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04 Jul 2010 11:29

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U.S.: Going green: Obama throws a bunch of money at solar jobs

  • $1.85
    billion
    the amount Obama is setting aside for solar energy
  • 5,000
    jobs
    the amount of work that’ll add to the labor force source

02 Jul 2010 10:30

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Tech: One way to stimulate the economy: Broadband infrastructure build-out

  • $800 million in loans and grants for broadband jobs source

02 Jul 2010 10:18

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Politics: NY Times blogger: This economy needs help to get it going

  • The overall picture isn’t so much of a double-dip recession as it is of a badly wounded economy recovering at a slow pace.
  • New York Times “Economix” blogger David Leonhardt • Analyzing what these job numbers mean. Essentially, Leonhardt thinks the economy needs something else to prop it up and encourage growth. There is silver lining, though – fewer people are looking for part-time work at the expense of full-time work, and the recovery may not be so bad. “History suggests that true job growth may also be a bit better the Labor Department is estimating,” Leonhardt writes. “That’s the usual pattern in the early stages of a recovery.” source

02 Jul 2010 10:04

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Biz: The Census: It’s no longer inflating job numbers, kids

  • 125k jobs disappeared in June, the first dip this year after months of increases
  • 225k Census jobs – specifically – went away in June (they inflated the numbers)
  • 9.5% the current unemployment rate, which somehow went down in June source

01 Jul 2010 11:00

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Biz: Previously-owned home sales follow new home sales to the crapper

  • 23% rise in pending home sales between January and April
  • 30% decline in pending home sales IN MAY ALONE source

01 Jul 2010 09:35

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Biz: The federal government coming out ahead on Citibank bailout

  • 7.7B number of shares the government owns due to the Citibank bailout
  • $10.5B revenues from selling a third of those shares (around 2.6 billion)
  • $2B amount in profits the government has made from the sales source

23 Jun 2010 10:31

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Biz: HOLY CRAP IN BOLD LETTERS: Home sales absolutely PLUMMET

  • 33% drop in sales in May, which is unprecedented source
 

18 Jun 2010 11:52

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Biz: Evidence GM and Toyota are in an auto-industry upswing

  • GM Instead of having its traditional two-week factory shutdown this summer, the company plans to keep 9 of its 11 plants open.
  • Toyota The company is planning to actually use a plant it nearly finished but never opened up. 2,000 people will get jobs. source

16 Jun 2010 20:36

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U.S.: Obama can’t even get the Democrats behind a new stimulus bill

  • 45 senators voted for the bill – not even a majority source

11 Jun 2010 10:47

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Biz: Ah crap: After a solid streak of retail increases, sales go down

  • +0.6% the increase in retail sales in April; that’s pretty good
  • -1.2% the decrease in retail sales in May; that’s really bad
  • sevennumber of months of increases before May’s decrease source