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28 Feb 2011 21:32

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Politics: Will John Boehner’s “put the budget on layaway” plan stick?

  • issue Obama and the GOP are at a stalemate with the budget, and there’s a real danger the government might shut down later this week. Great.
  • stopgap As a way to prevent that from happening, House Speaker John Boehner came up with an offer to put the government on layaway for two weeks.
  • problem The sticking point? Obama wants a full month. Boehner may not be willing to put the budget on layaway for nearly that long. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

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

07 Feb 2011 22:16

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Politics: Why you’re paying less in taxes than you were two years ago

  • 13% drop in income tax payments since Bush’s last year in office
  • 33% decrease in taxes paid by corporations since 2008; that’s a big drop
  • 1950 the last time taxes (as a percentage of the entire US economy) were this low source
  • » But don’t get too excited. While lower taxes may sound nice on paper, the real reason for this drop isn’t as much due to policy changes as it is the recession. See, people (and corporations) are making a whole lot less money than they were a few years ago; hence, they’re paying less in taxes. And that sucks for just about everybody involved. However, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota places a lot of the blame on our nation’s tax code itself, calling it a “simply indefensible” policy that’s “hemorrhaging revenue.” Still, our primary focus should probably be on pulling our economy out of the toilet. Then we can fix the tax code.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 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

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

23 Jan 2011 11:07

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U.S.: The NYT makes Rockford, Illinois look as depressed as possible

  • “Dear residents of Rockford, Illinois: This is The New York Times. We’re doing a photo feature on why your town is so depressed and lacking in jobs. (16 percent unemployment?! We need to do this story, stat!) We need to take photos of your citizens. None of you are allowed to smile. If you smile, we’re going to find someone else who looks plainer than you. OK? Thanks. We’ll send a photog from Manhattan to the Rust Belt on a private jet sometime next week. Remember. Plain. No smiles. Optimism is dead. Thanks.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Jan 2011 19:16

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Politics: Obama’s State of the Union plan: Jobs, jobs and more jobs

  • My number one focus is going to be making sure that we are competitive, that we are growing, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future.
  • President Barack Obama • Revealing to supporters through his Organizing for America grassroots thingy that he would be focusing on jobs during the State of the Union this time around. “We’re up to it, as long as we come together as a people – Republicans, Democrats, Independents – as long as we focus on what binds us together as a people,” he said. Odds are that Tea Partier Michele Bachmann will pop a hole in that optimism for bipartisanship by the second minute of her response-to-the-response SOTU response, which, based on her long track record, will most assuredly be loaded with lies. So much for that hope, Obama. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 09:50

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Biz: With 2011 in full swing, so are fresh jobless claims

  • 35,000 the rise in jobless claims last week source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 21:21

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Biz: Auto bailouts: Chrysler on the comeback trail, slowly but surely

  • I haven’t gotten any questions yet today like, ‘Will you be here next year?’
  • Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne • On the company’s slow bounceback. Chrysler hasn’t had the dramatic turnaround that Ford and GM have had since the nadir of the financial crisis, but they appear to be making headway with a new generation of vehicles – particularly the newest Jeep Grand Cherokee, which has done well despite the fact that SUVs have fallen out of fashion lately. The company’s collaboration with Fiat has also helped buoy Chrysler. So, how about paying back those loans from the bailout and other sources? “We are going to repay one hundred cents on every dollar of loans we received,” Marchionne said. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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