economy: Fear Index Reaches 1-Year High
- 05/06/10 12:26 PM
Early this morning I prepared a draft post: "CNNMoney.com reports that the Fear Index has reached a 3-month high". By the time I returned from appointments to finalize the post, the stock market had been on it's wild ride for the day, falling almost 1000 points before recovering and closing down almost 350 points on the day. CNN's headline now reads: "Fear Index Hits 1-Year High". The serious financial crisis in Greece has been reported on over the last few weeks, as have the problems in Spain, Portugal and Ireland. But the irrational herd mentality witnessed on Wall Street today shows … (4 comments)
economy: Surprising Good News - The Economy Returns To Growth
- 10/29/09 08:08 AM
Surprising Good News - The Economy Returns To Growth Reuters - "The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year as government helped lift consumer spending and home building." The surprisingly good news that the economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5% between July and September is worth noting as it signals the end of the worst recession in 70 years according to the Commerce Department. It's interesting to note that today - the day on which the Obama Administration can breath a sigh of relief as a result of their efforts … (3 comments)
economy: Billion Dollar "Cash for Clunker" Bill
- 06/20/09 06:54 AM
President Obama will sign into law a new "Cash for Clunkers" program which the Senate approved this week. Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a Republican effort to kill the plan. The plan provides for new car buyers to receive incentives of up to $4500 to replace their old clunkers in favor of a new fuel-efficient vehicle and is expected to help struggling car dealers and automakers by encouraging consumers to purchase new cars. The $4 Billion price tag is currently proposed to come from Energy Department funding included in the already enacted $787 billion economic stimulus package. The program would work as … (18 comments)
economy: Capital One Complaints - "What's in your wallet?"
- 02/25/09 03:33 AM
I received an "Important Notice" from Capital One "of a change in terms" regarding my account. The notice stated that "due to extraordinary changes in the economic environment, we're reviewing our existing credit card accounts. Having considered these economic conditions, your account's current Purchase Rate and the length of time you've had this rate and account, we will be changing your Purchase and Balance Transfer Rate" - "However, you will not be assessed the higher Purchase Rate listed below until next year." Capital One is increasing my Purchase APR from 4.99% to 13.9% and the Cash Advance APR will increase from … (22 comments)
economy: The 2008 Financial Meltdown - An Unimagined Crisis
- 10/09/08 06:23 AM
The euphemistically termed "meltdown" in the financial world is really a crisis of enormous proportions. "The world's central banks launched a large coordinated attack against the widening global financial crisis, lowering short-term interest rates in unison. The emergency action, which involved the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and others, is a sign that fears that the financial crisis could cripple the global economy are spreading rapidly" - Wall Street Journal "Fed Can't Stop the Bleeding. Global Markets Remain Strained" - Fox News "The US treasury secretary has warned some banks will still fail despite the $700bn government rescue package to … (11 comments)
economy: Bush and McCain agree on the Economy - and they're both wrong
- 09/21/08 07:52 AM
Last week on the day the stock market plunged over 500 points, McCain agreed with President Bush that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong." McCain has actually said: "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." He also said that in choosing a vice president he'd look for a person with economic experience to compensate for his own shortcomings. The Executive Director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) - Robert Greenstein - has referred to McCain's economic agenda as "one of the most fiscally irresponsible plans we've seen by a presidential candidate in a long time." This is … (7 comments)
Early this morning I prepared a draft post:
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