If anyone can slow down the negatives with this disease it will be Craig, and I’ll be pestering for his views on the economy for as long as he’ll take calls and respond to my emails. And we’ll all be better off because of it.

By the way, his CommSec colleague, Ryan Felsman, sent me an email on the job numbers and the best message I took from the analysis was the following: “Today’s labour market data slightly shifted investors' expectations towards another cash rate hike from the RBA in August, with futures implying a 20% probability from 12% before.” Note: 20% is still a small probability.

My view is that the ‘make or break’ statistic for the RBA and those worrying about another rate rise will be the CPI out later this month. If it’s too high, the RBA could easily give us another hike. I hope not for economic and social reasons, but the data isn’t making it easy for the RBA.

I also hope I’ll be able to share my views on the economy with Craig James for as long as possible. Knowing Craig, I bet I’ll get plenty of time.

PS: In 2011, Craig made the final cut for Men’s Health magazine’s Men’s Health Man award, which looked for the best of Aussie males for fitness, work, relationships, etc. So, it’s not just me who says he’s a champion bloke, the publication that Switzer Media & Publishing now owns in Australia agreed with me!