economy

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Squeezed Banks Slash Biz Loans
Squeezed
Banks Slash
Biz Loans
Jul 28, 2008 5:09 AM CDT

Squeezed Banks Slash Biz Loans

Real-estate fallout dries up credit stream

(Newser) - Reeling from real-estate losses, banks are turning off the credit spigot to loan-seeking businesses, the New York Times reports. The loan reduction means more bad news down the line as money-starved companies begin to cut workers. Banks cut credit nearly 3% over the past year, the most since 2001, according...

Slowdown No Problem for Luxury Goods

Affluent Americans still snapping up fancy watches, jewelry

(Newser) - If America’s economy is failing, at least it’s going down in style. Sales of luxury goods have been surprisingly strong this year, despite the overarching economic gloom, the Wall Street Journal reports. Brands such as Hermès and Burberry have seen double-digit growth, as Americans continue to snap...

Economy May Be McCain's Achilles Heel
Economy May Be McCain's Achilles Heel
analysis
Jul 25, 2008 11:43 AM CDT

Economy May Be McCain's Achilles Heel

He's seen as weak on pocketbook woes, now top priority with voters

(Newser) - Americans are so worried about the economy they’re returning to a pre-9/11 mindset in which pocketbook issues trump national security—and that doesn’t bode well for John McCain, Politico reports. His predicament is beginning to look oddly like the reelection campaigns of George HW Bush and Jimmy Carter:...

McCain's Long-Shot Status Slips Into No-Shot Territory

In a change year, odds looks stacked too heavily against Republican

(Newser) - The presidential race has broken so hard in Barack Obama’s direction that Michael Grunwald asks “the question the horse-race-loving media are never supposed to ask” in Time: “Is McCain a no-shot?” The Republican is in dire straits, having lost advantage on Iran (Bush is moving toward negotiation),...

Percentage of Working Women in Record Drop

Surprised experts thought 'motherhood movement' caused drop

(Newser) - The percentage of women in the US job market dipped this decade through a period of economic recovery for the first time in 48 years—and the faltering economy is bound to do even more damage, reports the New York Times. Like men, American women are leaving the workplace due...

Riding Mowers Sputter With US Economy

Housing downturn, gas prices bode ill for icon

(Newser) - Once a symbol of American prosperity, the riding lawnmower is running out of gas, the Washington Post reports. The whole business “is deeply troubled by the decline in housing starts,” said one industry group spokesman. Rising oil prices have also pummeled demand. But what’s really turning lawnmower...

9M% Inflation Crushes Zimbabwe
9M% Inflation Crushes Zimbabwe
Jul 18, 2008 9:56 AM CDT

9M% Inflation Crushes Zimbabwe

As cash becomes worthless, citizens face starvation

(Newser) - The political violence that ravaged Zimbabwe has subsided since Robert Mugabe's sham reelection, but another devastation continues unabated: economic meltdown. Zimbabwe's inflation rate has now hit 9 million percent, and a $50-billion Zimbabwean note is worth just 34 cents and falling in American currency. The Guardian investigates the surreal economic...

Rich Countries Getting Soaked for a Change
Rich Countries Getting Soaked for a Change
ANALYSIS
Jul 17, 2008 10:02 AM CDT

Rich Countries Getting Soaked for a Change

Developing markets faring better in current economic downturn

(Newser) - As the US and other developed economies feel the crunch of a housing collapse and credit crisis, emerging economies, especially those fueled by commodities, have yet to feel the pinch, the Washington Post reports. "We are overloaded with money, crazy amounts of money from the energy market," a...

US Smacked by the Invisible Hand
 US Smacked by
 the Invisible Hand 
ANALYSIS
Jul 16, 2008 2:12 PM CDT

US Smacked by the Invisible Hand

Americans are moving away from faith in free market

(Newser) - Are we losing confidence in market mechanisms? Years of unfettered free markets contributed to the current gloomy economic situation, and even the market-championing White House has lurched into government regulation of the financial world, the Los Angeles Times reports. With housing prices falling and oil prices rising, “the message...

