The Lost Decade May Only Last Three Months
Depending on the source, Japan’s mythic “Lost Decade” lasted from 1989 to 2003, or sometime later if the exact bottom of the real estate market in the Asian nation is taken into account. Because…
Economy
All Economy Articles
Newest first · Page 389FOMC Minutes, Mostly Spin Material
The minutes of the FOMC’ March 17 to March 18 meeting are out, and the long and short of the matter is that the FOMC’s decision to add massive liquidity was based upon a…
Cosmetic Surgery As A Path To A New Job
A number of studies show that tall, good-looking people do better in life and in love. It makes some sense, even in the job markets. Who would not rather have an attractive salesman or…
Top CEO Poll: Fire People As Fast As Possible
The Business Roundtable is a small group of CEOs, but an elite one. Its members are chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with more than $5 trillion in annual revenue and nearly 10…
IMF Says Toxic Asset Damage Getting Much Worse
Every time the IMF issues an estimate for the cost of the losses from toxic assets at the world’s financial institutions, the numbers get worse. According to the Times, “;Toxic debts racked up by banks and…
Making The Markets Nervous: Annual Federal Deficit Already $1 Trillion
The Congressional Budget Office issued its estimate for the deficit created in the federal government’s fiscal first half, which ended on March 31. The number was $953 billion. Depending on how the TARP outlays…
The Prospects Of The Stimulus Package And Bank Bailout Shattered, The Government Runs Low On Options
When Bob Schieffer of “Face The Nation” asked Secretary Geithner if the Administration would have to go back to Congress for more stimulus money because of rapidly rising unemployment, the bureaucrat refused to answer…
When Do The Jobless Become The Homeless?
The federal government cannot give financial assistance to each person who losses a job for a years after they are terminated. It would cost too much. So, the current limit is 59 weeks. What…
The Congressional Budget Office Says Taxpayers Are Shafted
The cost of the TARP is going to be more expensive than originally budgeted and the taxpayer will be left holding the bag. What a surprise. The government will underestimate the costs of a…
Evidence That Manufacturing Declines Are Moderating
The Institute for Supply Management has issued some data for March showing that the decline in manufacturing has at least moderated. The report came in at 36.3, which is above estimates of 35.0 and…
March Job Losses Are Huge, National Unemployment Could Hit 8.5%
Based on ADP numbers for private sector lay-offs, the official government unemployment numbers could set an all-time record. ADP says that payrolls dropped by 742,000 in March. The revised figure for February was 709,000.…
Consumers & Purchasing, More Caution
We got another dose of bad-tasting medicine on the economic front. After the dreaded report came from Case-Shiller on January housing data, we saw awful figures from the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index and…
The Unemployment Crossroads
Last month unemployment hit 8.1%. Of course, the figure was not uniform across the country. Seven states posted double-digit figures. But, in Wyoming, less than 4% of the population is out of work. The…
Saving Las Vegas One Airplane Ticket At A Time (WYNN)(LCC)(MGM)
One of the largest casino projects in history almost fell apart last week. CitiCenter, an $8.7 billion casino being built in Las Vegas, came close to losing a critical piece of funding from one…
Pimco Says Fed Is Underfunded
To further add to the confusion about how much money the federal government will need to stimulate the economy out of recession, Pimco, the huge bond house, says that the Fed is underfunded by…