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The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
Linus Pauling Categories
Category Archives: Economic News
Heard Off The Street “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul”
Heard Off the Street, Video Edition: this version of Heard Off the Street gives additional information and insight to financial conditions of the U.S. economy.
This week’s issue is entitled ‘Robbing Peter to Pay Paul’. Read More
US housing market boosted by jobs, higher rents
It’s been a long time since the market for new homes has looked this good. Rising rents and a healthier job market are inspiring more people to consider buying. Builders are responding to the demand by laying plans for more homes this year than at any other point in past 3½ years. Read More
Federal Reserve Does Not Object to Zions’ 2012 Capital Plan
Key plan elements include the redemption of TARP, no common equity issuance. Read More
7 reasons the job gains could last this time
Wait — haven’t we seen this movie before?
Companies are generating waves of jobs, and unemployment is down.
The same thing happened last year around this time. Then everything faded to black starting with the earthquake in Japan, which struck a year ago Sunday.
Does a happier ending await the job market this time? Economists seem to think so. Read More
Why are Americans avoiding stocks? Ask a shrink
The headlines say the financial crisis is behind us. The Dow is back to pre-financial crisis levels. Layoffs are the slowest since the financial crisis, and car sales the highest since the financial crisis.
So why are Americans still too scared to get back in the stock market?
Because all they hear is “financial crisis.” Read More
Consumer borrowing surges as economy improves
Americans are feeling confident enough in the economy to go back to a time-honored tradition — taking on a little extra debt. Consumer borrowing surged in November by $20.4 billion, the Federal Reserve said Monday, January 9. It was the third straight increase and the largest monthly gain in a decade. Read More
Top Articles of 2011
The year 2011 afforded many opportunities to examine and provide commentary on some pertinent – and at times divisive – issues in the realm of personal finance. The last twelve months have been tumultuous in the financial world. Read More
Americans in November more confident about economy
Americans’ confidence in the economy in November bounced back to its highest level since July, the latest sign that consumers are beginning to feel more cheerful about spending during the holiday shopping season. Read More
Heard Off the Street: A Return to Normalcy … Relatively Speaking
Over the last few weeks, we have started to think that things might work out better here in the US than most people currently expect. This brighter future would emerge from the confluence of two unrelated, but equally important, developments. Read More
Heard Off the Street: Mortgage Forgiveness – And an Unexpected Silver Lining
The drumbeat for a wholesale write-down of mortgage principal is getting louder. Somewhere between 20 percent and 30 percent of US mortgage holders are underwater. Many will default, leaving their homes to be dumped on the market in foreclosure sales. Read More
Heard Off The Street: What’s Up?
The most widely used emerging market stock index is the MSCI EM Index. For the 12 months ended in September 2011, this index returned ‐16% in dollar terms. Over that same period, the S&P 500 returned +4%. Read More
What’s A Central Bank To Do?
As the economy continues to soften and fiscal stimulus morphs into fiscal austerity, the Federal Reserve must decide whether the US economy can stand on its own, or whether the central bank must, once again, intervene actively to prop up the economy. Read More
More on the Decoupling of the Macro from the Micro
The US economy has slowed significantly in recent months compared to late 2010 and early 2011. We’re not forecasting a recession … yet. But we are talking about a marked deceleration in the growth rate of our gross domestic product. Read More
With default looming, what investors should do now
How do you prepare for a financial cataclysm that may not happen? Read More
Businesses find ways to adapt in slow economy
In a slow economy, small business owners know what to do: adapt.
“We have to constantly keep adjusting,” says Janice Cutler, president of North Raleigh Florist in North Carolina. She has changed her marketing strategy since the start of the recession in late 2007. Read More
