US economy

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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...

In Barren Job Market, to Get a Job, Create One

Recession becomes the mother of invention for would-be businesspeople

(Newser) - New businesses are sprouting up across America as unemployed people running out of time and money decide that the only way to get a job is to create one, the New York Times reports. Economists say now is the time in the downturn cycle when "forced entrepreneurship" starts,...

18% of US Wealth Up in Smoke Last Year

Fed figures show $11 trillion was wiped out Americans' net worth last year

(Newser) - Last year's stock market and housing slumps wiped out nearly a fifth of the wealth of American families, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Federal Reserve announced yesterday that  $11 trillion—more than the output of Britain, Germany and combined—was erased from the net worth of households in 2008,...

Odds of a Depression? 1 in 5
 Odds of a Depression? 1 in 5 
ANALYSIS
Mar 4, 2009 7:15 AM CST

Odds of a Depression? 1 in 5

Economist crunches historic stock-market data to gauge the chances of depression

(Newser) - The bad news is that this recession is likely to be America's worst since WWII—but the good news is there's only a 20% chance it will become a depression, Robert Barro writes in the Wall Street Journal. The Harvard economist crunched numbers from 251 stock-market crashes in 34 countries...

Obama's 'All-In' Budget Presents Huge Risks
Obama's 'All-In' Budget Presents Huge Risks
ANALYSIS
Feb 27, 2009 7:06 AM CST

Obama's 'All-In' Budget Presents Huge Risks

President banks his future on an ambitious economic reinvention

(Newser) - With his first budget, Barack Obama has presented a program of stunning cost and complexity that underlines his ambition to transform the United States, writes Dan Balz in the Washington Post. Its $600-billion-plus health package, taxes on the wealthy that exceed campaign rhetoric, and shocking $1.75 trillion deficit show...

Obama Finds His Inner Roosevelt
 Obama Finds 
 His Inner 
 Roosevelt 
ANALYSIS
Feb 25, 2009 7:23 AM CST

Obama Finds His Inner Roosevelt

President stakes his legacy on ending economic crisis

(Newser) - Barack Obama's address to Congress last night “staked his presidency on bringing the nation out of its economic crisis,” writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. Not since FDR have citizens been so desperate for economic leadership, and yesterday's speech made clear that Obama plans to reshape American...

Pols Get Failing Grades on Economic Literacy
Pols Get Failing Grades
on Economic Literacy
OPINION
Feb 6, 2009 10:05 AM CST

Pols Get Failing Grades on Economic Literacy

Critics of stimulus spending reveal lack of economic literacy

(Newser) - Given all the "silly" arguments coming out of Washington these days, maybe we should pony up $50 million or so and let congressmen hire "economic trainers," writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. Those who complain that the stimulus has too much spending just don't get it....

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