Romney Gains Ground in Veepstakes

Business acumen is the peg

(Newser) - Mitt Romney’s business acumen, national profile, and fundraising chops have put him among the elite of VP hopefuls, Reuters reports. And while he and John McCain exchanged nasty barbs during the primaries, the mutual resentment seems to have subsided, at least on the surface. "Mitt and Ann Romney...

Paulson's Imprimateur on Freddie/Fannie Rescue

Madcap weekend recasts Treasury Secretary in Clintonian mold

(Newser) - Henry Paulson had a very busy weekend. The treasury secretary had been formulating contingency plans for bailing out beleaguered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for weeks, but Friday’s crisis came before those plans were in place, the Wall Street Journal reports in a reconstruction of events leading to the...

Fannie/Freddie: It's Bad, but It Could Be Worse
Fannie/Freddie: It's Bad, but It Could Be Worse
OPINION
Jul 14, 2008 8:32 AM CDT

Fannie/Freddie: It's Bad, but It Could Be Worse

Regulation helped stave off real disaster, writes Krugman

(Newser) - The government's move to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has led to new fears about the state of the American economy—but don't worry too much, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. Fannie and Freddie are problematic institutions, but compared to the actions of big banks...

Fannie/Freddie Troubles Signal Sea Change in Gov't Role

Feds now effectively the only lender in town

(Newser) - The teetering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has underscored a major shift in US finance, writes Peter S. Goodman in the New York Times—once simply another guarantor, the government has effectively become the only lender in town "for millions of Americans engaged in the largest transactions of...

Washington Seeks Rescue of Freddie and Fannie

White House asks Congress to approve package

(Newser) - After a frenzied week that saw Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac teeter near collapse, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve are seeking to save the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies. Officials say that the plan, if approved by Congress, will let the government buy billions of dollars in Freddie...

Gramm's Got It: We Are Whining
 Gramm's Got It: 
 We Are Whining 
OPINION
Jul 12, 2008 12:31 PM CDT

Gramm's Got It: We Are Whining

He's talking real economics–not 'campaign econ'

(Newser) - When John McCain aide Phil Gramm said America is in a “mental recession,” not a real one, he was speaking with much-needed honesty and accuracy, Amity Shlaes writes in the Washington Post. Gramm has faced an avalanche of bad press for speaking candidly rather than from the perspective...

Against the Odds, Maserati Sales Jump

12-MPG, $115K sports car sees 20% US growth so far in '08

(Newser) - Buoyed by wealthy, middle-aged men who can afford to defy high gas prices and a plummeting economy, sales of Maserati luxury cars are up in the US this year, Bloomberg reports. Common brands like Lexus and BMW have seen sales fall, but the very rich don't skimp when they see...

Drown Money Woes With Cups of Joe
Drown Money Woes With
Cups of Joe
Jul 10, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

Drown Money Woes With Cups of Joe

Starbucks hopes sweet new deals will combat sales slump

(Newser) - While Congress worries about what to do for Americans squeezed by gas prices, Starbucks has its own ideas. To lure back people who are cutting pricey lattes out of the budget, new promotions are being launched around the country, writes the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 

Economists 'Endorsing' Mac Plan Didn't See Fine Print

Of 300 signed on to support jobs plan, many tepid, or worse, on his overall agenda

(Newser) - On Monday, John McCain's campaign released a pledge of support for the candidate’s “Jobs for America” plan signed by 300 economists. But, Politico found in interviews with a sample of the signatories, many didn’t actually support many of the policy prescriptions in the Republican's plan—and one...

Mother Nature's Wrath Creates Prosperity

Disasters spur economic growth, but at what cost?

(Newser) - Casualties aside, natural disasters may not be so devastating after all. Catastrophes like the recent earthquake in China destroy old buildings and roads, making way for new and improved infrastructure that may not have been created otherwise and pumping cash into the economy. In the long term, updated technology and...

McCain Vows to Balance the Budget
McCain Vows
to Balance
the Budget
Jul 7, 2008 1:44 PM CDT

McCain Vows to Balance the Budget

Social Security reform one scenario; Dems call plan unrealistic

(Newser) - John McCain will pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term, Politico reports, promising spending and entitlement programs, including Social Security, in a policy paper released today. McCain is renewing a promise he’d backed off from in April—a vow likely to excite his fellow...

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