As rescue teams and government officials sort through the rubble caused by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, we’re getting a clearer picture of the damage done by the catastrophe – and it doesn’t look good. Perhaps Japanese Prime Minister summed up the situation best when he said the quake presented the worst crisis for Japan …
Economy & Policy
Japanese Earthquake: The Cost to the Economy
Unfortunately, earthquakes and Tsunamis have a much larger human toll than economic. And that is likely to be true in Japan as well.
Still, the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resultant Tsunami that hit Japan near the city of Sendai on Friday comes at a time when that country’s economy was already vulnerable. The Japanese economy was hard …
Bond King Bill Gross Exits US Debt: Good News?
Bill Gross says sell (Photo: Jason Reed/Reuters)
US debt may no longer be a good investment, at least for now. And that might be the good news.
Famed investor Bill Gross, who runs the PIMCO Total Return Fund, recently sold all of the US Treasury bonds is his fund’s portfolio. It’s a huge move for the manager of the world’s largest …
Gas Price Spike: A Long-term Job-Killer?
Sky high gas prices, and worry, are back (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)
The recent spike in gas prices is getting some economists nervous. Higher gas prices, it seems, could mean fewer jobs.
In the past two weeks, the price of gas has risen on average across the country $0.33 a gallon to $3.50. In many places in the country, the price at …
What the ‘New Global Elite’ are Talking About at Davos 2011
Over the years I’ve been attending Davos not as a Global 500 CEO, government or NGO leader but as a worker. Basically I’m one of hundreds of academics and authors who are invited to hold sessions, participate in panels and …
Is Obama Focused on the Right Strengths of the U.S. Economy?
Rana Foroohar, TIME Assistant Managing Editor in charge of economics and business, weighs in on the economic messages in the State of the Union address:
Factory jobs for life are gone. We should worry about China eating our lunch. Education is the way to a bigger paycheck. Clean energy is good; Big Oil is bad (so are greedy bankers). We
…
Don’t Get Too Cheery Over Consumer Confidence
Americans won’t fully open their wallets until there are more jobs (photo: Fred Prouser/REUTERS)
January’s consumer confidence number just trickled in, and it’s better than anticipated. The headline index rose to 60.3, from 53.3 in December: the market expected it to come in at 54.0. That’s an 8-month high, and the strongest …
Is the Economy Making You Fat?
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 paper published by the National Bureau …
Did the Labor Department Miss 350,000 Jobs?
A worker at Best Buy helps shoppers get carts on Black Friday (photo: Shannon Stapleton/REUTERS)
We might need a jobs recount.
The employment numbers came out on Friday morning for November and they were far lower than people were hoping for. But here’s the problem: The employment picture might not be as disappointing as the number …
Why Record Corporate Profits Aren’t that Great
Tomorrow the government will announce the jobs number for November. Companies are expected to have added nearly 150,000 jobs last month. That’s not a lot compared to the millions people who are out of work. Indeed, the unemployment rate is not expect to fall from its current 9.6%. But if the jobs number is even lower than expected, …
Are Women Less Competitive than Men? Explaining the Gender Gap
(Getty Images)
Why are there fewer female CEOs? One professor says he has the answer. Call it the Competition Gap.
For the past four decades, ever since women began vying with men in the workforce on a large-scale, economists have wondered when gender differences in pay and achievement would shrink. In recent years the question has …
Thanksgiving: Another Reason to Worry about Hyperinflation?
If you ask me, yes I am worried about inflation (Photo: Brian Snyder/REUTERS)
Apparently, if you want to talk turkey about hyperinflation Thanksgiving is a good time to do it.
There has been a lot of debate recently about whether prices are rising or not. The government’s measure of inflation the consumer price index, or CPI, is up …