Shock Therapy for the Housing Market
The Obama administration, writes the New York Times, has done just about everything in its power to prop up the sagging housing market,...
Economy
Bernanke Whitewashes Fed Responsibility for “Great Recession”
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke largely whitewashed Federal Reserve responsibility for the housing bubble and resultant economic recession in testimony before the...
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Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.6 Percent
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the unemployment rate in the United States increased to 9.6 percent during the month...
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For Mortgage Help, Market Outperforms Government
“Surprise! Banks help more homeowners than Obama” is the headline of an August 30 CNN Money report. ...
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USA Today Restructures to Emphasize Web and Mobile Markets
In a major restructuring of its operations, USA Today, published by Gannet Co., Inc., has announced that it will lay off 130 employees...
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Housing Bubble Refuses to Re-Inflate
Housing sales dropped by more than 25 percent nationwide in July, according to the National Association of Realtors, after a federal tax credit...
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Egg Recalls Bring Statists Out of Their Shells
Government is the only institution whose power and budget grow when it fails. A crisis, real or perceived, is considered an “opportunity” for...
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Conjuring Magic To Cover States’ Debts: Fiscal Reality Sets In
The first warning about the possible bankruptcy of the town of Vallejo, California, was reported by the Associated Press on February 28, 2008,...
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Finance Power Play
On Wednesday, July 21, President Obama triumphantly signed the latest plank in his bid to outdo Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Depression-era radical expansion of...
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And the Next Bailout Goes to … Government Employees
On August 10 President Barack Obama signed into law a $26 billion spending bill that, proponents claim, will save the jobs of 300,000...
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Fed Confirms Recovery Stalled
When the Federal Open Market Committee announced yesterday that “the pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near...
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After Losses, Freddie Mac Wants Another $1.8 Billion
On the heels of dismal second quarter results, mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac is asking for more taxpayer money to continue operations. ...
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Temporary Unemployment Benefits — Permanent Welfare?
The White House on July 21 extolled the extension of unemployment insurance by the Senate, claiming it was “not only the decent thing...
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Maine Eyes Social Security for Pension Bailout
Instead of asking for a federal bailout, Maine is considering shifting part of its underfunded pension plan liabilities to Social Security. Without the...
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Financial Reform Bill: Bureaucratic Absolutism
Czarist Russia is looking better and better. Once a byword for bureaucratic absolutism, the apparatchiks of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg and their endless rule-making...
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