Economy

Matt Drudge learned long ago that jumping across the pond in the late evening and perusing the British press is a way to get a head start on the news, and in some cases to get news that the American press is ignoring. The situation with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is an example of the latter. If it happens, call it The Caracas Crackup -- The UK Telegraph is reporting that the inevitable…

The stock market is casting a vote of "no confidence" in Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and his Republican opponent is missing an opportunity to slam the freshman senator for an economic agenda that is a rehash of the worst of Presidents Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter.So argued on-air editor Charles Gasparino in an October 13 op-ed in the New York Post, where the CNBC talent mentioned that even Obama's…

On what should be the crowning day of his professional career, one hopes for his sake that Paul Krugman wasn't watching Morning Joe.  For news of his economics Nobel was met by the crew with ridicule that even Mika Brzezinski couldn't resist.  Andrea Mitchell tried to uphold the Krugman honor, but—as seen in the screencap—even she couldn't suppress a smile at the award's arrant absurdity.Joe…

Given that the topic of this post is the Associated Press, I guess I should be pleased to report that one of its two reports tonight about the dive in the stock market last week is correct. In one article ("Gov't eyes plan to take ownership stakes in banks"), AP's Harry Dunphy and Tom Raum correctly said that "the Dow Jones industrial average just completed its worst week ever, plummeting more…

Poor Karl Ritter and Matt Moore of the Associated Press must have a lot of time to kill, a dearth of ideas, and a studied disinterest in accuracy as they await the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Economics in Stockholm, Sweden on Monday. A list of past winners is here.  Besides lamenting that no woman has ever won the Economics Prize (so?), the AP pair felt the need to relate the financial…

There has been an unreality in the reports on the falling stock markets for at least the past 10 days. Each day's plunge seems to have been exclusively due to the "global economic crisis" and/or the supposed "freeze on credit." Oddly enough, the admittedly small bank where I have my business accounts is having absolutely no problem funding mortgage, home-equity, and other loan applications from…

A former San Francisco Supervisor pleaded guilty Friday to three felonies Friday that go to the fundamental integrity of city operations. Both the Associated Press's Paul Elias and the San Francisco Chronicle's Wyatt Buchanan did not see fit to name the party of Ed Jew, who is, naturally, a Democrat. Interesting, Jew attributes his downfall to the examples of others, and, according to Buchanan…

It's getting close to Halloween, so I hope this story doesn't scare you too much. But the Associated Press has discovered that this bad economy is making us ugly. That's right, ugly. Because of this downturn people just cannot afford to go to their friendly neighborhood plastic surgeon for those nips and tucks any more. So it is the AP's sad duty to inform us that "As economy sags, faces do too,…

Was the current economic situation caused by too little government intervention in the financial markets—or too much?   I'd say the latter.  Washington used Fannie/Freddie as a political piggy bank, causing it dole out loans to people who had no business receiving them.  And because Freddie and Fannie's obligations enjoyed the implicit guarantee of the federal government, they were able to obtain…

In a heavily amateurish move, ABCNews.com attributed a dip in an already sinking Dow to President Bush's speech on the economy with a top headline story in its home page rotation."Dow-ner: Bush Speaks, Stocks Drop; Friday address marks 10th time Bush has recently spoken on volatile markets," the teaser headline read.The story in question took the skilled labor of a grand total of four ABCNews…

Who you gonna call to fix the economy? Kids. The Dow dropped 5,585 points since its high a year ago, banks have been afraid to lend and the government bought billions in toxic mortgage-backed securities. So CBS's "The Early Show" went to some top finance experts to explain what was happening to viewers, right? Nope, they went to kids, Oct. 10. Weatherman Dave Price talked to fifth graders…

It's sad when just about the only place to get the truth about what happened to precipitate the current mortgage-lending mess is the Colbert Report. Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Mad Money" appeared on the Comedy Central show on Monday. The takeaway soundbites: Cramer said "I'd love to, but I can't" pin the blame for the debacles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on President Bush. He noted that "the…

Is capitalism really in critical condition or already in its grave?You might think that if you read The Washington Post today. Anthony Faiola's "analysis" warned that the financial crisis "is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism."The article continued the mainstream media’s trend of blaming capitalism for the recent tremors in the financial system.Faiola’s article said, “But the…

Labor costs the Detroit Three substantially more per vehicle than it does the Japanese. Health care is the biggest chunk. GM, for instance spends $1,635 per vehicle on health care for active and retired workers in the U.S. Toyota pays nothing for retired workers - it has very few - and only $215 for active ones . . . Contract issues like work rules, line relief and holiday pay amount to $630 per…