Total gifts to major charities fell sharply last year, which should not come as a major surprise. The Chronicle of Philanthropy details the trend in its annual Philanthropy 400 survey released today. “Donations to…
The US Treasury Department announced the final numbers for the nation’s budget deficit for the fiscal year which ended on September 30. It was the second largest in US history at $1.294 trillion. Receipts…
The Labor Department has two key reports out showing somewhat differing trends. The Producer Price Index, ow wholesale inflation, met Weekly Jobless Claims. Jobs are headed the wrong way and producer prices rose on…
The Brookings Hamilton Project recently pointed out that some of the communities affected by the 1980 to 1982 recession have still recovered. The same is likely to happen to many communities which have been…
Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., coined the phrase “the new normal” some time ago. Now, he is hoping to add “the lost decade” to the lexicon. That’s what El-Erian…
The National Association of Business Economics cut its forecast for 2010 and 2011 growth. This makes it more likely that the Federal Reserve will as well, which could lead to a new series of…
Poverty is supposed to be primarily an urban problem. Many believe cities are home to the chronically unemployed and minorities and young people, who traditionally find it hard to get jobs in a recession.…
On the heels of disappointing news from Challenger, Gray & Christmas about planned lay-offs in September, ADP issued equally bleak news. Private-sector employment decreased by 39,000 from August to September on a seasonally adjusted…
The downward trend in layoffs is over. Employers announced plans to cut 37,151 jobs during the month, a 7% increase from the 34,768 job,cuts reported in August, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. For…
The Bank of Japan did the unexpected. It cut policy interest rates to a range of .01% and zero. That program looks much like what the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank have done.…
At the Annual Meeting of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, Providence, Rhode Island, Fed chief Ben Bernanke continued to say that the federal deficit is a threat which grows by the day and…
Consumer confidence stumbled in August. Odd, because the stock market was up, and so were retail sales were as well. However, housing and unemployment remained frightening. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had…
Nearly all the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessments of large, developed economies read the same now. The agency calls them “Statements of Mission.” They are released once the IMF staff has taken several months…
The concerns that people have about employment are supposed to get better and not worse as the economy comes out of a recession. That is not true among most Americans, according to research from…