green shoots

Lawmakers have a choice: let the foreclosure grind on for perhaps years, at the expense of millions of homeowners, or take the crisis head on.

What is it with Paul Krugman, anyway? The Nobel economist with the dour outlook is becoming the most unlikely of pop icons. First, there was, “Hey Paul Krugman,” a ditty praising his virtues, especially compared with those of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, that flew around the blogosophere. Now, via Calculated Risk, comes “The Krugman Blues,” [...]

One potentially upbeat aspect of a recession is that it keeps families together, writes marriage expert Andrew Cherlin today in The New York Times. Couples are reluctant to split up when finances are tight, so households that might otherwise break up remain intact. That was one lesson of the Great Depression, Cherlin says.
We tend [...]

Leading headlines this morning are two economic datapoints that count as positive in the current climate. Thursday is the day for weekly jobless claims, and while initial and continuing claims remain at extremely high levels (the latter hit yet another record), the steady downtick in initial weekly claims over the past months is good news. [...]