The Treasury has provided loan facilities of up to $100 billion for both Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). Freddie Mac is preparing to ask for $35 billion from its pool. It has…
Data released from the U.K. shows the economy there has not been in as bad shape since Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister showing the recession is biting there harder than expected. GDP fell 1.5…
“Madness is to think of too many things in succession too fast, or of one thing too exclusively”–Voltaire The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 should be required reading for every citizen from…
The EU finally owned up to what everyone already knew. It will face its first recession since it was formed over ten years ago. It was nothing more than a fantasy that it could…
John Tamny, RealClearMarkets Last fall, in an Oct. 16 interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, outgoing U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson addressed the imposition of the Troubled Asset Relief Program on banks, and specifically responded…
Faced with a $42 billion loss at RBS (RBS) and credit markets which appear to become more frozen as each day passes, the UK will move its economic rescue package beyond the banks into…
It is stunning to think that Americans have begun to believe that this recession and the effects that it will have on their lives could go on for years. It is more surprising that,…
Looking at the headlines at WSJ.com, the majority are about large companies that cut workers today. Circuit City is liquidating, which could put 30,000 people out of work. AMD (AMD) is cutting 1,100. Pfize…
The December Consumer Price Index, or CPI measuring consumer-level inflation, is showing that the risks to deflation are real. Low prices are good. Low prices that go lower can generate a whole host of…
A run-of-the-mill economist would define deflation as the loss of money supply and credit in the markets. Simply stated, the value of money erodes as prices drop sharply. The value of labor and goods…
This morning we had several key pieces of economic data in weekly jobless claims and in the ever-important reading of wholesale inflation measured via the producer price index. Interestingly enough, the NY Fed manufacturing…
The French has turned to a trait which has been uncommon in the European country. One of the most well-regarded analysts at Societe Generale says that it is time for the US to gird…
Motorola (MOT) will lay off 4,000 more people this year. In the fourth quarter, it sold only half as many handsets as it did in the same quarter a year ago. The decision makes…
The Beige Book is out and the district by district report on business activity is somewhat dismal. The good news is that the pace of bad news is not really out of line with…
Ben Bernanke today addressed a number of issues still plaguing the economy. He said that no one could predict how long an economic recovery would take. He acknowledged that the Obama stimulus plan might…