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28 Feb 2011 10:11

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Biz, U.S.: Bailouts: Remember TARP? It’s almost entirely recouped, kids.

  • $700B the amount the U.S. spent on the Troubled Asset Relief Program back in 2008
  • $341B the amount it looked like taxpayers were going to lose on the bailout deal back in mid-2009
  • $25B the amount it looks like we’ll lose on TARP; this is because we gave the money to banks source
  • » Not all is rosy in Bailoutville: One of the biggest issues we still face are the dual sinkholes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have reportedly cost taxpayers $150 billion and we like to think of as dual sinkholes. And some legislators feel that the effect has set us up for having to bail out unsuccessful companies in the future.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2011 13:02

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World: A bad time (or rather, several generations) to be North Korean

  • YES Kim Jong-Il parties while his people toil in starvation source
  • » Maybe not the biggest surprise. But still, guy’s an jerk, huh? An especially harsh winter season (most North Korean winters being merely normally harsh) has killed somewhere from 50% to 80% of the wheat and barley crop for the spring season, and high food prices have hamstrung the regime as far as import goes. While this might sound like a humanitarian crisis for most governments, Kim Jong-Il’s regime has always been pretty cozy with the idea of starvation and/or malnutrition – a 2009 Washington Post article mentions a U.S. intelligence study that found brain damage by malnutrition derails nearly 1/4th of prospective North Korean soldiers, to say nothing of the estimated 200,000 North Koreans who are wasting away in concentration camps. But, to be fair, you couldn’t ask the Dear Leader to stop spending on things like this.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2011 10:18

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Politics: Cuts like a knife: Scott Walker says Dems are on “vacation”

  • Instead of stimulating the hospitality sector of Illinois’ economy, Senate Democrats should come back to the Madison, debate the bill, cast their vote, and help get Wisconsin’s economy back on track.
  • A statement from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker • Criticizing State Senators for taking a “vacation” instead of voting for the bill that would totally screw over their most important constituents. Walker is in no mood to compromise at the moment – even as unions have offered to take the cuts in efforts to retain their collective bargaining rights – which means that Democrats really have no incentive to return. Especially considering the continental breakfasts they’re probably eating right now! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2011 22:32

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Politics: Is Scott Walker’s budget crusade a MacGuffin to hurt unions?

  • Is this whole Wisconsin budget mess ginned-up? That’s one of the threads flowing around the left end of the media spectrum, which suggests that Wisconsin’s budgetary problems have nothing to do with unions – and everything to do with stuff Scott Walker pushed through. They’ve been pointing to this report from the state’s fiscal bureau with this particular sentence: “More than half of the lower estimate ($117.2 million) is due to the impact of Special Session Senate Bill 2 (health savings accounts), Assembly Bill 3 (tax deductions/credits for relocated businesses), and Assembly Bill 7 (tax exclusion for new employees).” To make it clear, these are all things that Walker pushed through. These have nothing to do with unions. They’re intended as stimulus through tax cuts and incentives, however, not special interest-focused spending as a few have suggested. The overall result still leads one to question Walker’s motives, however – because, based on this evidence, that the union collective bargaining cuts could be at the benefit of his own initiatives, not strictly “balancing the budget.” (thanks mgolladwine) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 11:05

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Biz: Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke not happy about slow hiring pace

  • The job market has improved only slowly. … This gain was barely sufficient to accommodate the inflow of recent graduates and other new entrants into the labor force and, therefore, not enough to significantly erode the wide margin of slack that remains in our labor market.
  • Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke • Explaining, in front of the House Budget Committee, the issues he and others are having with the slow pace of the economic recovery. While things are recovering, job growth is way too slow for his comfort. In other news, Bernanke says that inflation is likely to stay low for the foreseeable future, and that the government needs to get the budget situation dealt with. “Creditors would never be willing to lend to a government with debt, relative to national income, that is rising without limit,” he says, suggesting that we could face an actual fiscal crisis if we don’t take heed. Great. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 20:20

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Politics: Obama tries mending profitable fences with Chamber of Commerce

  • If there is a reason you don’t believe that this is the time to get off the sidelines — to hire and invest — I want to know about it. I want to fix it.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce today about the business role in building an economic recovery. Obama’s meeting with the organization was an attempt to mend fences. “I’m here in the interest of being more neighborly,” he said. “I strolled over from across the street, and, look, maybe if we had brought over a fruitcake when I first moved in, we would have gotten off to a better start. But I’m going to make up for it.” The speech, which balanced profit-making motives with Obama’s desire to see business actually hire people, didn’t go over very well with some. Just listen to this jerk: “I think it’s a little outside the bounds to suggest that if we hire people we don’t need,” said Buffalo Supply executive Harold Jackson, “there will be more demand.” We think Harold Jackson is full of crap. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Feb 2011 14:19

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Biz, U.S.: Unemployment rate: How did it fall with such low job creation?

  • 36,000new jobs in January (really freaking low)
  • 9.8% November’s really high unemployment rate
  • 9.4% December’s falling unemployment rate
  • 9.0% January’s rate; how did it dip so far? source
  • » Explaining exactly what happened: We’ve seen three perfectly valid arguments for why this disparity between slow job growth and deep unemployment decline took place. The first is pointed out by a Gallup chart that shows that non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment is actually at 9.8 percent – suggesting seasonal adjustment is skewing the numbers. The second suggested reason is much more sinister-sounding: Unemployment benefits for so-called 99ers are starting to run out, and they aren’t looking for jobs, meaning that they are no longer covered as part of the total amount. Finally, the weather sucked in January, with snow covering most of the country, so that could be a possible explanation too. So, which one is the case, anyway?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Feb 2011 13:38

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World: Egypt’s economy hit hard by internet shutdown

  • six
    days     amount of time the internet was offline during Egypt’s huge protests
  • $90
    million     in losses the forced lock-down cost Egypt’s economy source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 11:04

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Biz: Something else to blame on the snow: Crappy job numbers

  • 51,000 the increase in new jobless claims last week, blamed partly on snow
  • 454,000 last week’s jobless claims level – the highest it’s been since October source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 14:30

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Politics: FCIC report to blame human action, inaction for financial crisis

  • We conclude this financial crisis was avoidable.
  • Report by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission • The panel’s report, charged with investigation and review of America’s cataclysmic economic crisis, was obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. It cites human error, action, and inaction as being to blame for the collapse. The report will be widely released on Thursday. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
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