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13 Mar 2010 12:32

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Biz: Bank closings didn’t stop just because of a new year!

  • 140 number of banks that closed in 2009, that’s a depressing record
  • 30 number of banks that have closed already in 2010, which is high
  • 152 number of banks that could close this year if that rate keeps up source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Mar 2010 10:32

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Biz: Lehman Brothers’ poison of choice named Repo 105

  • Among the toxins discovered was something called Repo 105. … Even if Repo 105 wasn’t lethal it was certainly poisonous.
  • Reuters columnist Antony Currie • Regarding the accounting trick that seems to have done in Lehman Brothers, among other things. An autopsy of the company’s corpse suggests that many of the top leaders – including CEO Richard Fuld – were responsible for a culture of ineptitude that allowed the company to fall apart, especially in its last year. Need a face for the financial crisis? Here’s a good one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Mar 2010 10:12

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Biz: Unemployment: New jobless claims down, old ones way up

  • -6,000 decrease in jobless claims this week, which is fairly modest
  • +37,000 increase in continued claims this week, which is high source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2010 10:38

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Biz: Nest eggs for retirement aren’t exactly first priority for workers

  • 43% of workers have less than $10k saved up source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Mar 2010 11:09

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Politics: Is Timothy Geithner getting the credit he deserves?

  • Barring something unexpected, the bailout will end up costing taxpayers less than the savings-and-loan implosion of the early nineteen-nineties. The government could conceivably end up making money.
  • New Yorker writer John Cassidy • Regarding Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s much-maligned financial plan, which appears to be much less of a nightmare than it seemed a year ago. While many things are imperfect – the high unemployment rates and the bank’s seeming lack of desire to loan money to small business – it is looking like the government’s plan will likely put them in cash flow positive while helping to get the weakened economy out of its doldrums. Will Geithner get credit, though? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Mar 2010 10:41

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Biz, U.S.: Unemployment still sucks, but it’s not worsening

  • 9.7% jobless rate, the same as
    it was last month source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Mar 2010 10:58

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Biz: Road to recovery? Jobless claims drop, productivity way up

  • -29,000 the dip in new jobless claims last week, to 469,000 (this number had been affected by bad weather)
  • 6.9% the rise in productivity in the fourth quarter – more than previously forecast source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Mar 2010 10:20

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World: What we know about Greece: Gyros, philosophy, Sparta!, huge debt

  • €4.8
    billion     will be cut from the country’s huge deficit using a mix of taxes and spending cuts (the third this year)
  • €200
    billion     the size of Greece’s deficit, which is 125 percent of their entire annual economic output source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Mar 2010 11:10

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Politics: Warren Buffett: Health care like a “tapeworm” on economy

  • If it was a choice today between Plan A, which is what we’ve got, or Plan B, which is the Senate bill, I would vote for the Senate bill. But I would much rather see a Plan C that really attacks costs, and I think that’s what the American public wants to see.
  • Super-investor and overall smart guy Warren Buffett • Regarding the current state of health care, which he says is damaging the possibility of a clean economic recovery. “It’s like a tapeworm eating at our economic body,” he said. That’s like the coolest quote ever. He also called the 2008 financial crisis an “economic Pearl Harbor,” but said that we will eventually win the war. We economically like the way this guy talks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2010 10:32

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Biz: Consumers not confident about much of anything anymore

  • 46.0 the consumer confidence index, which is at its lowest level since April 2009
  • 63.8 the expectations index, which is also down significantly; who needs hope, anyway?
  • 19.4 the present situation index, which is at its lowest level in 27 years (sob) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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