The Administration is going to have to raise hundreds of billons of dollars to support its stimulus package, budget, and mortgage bail-out programs. Several things could make the process difficult, and the most troubling…
As 24/7 Wall St. mentioned in an earlier post, the Federal budget deficit was nearly $1 trillion. The Treasury department issued its numbers today. CBO came out with its figures three days ago. 24/7: …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…