US economy

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In Recovery, Business Will Profit at Workers' Expense

Short-term outlook 'great for business, terrible for households'

(Newser) - The economy is slowly improving, but companies will see the benefits long before the unemployed and underemployed will, Bloomberg reports. A Department of Labor report released yesterday found that the average workweek is at a near-record low of 33.1 hours. The lack of uptick in part-time hours is an...

Obama: Ignore Reform 'Rumors'

(Newser) - President Barack Obama asked Americans to put no stock in "outlandish rumors" that health care reform will "promote euthanasia, or cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care," in his weekly radio and Internet address today. "That's simply not true." Politico noted...

Job Losses Slow, Unemployment Dips to 9.4%

(Newser) - Job losses slowed more than expected last month, and unemployment fell from 9.5% to 9.4% in its first dip since April 2008, the Labor Department announced today, marking another strong positive sign for the economy. Payrolls fell by 247,000, a big improvement over the 443,000 lost...

McCain: Obama Governing From 'Far Left'
McCain: Obama Governing
From 'Far Left'
interview
Aug 1, 2009 8:34 AM CDT

McCain: Obama Governing From 'Far Left'

He blasts policies in interview, praises Palin for energizing party

(Newser) - John McCain is busier, and angrier, than ever, writes Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal. The senator has become one of the fiercest critics of Obamanomics, with free-flowing stimulus and bailout dollars re-energizing his career-long fight against pork-barrel spending. President Obama was elected to govern from the center, McCain...

Bernanke Defends Bailouts in First Fed Town Hall Meeting

(Newser) - Fed chief Ben Bernanke fielded questions from the public in an unprecedented town hall meeting last night, the Kansas City star reports. Sounding every bit like a candidate running for office, Bernanke defended his moves during the recession and financial crisis, saying he had learned from his predecessors' mistakes in...

Good News: We've Hit Bottom!
Good News: We've Hit Bottom!
Analysis
Jul 24, 2009 9:13 AM CDT

Good News: We've Hit Bottom!

Of course, the bad news is: We've hit bottom!

(Newser) - Former Fed vice chairman Alan Blinder has some good news and some bad news about the economy, and it’s the same news: We’ve hit bottom. Third-quarter GDP should turn positive, and the fourth quarter could even hold an upside surprise. Growth of 3% or even 4% is utterly...

Economy 'Back From the Abyss:' Summers

(Newser) - President Obama's top economist is confident that swift action by the administration averted disaster, ABC News reports. “We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year,” Larry Summers says, “but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss.” Summers credits...

Nice Trip, Now Get Back to Work, Mr. President

(Newser) - President Obama got his usual hero's welcome overseas, but this trip seemed "jarring and discordant" back in the US, writes Cynthia Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Our economic news keeps getting worse by the day, yet at summit after summit, “photos of the Obamas in resplendent, gold-bedecked palaces...

Buffett: Economy Still in 'Shambles'

It'll take a while to 'wring out excesses'

(Newser) - The US economy is still in “shambles” even though the crisis in the financial system has abated, Warren Buffett told CNBC today. “It takes a while,” the investor said. “There were a lot of excesses to be wrung out and that process is still underway.”...

Recession Will End This Year
 Recession Will 
 End This Year 
OECD report
Jun 24, 2009 6:53 AM CDT

Recession Will End This Year

But growth will be sluggish through 2010, says Paris development group

(Newser) - The US recession will end this year, but fragile financial markets and sapped consumer wealth will keep the pace of recovery sluggish, an influential Paris-based economic prognosticator said today. The OECD—Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development—predicted that the US economy will shrink by 2.8% this year and...

Burgeoning Interest Rates Threaten to Stifle Recovery

Demand for refinancing shrivels as 30-year rates hit 5.75%

(Newser) - The steady rise in interest rates over recent weeks is threatening to trample the green shoots of recovery in the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rates on 30-year mortgages hit 5.79% yesterday, more than a point above the 4.75% "trigger" level analysts say spurred the...

US Trading Partners See Huge GDP Falls

Mexico contracts 21.5% as American demand dries up

(Newser) - Yesterday Mexico became the latest country to disclose a sharp economic contraction as a result of the slowdown in US consumption of imported goods. Mexican GDP fell at an annualized rate of 21.5% in the first quarter, following Germany, down 14.4%, and Japan, 15.2%—its worst performance...

College Grads Face Years of Lower Wages

Economists pile on the bad news for the struggling class of '09

(Newser) - The recession will mean paltry pay for the Class of '09 for many years to come, economists tell the Wall Street Journal. College grads are entering the toughest labor market in 25 years and competition is driving down starting wages for those lucky enough to land jobs, an effect research...

Hiring Healthy, Even During Downturn

Dire employment figures disguise huge amount of vacancies opening up

(Newser) - Grim unemployment figures are disguising the fact that hiring has stayed surprisingly strong in the midst of the worst postwar recession, economists tell the New York Times. In February—long before any hint of recovery emerged—4.8 million workers lost their jobs, but 4.3 million people were hired,...

Falling Wages Compound Economic Woes
Falling Wages Compound Economic Woes
OPINION
May 4, 2009 8:00 AM CDT

Falling Wages Compound Economic Woes

Without new stimulus, US faces Japan-style slump: Krugman

(Newser) - From bailed-out automakers to newspapers facing cutbacks, companies across the US are slashing wages, and employees—even those with unions—are sitting still for it. While cuts may look like a good alternative to unemployment, but they're more harmful than they appear, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times....

Major Companies Believe a Rebound Cometh

Firms split on whether the bottom has been reached

(Newser) - Some major companies are slowly becoming optimistic about the economy again, the Wall Street Journal reports. Delta Airlines says seat sales are almost at the level they were a year ago and United Technologies says its decline in orders is stabilizing. Intel is among the most upbeat, saying "the...

Report: 742K Jobs Cut in March

(Newser) - US employers cut an estimated 742,000 jobs in March, a larger drop than expected, Bloomberg reports. The figure, from a report based on private payroll data, comes days before the Labor Department is expected to make a similar announcement. If the numbers prove accurate, it would mean that employers...

How the US Became a Banana Republic
 How the US Became 
 a Banana Republic 
GLOSSIES
Mar 30, 2009 2:51 PM CDT

How the US Became a Banana Republic

America is a textbook IMF case—but one without a solution

(Newser) - As chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, MIT professor Simon Johnson saw a pattern in bankrupted countries from Argentina to Indonesia: "The powerful elites within them overreached in good times and took too many risks." The current US crisis, Johnson writes in the Atlantic, is "shockingly...

Recession Marks the End of Supersized America

'Great Recession' comes as a reality check after decades of '80s-style excess

(Newser) - The recession has brought the long '80s boom to an end, but maybe a better America can emerge from the ashes of a self-destructive age of excess, Kurt Andersen writes in a Time cover story. It was plain that the years of giddy growth that started around 1983 had to...

'Massive' Asset Purchases Likely Loom for Bernanke

Fed expected to step up purchase of mortgage securities

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is expected to step up its buying of mortgage securities after policymakers meet today and tomorrow, Bloomberg reports. The outlook for the economy and job market has gotten bleaker since the Federal Open Market Committee last met 6 weeks ago and analysts believe Ben Bernanke is likely...

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