economic meltdown
Bad Economic News and the End of Optimism
More bad economic news is out today already, with a jobs report showing unemployment leaping to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent — much worse than expected. That news follows on the heels of a devastating retail sales report for October, which found a significant drop in consumer spending. With good reason, retailers are worried [...]
The Influence of Foreclosures on the Election
Did foreclosures play a direct role in the election results? At the Orange County Register, real-estate blogger Jon Lansner thinks so. He matched up states with high foreclosures to voting patterns, and came up with this:
States that President-elect Barack Obama won had housing markets in far worse shape than states won by his rival, Sen. [...]
The End of Retail Therapy?
In this deteriorating economy, wealthy people who used to spend their money freely on exotic vacations and $8,000 Birkin bags supposedly are cutting down their conspicuous consumption and trying to be more environmentally sensitive at the same time, The Wall Street Journal says today.
If that’s true, it would mark a big change from the practice [...]
Breaking: Obama Launches Final Attack on McCain
On this last day before the election, Sen. Barack Obama is urging voters to relive some humiliating history. Speaking in Jacksonville, Fla., Obama will remind voters of the infamous declaration that Sen. John McCain made in the very same location about six weeks ago, according to a preview of the attack released by Obama’s [...]
Wall Street Gets Religion
Is the sky falling? Are pigs flying? Apparently Wall Street executives have become sensitive to the fact that while people are losing their jobs and their homes, financial industry executives are getting set to reap big year-end bonuses, courtesy of the American taxpayer.
They’re actually thinking of curbing some of those rewards, The Wall Street Journal [...]
The Socialist Bush Administration?
As the Wall Street bailout program morphs from one helping banks to one benefiting insurers and (perhaps) automakers, the Bush administration is having a hard time explaining what rules are dictating the process — and where it’ll draw lines of eligibility.
It’s an unlikely spot for a conservative White House that once lived and died railing [...]
Banks and Bad Behavior
So far it seems those banks and financial institutions fortunate enough to receive billions of dollars from the government are showing their gratitude by hoarding the money for their own purposes, spending it on parties and, now, using it to cover up for major accounting “irregularities,” as they say.
Makes you proud to be a capitalist, [...]
New Deal Ideas for Stopping Foreclosures
With the mortgage crisis dragging on and no quick fix in sight, lots of new ideas to help people stay in their homes are floating around. Maybe one upside to the lack of action on stopping foreclosures is an opening for some innovation — for ways to break through the complications that seem to be [...]
Time to Fix the Bailout of all Bailouts
Economist and former Labor Sec. Robert Reich, who spoke out early and forcefully in opposition to the $700-billion Treasury Dept., rescue plan, is back again, this time calling to “Amend the Bailout of all Bailouts.”
Instead of quickly passing a stimulus package, Congress should concentrate on putting some conditions on that bailout, Reich said, considering Wall [...]
Home Ownership Is Not a Dirty Word
At Economist’s View, Mark Thoma brings up a subject no one seems to want to talk about anymore - helping people with modest incomes buy homes.
In the housing crisis, poor people — of all the likely suspects — are playing the role of scapegoats. Conservatives support the idea that the Community Reinvestment Act, an [...]
