economy

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Money Guru: None of Us Really Knows What to Do
Money Guru: None of Us Really Knows What to Do
OPINION

Money Guru: None of Us Really Knows What to Do

Pundits should hedge their bets and speak with caution

(Newser) - Financial pundits don’t know everything, and don't trust those who act like they do, Joel Lovell writes in the Washington Post. The GQ money expert acknowledges anxiety over dispensing information that may not be true at all. “It makes me feel like a bit of a fraud,”...

Think You've Got it Bad? Try Being a Horse

Economy woes spur owners to abandon their steeds

(Newser) - Humans aren't the only ones hurt by recession, as hundreds of thousands of horses could attest. While more owners are abandoning their steeds as the costs become a burden, fewer people are able to help fund horse rescue centers, reports the New York Times. The result has been some 100,...

Rhode Island's Little Economy In Giant Fix

And no one's totally sure why

(Newser) - It may be the littlest state, but Rhode Island’s economic meltdown is among the biggest in the nation, arguably second only to Michigan’s, the New York Times reports. Rhode Island’s 10% unemployment rate ranks second, and its average income, $39,827, pales before neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut....

Inspire Us, Tiger
 Inspire Us, Tiger 
OPINION

Inspire Us, Tiger

(Newser) - Ignore the nonstop gloom and doom of economic news to consider a wonderful thing: Tiger Woods is playing golf again. Woods has been rehabbing his left knee since just after his gutsy 2008 US Open win settled forever the question of whether a golfer could be called an “athlete,...

GDP Drop Worst in 26 Years
 GDP Drop Worst in 26 Years 

GDP Drop Worst in 26 Years

Worse than anticipated

(Newser) - The US economy contracted at a staggering 6.2% pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in more than a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession. That's drastically worse than the 3.8% the government originally estimated, and the 5....

Obama Budget Relies on Rosy Growth Estimates

(Newser) - President Obama is more optimistic about the nation's economic prospects than most economists, Bloomberg reports. His budget plan forecasts a GDP contraction of 1.2% this year, followed by a 3.2% expansion in 2010. The median forecast of economists calls for a contraction of 2% this year and growth...

'Insourcing' Is Recession's DIY Buzzword

From hairdressing to gardening, 'insourcing' is hot

(Newser) - The recession is prompting Americans to forgo luxuries—and that means doing for themselves what they would once have paid someone else to do, the Washington Post reports. Starter sewing-kit sales have soared 30%; landscapers are losing business; customers are forsaking salons to dye their own hair. The trend is...

We Know What We're Doing, Bernanke Assures Congress

Fed chair defends response to financial crisis

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke defended the government’s response to the financial crisis today before Congress, saying regulators’ various approaches reflect different aspects of a unified strategy, MarketWatch reports. “We’re not making it up,” the Federal Reserve chief said. “We’re working along a program that has been...

Obama: 'We Will Recover'
 Obama: 'We Will Recover' 

Obama: 'We Will Recover'

(Newser) - President Obama returned to a familiar theme tonight—hope—as he sought to reassure Americans buffeted by the recession. "The day of reckoning has arrived," he told a joint session of Congress, but American ingenuity can save us. "Now is the time to act boldly and wisely—...

Obama: We Will 'Emerge Stronger'

(Newser) - President Obama will lay out the nation's challenges in stark terms tonight but will strike a more optimistic note, CNN reports. "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," says Obama's prepared excerpts. The solutions exist "in our...

Consumer Confidence Hits New Low
Consumer Confidence
Hits New Low

Consumer Confidence Hits New Low

Index plummets to 25, compared to 76.4 a year ago

(Newser) - Americans' already-battered confidence in the economy went into freefall this month, reaching new lows as consumers grow more fearful over huge job cuts and shrinking retirement accounts. New York's Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index, which was down slightly in January, plummeted more than 12 points in February to...

Bernanke: Recession Should End This Year

2010 will be 'year of recovery'

(Newser) - If the government’s plans work, the recession will be over by the end of this year, Ben Bernanke told senators today, making 2010 a “year of recovery.” But, the Wall Street Journal reports, the Federal Reserve chief pointed to continuing storm clouds, saying the US is undergoing...

Boxcars Idled by Recession Become Residential Blight

Residents who have gained a new town wall aren't pleased

(Newser) - Miles of boxcars that used to rumble through rural US communities now sit idle—and though quieter, towns are finding them much more obtrusive, reports the Wall Street Journal. With shipping down across the world, 30% of America’s boxcars have nothing to transport, and rail yards just can’t...

Clinton to China: Economy Trumps Human Rights

Other issues 'can't interfere' with economic crisis, she says

(Newser) - The US still cares about human rights in China, but "those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis," Hillary Clinton said today in Beijing. In fact, it's the economic mess that makes strengthening ties with China a priority,...

Recession Hits the Oscars— Sort Of

Revenue is down, parties are scaling back

(Newser) - Even the Oscars are feeling the economic strain, People reports. Sure, there are still dozens of parties planned on the big day, but organizers are pumping up the “greenness” of the soirées and downplaying the extravagance—Vanity Fair is using decorations from past events. Even those not scaling...

Consumer Prices Up 0.3% in January

But inflation over past 12 months lowest in a half-century

(Newser) - Consumer prices rose by 0.3% last month, the Labor Department said today, the biggest monthly increase since a 0.7% rise in July. Higher energy costs fueled the climb, and most economists and the government believe the recession will keep prices in check this year. That's because inflation has...

Fed Sees Little Relief for Jobless

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve warned today that the nation's economy is even worse than thought and predicted it would deteriorate throughout 2009. The Fed's bleak estimates indicated that unemployment could climb as high as 8.8 percent this year and that the economy would contract for a full calendar year for...

GE CEO Scraps His $12M Bonus
GE CEO Scraps His $12M Bonus

GE CEO Scraps His $12M Bonus

Immelt cites 56% stock decline in '08, but says the company isn't actually doing too bad

(Newser) - Jeffrey Immelt has recommended to GE's board of directors that he not get a planned $12 million bonus for 2008, the Wall Street Journal reports. The CEO noted that earnings were "below where we expected," but stressed that even those numbers represent success in the midst of a...

Krugman: We've All Been Madoffed
 Krugman: We've All 
 Been Madoffed 
OPINION

Krugman: We've All Been Madoffed

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff’s investors thought they were getting richer every quarter. Then, one day, they discovered their wealth “was a figment of someone else’s imagination,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. And sadly, that’s a pretty good metaphor for America’s experience this decade....

Second-Half Rebound? Don't Bank On It

(Newser) - Economists say the prospects of a recovery in the second half of the year are looking less and less likely, the Wall Street Journal reports. Most economists surveyed predict the nation's GDP will grow in the third quarter by a measly 0.7%, less than half the rate predicted 6...

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