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05 Aug 2010 10:33

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Biz: Mortgage rates are lower than they’ve ever been before

  • 4.49% blame the economy for this, guys source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Aug 2010 10:55

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Biz: Fed Reserve: Ben Bernanke says what everyone knows already

“We have a considerable way to go to achieve full recovery in our economy.” Really? What gave you that idea? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Jul 2010 12:25

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Biz, U.S.: GDP crawl: The U.S. economy is growing, but at a very slow rate

  • 2.4% the increase in the GDP in the second quarter, slower than anticipated
  • 3.7% the increase in the GDP after the first quarter, higher than first reported source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jul 2010 11:03

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Biz: Unemployment: Jobless claims numbers improving very, very slowly

  • 11,000 fewer new jobless claims last week than the week before
  • 468,000 the number of new jobless claims last week source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 13:48

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Biz: European banks put to the test, couldn’t handle the stress

  • seven banks number of EU financial institutions that failed a stress test
  • $4.5 billion the size of the shortfall the banks collectively faced source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jul 2010 11:17

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U.S.: The good and the bad of the latest unemployment extension

  • plus Unemployment checks will be retroactive to June 2, when the benefits first ran out. Yay lump sums!
  • minus The month and a half off will still count against those hitting their 99-week employment limit.
  • plusTemp work will now be allowed without a future reduction in benefits. Good for the temps!
  • minusUnemployment benefit checks will be $25 lower than before –including the retroactive ones. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

15 Jul 2010 11:10

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Biz: Foreclosure filing numbers a major fail, but have a silver lining

  • 1.28% of homes were subject to foreclosure findings in the first half of 2010
  • 8% increase in foreclosure filings in the first half of 2010 from a year ago
  • 5% decrease in foreclosure filings from the last half of 2009 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Jul 2010 20:53

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Politics: Obama’s economic stimulus PR tour not going to be much fun

  • I wish he’d save his money and not come to Western Michigan. They were just swiping a Chinese charge card for it anyway, and my kid’s got to pick up the tab.
  • Holland, Mich. business co-owner Becky DeWind • Throwing up some major criticism of Obama’s stimulus plan, which helped her business, but was fleeting. DeWind’s firm got a $95,000 contract due to the stimulus to clean radioactive waste, but it apparently was the only U.S. contract they got last year. Obama’s polling low at the moment, and although he’s headed to that region tomorrow, he’s unlikely to find many friends. *pat pat* There there, Obama. Just remember that you’re close to Chicago, where your people are. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

13 Jul 2010 11:54

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Biz: Credit scores: FICO says some doing worse, others doing better

  • 25.5% of all consumers have credit scores below 600 – far higher than usual (blame unemployment)
  • 17.9% of all consumers have credit cards above 800 – also higher than usual (impressive) source
  • » Why this matters: Low scores tend to stick around a long time, as much as seven to ten years, making it hard to recover from bad decisions or worse luck. But it appears that those who stayed afloat during the recession learned an important lesson – paying down debt and spending less is better than having a low credit score.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2010 20:27

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Biz: Optimism is back! Stocks had a pretty killer day today

  • 2.9% the increase in the Dow Jones Industrial today
  • 3.1% the leap in the super-exciting S&P 500 today
  • 3.1% the leap in the super-techie Nasdaq today source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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