The Federal Reserve released its flow-of-funds report yesterday, and the document shows household net worth has fallen $11.4 trillion from its 2007 bubble-era peak, though it has gained $6.3 trillion since the 2009 trough. Most of the decline comes from the cratering value of residential real estate, plus the More…
This morning, the Labor Department released an incrementally improved report on initial jobless claims. The number of Americans filing fell for the third straight week to 444,000, down from 451,000 the week before.
Calculated Risk posts the graph that makes it clear why this is not exactly a More…
Calculated Risk has a smart analysis — with graphs! — on the first-quarter housing and rental vacancy rates released by the Census Bureau this morning. The rate of homeownership fell to 67.1 percent, its lowest level in more than a decade.
The subprime crisis certainly highlighted the need for American consumers to become more financially literate. But who defines financial literacy? And what makes someone an expert? Mike Konczal at Rortybomb asks these and other questions regarding financial literacy education — a subject TWI has also been looking into More…
Right now, that video of 47-year-old unemployed Susan Boyle of Scotland taking “Britain’s Got Talent” by surprise with her soaring voice continues spread throughout blogosophere, even landing on PBS’ otherwise very serious NewsHour last night. But in the housing world, there’s a different video star – Jim More…
Calculated Risk picks up today on an overlooked outrage we’ve been writing about for a while now — the way banks handle their inventories of foreclosed homes. We’ve pointed out that banks often let those houses sit, vacant and vandalized, or sell them at fire sale prices to More…
The stock market continued its cliff diving today, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard and Poor’s 500 Index closing at their lowest levels in more than a decade — cementing worries about the deepening recession.
As Calculated Risk puts it, it’s time to party like it’s More…
Remember how Congress and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan refused to regulate subprime loans, and joined the mortgage industry in defending them as a way to extend the benefits of homeownership to all? Turns out it was all for nothing, really. New Census figures out today show home ownership More…
Bowing to the banking industry, House Democrats yesterday weakened legislation empowering bankruptcy judges to alter the terms of primary mortgages to prevent foreclosures. The changes — which came during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) — would prevent future homeowners from going More…
I hate to bring this up, given all the good feelings today, but as Washington celebrates, Wall Street had a record Inauguration Day slide, led by fears that banks are in terrible shape and getting worse, CNBC reports.
Financial shares alone fell to a 14-year low, Bloomberg added: More…
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