A sign that may make a comeback in 2011 (Photo: Rick Wilking/Reuters) A very successful hedge fund manager is making the case that housing prices may rebound sharply in 2011. He may be right. The guy’s name is Bill Ackman and his hedge fund is Pershing Square Capital, which had $3.5 billion under management in [...]
Lose your job, pick up a snack (Photo: Getty Images) Can lean times lead to wider waistlines? It appears so. If you are finding it harder to keep off the weight recently, it’s not just you or holiday parties that are to blame. The recession and its aftermath are making you fatter. A new research [...]
If anyone on the planet can afford to head down to the neighborhood mall and indulge in a shopping spree, you’d think it would be the Chinese. After all, they live in an economy that routinely posts growth rates of 9% or higher, resulting in surging incomes and boundless job opportunities. While much of the [...]
The New Americans: US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke unveils the US count (Photo: Yuri Gripas/REUTERS) For the first time in history, there are more than 300 million Americans. But two recessions, an increased wariness of immigrants and a souring of opinion of the United States abroad led to the slowest growth in US residents since [...]
The brewery’s long-term success has come from its word-of-mouth reputation for great beer, careful attention to business efficiencies, and the growing popularity of craft beer in the United States
Madoff victims are half way toward getting the money they put into the world’s largest ponzi scheme back. Last week, I wrote a post saying that based on my calculations victims of Bernie Madoff would end up getting much more of their money back than was originally thought. They might even break even. I [...]
As we round the last lap before 2011, it’s a good time to take stock of what the year ahead might hold for investors. There are several cross currents and big regional divergences to consider, and there certainly is no unanimity of opinion on how things might play out. But there are changes in what [...]
French President Sarkozy and other EU leaders talked fiscal crisis this week (Eric Vidal/REUTERS) At this point in the never-ending euro crisis, it should be clear to Europe’s leaders that their piecemeal approach to the debt problems of the Eurozone’s weakest members has been a failure. Rescues for Greece and Ireland have not stopped the [...]
China’s currency problem looks to be growing (Photo: REUTERS) The only thing that surprises me about China’s spike in inflation is that it took so long to show itself. Some economists had been worried for a while that a combination of rapid growth, giant stimulus, a mammoth credit expansion and the effect of high commodity [...]
Not as protected as it looks (Photo: Getty Images) Last week, when the tax deal emerged, some commentators said we would be better off if the proposal contained a smaller income tax break (notably less for the upper class), and a larger cut in the payroll tax. That structure, some said, would produce 500,000 more [...]
