Articles from Contributor
The Good News About the Weak Job Market
The good news is the economy is regaining its health. The bad news is it’s happening slowly. The worse news: That slow pace is here to stay.
The Good News About the Weak Job Market
The good news is the economy is regaining its health. The bad news is it’s happening slowly. The worse news: That slow pace is here to stay.
In October, employers added 80,000 workers to their payrolls. That was slightly worse than the 100,000 rise in jobs that economists had been expecting. So another disappointing jobs report, …
Why the U.S. is No Longer the Land of Opportunity
One of the nagging questions I have had about the Occupy Wall Street movement is why now. Income inequality is nothing new. And while it appears that the recession has been worse on the unemployed and the working poor than the rich, recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that for the first time in a while the U.S. income gap …
The Fed Says the Economy Is Getting Better and Worse At the Same Time
The good news is that the Federal Reserve thinks the economy is improving. The bad news is the Fed says GDP and employment won’t improve as much as it earlier thought.
According to a statement released by the Fed today, Ben Bernanke & Co. said that in the past month the economy has gotten stronger. Consumers have opened their wallets …
In A Lehman Do-Over, Fake Bank Still Proves Too Big to Fail
We still don’t know what to do for sure with the Too Big to Fail.
That was the conclusion of a star-studded (well in wonky financial circles anyway) mock, bank-resolution panel in which Larry Summers – a former U.S. Treasury Secretary – played a future Treasury Secretary having to deal with a Lehman Brothers-like collapse. The idea of …
Understanding MF Global: Why the Bank’s Failure Matters
There doesn’t have to be a full-blown financial crisis for there to be dead bodies, so to speak, on Wall Street.
There’s been increasing speculation over the past few weeks about whether the European debt problems would cause financial problems for a U.S. bank. Most of the concerns focused not on the debt of the Europe nations …
Americans Saved Less Money Last Month
In September, consumers spent more but made less than expected. As a result, the national savings rate dropped to 3.6%, which is the lowest level it has been since the beginning of the recession. And that has some people nervous.
Good News: Americans Saved Less Money Last Month
In September, consumers spent more but made less than expected. As a result, the national savings rate dropped to 3.6%, which is the lowest level it’s been since the beginning of the recession. And that has some nervous. The popular economics blog Calculated Risk blog had this to say:
Spending is growing faster than incomes – and the
…
GDP Growth Doubles; Worry Still in Strong Supply
The recovery is back! Or maybe not. On Thursday morning, the U.S. Commerce Department said the nation’s gross domestic product rose 2.5% in the third quarter, nearly double the 1.3% rate it had risen in the quarter before. And …
GDP Growth Doubles, Worry Still in Strong Supply
The recovery is back! Or maybe not.
On Thursday morning, the U.S. Commerce Department said the nation’s gross domestic product rose 2.5% in the third quarter, nearly double the 1.3% rate it had risen in the quarter before. And the growth was far better than many economists thought it would be just a few months ago. In the doldrums of …
Why Paul Volcker Soured on His Own Rule
The Volcker Rule, which was passed as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and is supposed to ban risky trading by large banks, doesn’t have a lot of fans. Bankers have fought it. Republicans, like much of the Dodd-Frank bill, want to repeal it. And even some Democrats don’t think it will be all that effective. But among the …