Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Rahm Emanuel: One of the Biggest Recipients of Wall Street Money in Congress
November 7th, 2008Lobbying by the financial industry before and during the financial crisis has come under criticism from consumer groups, members of Congress and President-elect Barack Obama. “It’s ridiculous that the perpetrators of this mess should be the people dictating to Congress how to get out of it,” says Kathleen Day of the non-profit Center for Responsible […]
Just Three ‘Superbanks’ Now Dominate Industry
November 7th, 2008Via: MSNBC: The financial crisis that has been sweeping the globe has reshaped nearly every corner of the economy, but no industry has been altered more radically than banking. Several of the nation’s biggest banks have failed or been absorbed by healthier institutions, leaving three giant “superbanks” with an unprecedented concentration of market power: Bank […]
U.S. Unemployment Rate Jumps to a 14-Year High
November 7th, 2008Double the rate and you might have a more meaningful figure. Via: AP: The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, stark proof the economy is almost certainly in a recession. The new snapshot, released Friday by the Labor Department, showed the crucial […]
OBAMA CONSIDERING JON CORZINE, ANOTHER FORMER GOLDMAN SACHS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, FOR TREASURY SECRETARY
November 6th, 2008Change can happen. Change we need. Yes, friends, change is having different former CEOs of Goldman Sachs serving as Treasury Secretary. Via: Star Ledger: Gov. Jon Corzine, a multimillionaire and former Wall Street chief executive, is being actively vetted by the Obama transition team as a possible candidate for Treasury secretary in the new administration, […]
MASSIVE BANK OF ENGLAND RATE CUT
November 6th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Gold rose in London after the Bank of England cut interest rates 1.5 percentage points and said global banks are in the worst disruption for almost 100 years. The central bank lowered the benchmark rate to 3 percent as policy makers tried to contain the damage caused by a recession. The European Central […]
California Voters Approve $10 Billion Bond for Bullet Trains
November 6th, 2008This seems like a pretty good project… Better a few decades late than never, eh? But if the state is hardly able to obtain financing for its current debt, how will it pull this thing off? Via: AP: California voters are green-lighting the nation’s most ambitious high-speed rail system, approving a nearly $10 billion bond […]
Pentagon Ready to Brief Incoming Administration Immediately
November 5th, 2008The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can “throw the rascals out” at any election […]
Dollar Whacked, Gold Gapped
November 4th, 2008Via: MarketWatch: Gold and other metals futures rallied Tuesday boosted by sharp weakness in the U.S. dollar and broad strength in commodities, with copper prices soaring 8% and silver gaining 7%. Gold for December delivery surged $30.60, or 4%, to $757.40 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier hit an intraday high […]
Now Unpaid Utility Bills Are Skyrocketing
November 4th, 2008Via: Wall Street Journal: Utilities are becoming more aggressive about collecting money from delinquent customers, leading to a surge in service shutdowns just as economic woes are pushing up the number of households falling behind on bills. The utilities say they are under pressure to clean out accounts that are weighing down their books at […]
Fed Hires Bear Stearns Risk Boss
November 4th, 2008Via: Clusterstock: In a move that is sure to put to rest the notion that there are no second acts in American life, former Bear Stearns chief risk officer Michael Alix has landed a job in the office of the Federal Reserve charged with assessing the safety and soundness of domestic banking institutions. We suppose […]
