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After an amazing landslide victory, Barack Obama is heading to the White House. He faces one of the most challenging presidencies in history, not least because of his role in supporting the faltering economy. The Financial Times puts it well in an article entitled Dear US President-Elect: Here are the two central economic roles you […]
Sorry to insult the intelligence of a few very smart folks out there, but considering the vast amount of financial news we’re digesting every day, I thought a refresher on the national debt and the national deficit was in order. If you’ve been confused by these terms, you’re in good company. I read a newspaper […]
Mine won’t be one of the three million mortgages expected to get a new deal via The Bailout. A little over five years ago my husband was transferred to a new city. We traveled to the new location to find a house, found a nice place in a good neighborhood with bedrooms for each kid, […]
We’ve heard every talking head go on about Wall Street’s effect on Main Street. We’ve all been scared to death that the credit markets are going to freeze up. I don’t know about you, but I’m still getting credit cards in the mail. So how exactly is this credit crunch really affecting small businesses across […]
In an ongoing attempt to save money on food, I’ve begun buying large amounts of bananas. I don’t particularly like them, but they’re cheap, nutritious, and taste good in cereal, making them one of the supermarket’s best bargains. But something about the pricing of this jungle fruit confounds me. Why are they so cheap? They […]
I visited with our local public school Deputy Superintendent yesterday. Among the many challenges he mentioned facing the K-12 education system was the challenge of teaching children of poverty. When one of our small group asked about the percentage of children who receive free and reduced lunches in our school district, the Deputy Superintendent was […]
Remember that old adage that the Chinese symbol for crisis means “danger” and “opportunity?” The press is reporting plenty about the people in danger, but what about the opportunity in this mess of a credit crunch? Who benefits? One obvious group are people sitting on cash reserves. It’s an excellent time to buy property and […]
Readers: Please note when this article was published. Things have changed since then. It’s official: The United States financial crisis has reverberated around the world. Wall Street’s supernova imploded into a black hole, swallowing up the national economy, then destabilizing most locations reachable by commercial jet. That is to say, everything, everywhere. Nonetheless, some countries […]
Ever since the candidates started debating I’ve wanted to understand how their respective tax plans stacked up. I have heard too many people repeating what one or the other of the candidates have SAID about their tax plans. But what will the candidates really DO? A little preliminary research revealed that the full picture is […]
Or speak softly and carry a big stick, which is what Teddy Roosevelt said. Or talk softly, but carry a big stick, which is what McCain said last night’s debate, in which misquotes, mistakes, and lies were rampant. Not that it was a bad debate, by any means. But, as Wired reports, it’s no wonder […]
I have to get this out of my system. BP’s interview with historians Michael Allen and Larry Schweikart helped assuage my fears some. Facts aside, I still entertain terrible daydreams of the Great Depression II emerging out of our mess of collapsed banks like some undead bayou creature. After reading Glenn Beck’s CNN article (based […]
I sometimes love Ben Stein*. He posted a vitriolic commentary in the New York Times against the bailout plan: Maybe the bailout should not be of the banks at all, but of homeowners themselves. Maybe if we make the government the buyer of last resort of homes, we will stabilize the markets, stabilize the debt […]
