Data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Commerce Department this morning shows that Americans earned a bit more, spent a bit less and saved more in June — all in line with economists’ expectations. Consumer spending drives about 60 percent of the economy, therefore, economists do More…
This morning, the Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter — about what economists expected. That rate is down from a 3.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter
Nonresidential fixed investment drove growth, increasing at a 17 More…
This morning, the Department of Labor reported that weekly initial unemployment insurance claims declined to 457,000, from 468,000 last week.
In a new paper released today, entitled “How the Great Recession Was Brought to an End,” prominent economists Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi say that the stimulus, stress tests, emergency Federal Reserve maneuvers and Troubled Asset Relief Program saved the economy from collapse.
Late Thursday afternoon, President Obama signed into law a bill granting workers out of a job for more than 26 weeks additional unemployment insurance payments, paid for by the federal government. The benefits had been in place since November 2009, but had lapsed for seven weeks — an unprecedented More…
A new report shows that the income gap between rich and poor in America is at an eight-decade high — the largest differential since the period immediately preceding the Great Depression. And economists fear that the education and job-creation programs that could bridge this gap are lacking in the More…
A striking new study from the Pew Research Center shows that more than half of Americans — 55 percent, to be exact — have suffered a layoff, had their hours reduced or been forced to work part time during the recession.
Last week, thousands of Americans who have exhausted their unemployment insurance — the 99ers, named after the maximum number of weeks of state and federal benefits — sent letters and petitions to Washington as part of a futile campaign to convince the Senate to pass a bolstered version More…
At least Macroeconomic Advisers says so.
To discourage businesses from outsourcing their operator services, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is proposing legislation to tax businesses that set up help lines overseas. The levy, under Schumer’s bill, would be a quarter-cent per call. Reuters reports:
Customers calling 800 numbers are often transferred overseas, and in such
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