With all the talk these days about the national debt – the debt crisis in Europe, the roof of America’s debt debacle – I’ve been wondering how it compares the debt of the United States against other developed countries. Are we so indebted as it feels like we are? U.S. ranks seventh on the Fortune [...]

The unemployment situation in this country is not improving. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2% in June and the number of current underemployment (or U-6) is at 16.2%. And it seems that the situation will improve in the short term: Goldman Sachs predicts an average of 8.75% unemployment by 2012. When it comes to labor [...]

After 6.4 billion U.S. dollars of U.S. arms sale to Taiwan in January, some members of the Chinese armed forces have defended the use of China’s considerable holdings of U.S. Treasuries as a weapon to retaliate against the United States. In a recent article in Chinese magazine Outlook Weekly, senior army officers at the military [...]

The old school streetlight is the recession’s latest victim. To save cash, some towns and cities are turning off lights, regularly plenty of them. The cost-cutting moves coincide with changing angles about streetlights. Once viewed as useful safety measures, the lights are increasingly seen by some public officers and researchers as an environmental issue, making [...]

The economy shrank at an once a year rate of 1% in the spring, a better-than-expected showing and more proof the recession is drawing to a close. Many researchers think the economy is growing in this quarter, but they caution that any rebound won’t be accompanied at first by rising job. Jobless claims figures released [...]

New-home sales rose just about 10% in July, according to a central authority report Wed. that reinforced indications of an improving home market. Sales of new houses climbed to a seasonally altered yearly rate of 433,000, the highest pace since last Sep , the govt. recounted. That was a 9.6% increase over the revised rate [...]

Orders for sturdy products rose last month by the largest amount in 2 years, as the producing sector reflected back from the depths of the recession. The Commerce Dep. asserted Wed. that orders for products predicted to last at least 3 years increased 4.9% in July, the 3rd rise during the past 4 months. Orders [...]

Real estate agent Dave Gervase latterly witnessed a startling vision : a bidding war for a home in South Florida. What Gervase saw was an intense example of a national phenomenon : appearances of life in the battered home market and the overall economy. Housing costs rose 2.9% from the 1st quarter to the second [...]

Ben Bernanke evaded months of rumours Tues. when President Obama renominated him as head honcho of the Fed. But that doesn’t suggest the previous Princeton professor will be coasting for the subsequent 4 years. Economic gurus say Bernanke faces an array of challenges virtually as imposing as last autumn’s commercial crisis. They include guaranteeing a [...]

Consumer sentiment rose more than anticipated in Aug and expectancies hit the top level since the recession commenced, suggestions that Americans’ pessimism about the economy might be lifting.  The housing sector also showed appearances of life as a state measure of home costs posted its first quarterly increase in 3 years. The New York-based Meeting Board [...]

Many researchers have been announcing the US dollar is in terminal decline, and that it is about to be replaced by another currency, maybe the Chinese Renminbi or a new Asian or Mideast regional currency similar to the Euro Buck. The Bearish story can be summarised thusly : rates are so low in the States [...]

BusinessWeek’s August twenty-four cover blares : “The Case for Optimism.” As mags and papers hemorrhage ink in their cheerleading for a supposed end to the recession, it kind of feels like time to take a step backwards and ask if these are just “feel-good” features, or if there’s any substance to the concept that “the [...]