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14 Aug 2010 13:41

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U.S.: Want to roll in the dough? Get a job with the federal government

  • $123,049 the amount federal civil servants earned on average in 2009
  • $61,051 the amount similar private workers earned on average 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

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

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
 

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
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

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
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

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
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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