February 5th, 2010 // comments (0)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS

The unemployment rate has dropped to 9.7%. That’s down from 10% which seems like good news but the economy still shed 200,000 jobs.

October 8th, 2009 // comments (0)

White House Pressers Becoming WWE Events

Allow me to illustrate a point by shining a light on two different worlds.

World One involves the White House and it’s mouth piece, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. In this world everything is worthy of a yuck-yuck moment and it’s perfectly acceptable to turn a press conference into something just short of a skit on Monday Night Raw. Let’s go to the tape…

MR. GIBBS: I will say this — I will say this, I don’t know if you

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May 14th, 2009 // comments (0)

The List – Chrysler Closing 789 Dealerships

An attempt by dealers and lobbyists to stop the government from closing 789 Chrysler dealerships across the United States has failed. A complete list of all closing Chrysler dealership locations follows…

April 22nd, 2009 // comments (0)

Freddie Mac Suicide: Acting CFO Found Dead

Around 5AM this morning, Fairfax County, Virginia police received a phone call from family members of David Kellerman, acting CFO of Freddie Mac. “We were called from inside the house to come investigate an apparent suicide,” Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings said.

Kellerman was responsible for Freddie Mac’s finances and has been under pressure since the government intervened to save the struggling company with taxpayer funds. Though Freddie Mac is a government-controlled company, that hasn’t made the…

April 17th, 2009 // comments (0)

Friday Fun: Jim Cramer Freaks Out

Again. I should have said Jim Cramer Freaks Out Again. Because God knows this guy can blow a lid with the best of them. But you know what? I like him. He’s entertaining and, as he’s keeping me watching, I learn a thing or two as well. There’s nothing wrong with that. Check out the verbal explosion (am I overselling it?) in the video below and have yourself a fantastic weekend.

P.S. Cramer doesn’t jump in until about halfway…

April 17th, 2009 // comments (0)

Photo: A Sign Of The Times?

Not sure where this photo was snapped but it’s clearly a bright business owner trying to make the best of a tough situation. You’ve seen this kind of thing from coast-to-coast. From unemployed husbands wearing sandwich boards, handing out resumes in the city to downright begging from those who lost their jobs early on in the year.

It’s nice to see someone keeping their sense of humor ‘in this economy’. Man am I tired of that phrase. Hell, even…

April 3rd, 2009 // comments (0)

Budget Passes With No GOP Votes

While you were sleeping…:

Acting in quick succession, the House and Senate approved budgets Thursday night drawn to President Barack Obama’s specifications and pointing the way toward major legislation later this year on health care, energy and education.

The House budget drew opposition from 20 Democrats as well as all 176 Republicans who voted.

In the Senate, only two Democrats voted against the plan, along with all 41 Republicans.

April 3rd, 2009 // comments (0)

Jobless Rate Jumps To 8.5 Percent

It’s the highest unemployment rate since 1983…:

The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide range of employers eliminated a net total of 663,000 jobs.

The Labor Department’s report is fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America’s workers and companies.

The latest tally of job losses, released Friday, was slightly higher than the 654,000 that economists expected. The rise in the unemployment rate matched expectations.

April 2nd, 2009 // comments (0)

Geithner Considering More CEO Firings

Here’s the full Geithner/Couric interview from CBS News:

This is fantastically frightening… we have a government, led by officials with no experience running an automobile company, running automobile companies.

What could possibly go wrong?

March 30th, 2009 // comments (0)

CEO ‘Secretly’ Working In Warehouse

The best way to get an on-the-ground assessment, I’m guessing?

Local Amazon employees say Bezos is working in the warehouse with the company’s hourly employees to see what they do and hear their comments about their work.

Most CEOs would benefit from spending a few days on the shop floor. Life has changed there since they were young and on the way up — thanks to innovators, such as Amazon.com.

March 25th, 2009 // comments (0)

Geithner Talks, The Dollar Tanks

Another massive embarrassment for Tim Geithner:

Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is “open” to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China’s central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more modest and “evolutionary.”
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Evidently sensing a gaffe, moderator Roger Altman told Geithner that it would be “useful” to return to the question, and

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March 23rd, 2009 // comments (0)

JPMorgan Buys Jets With TARP Cash

Jets to be housed in a hangar with a ‘vegetated roof garden’. How nice!

Embattled bank JPMorgan Chase, the recipient of $25 billion in TARP funds, is going ahead with a $138 million plan to buy two new luxury corporate jets and build “the premiere corporate aircraft hangar on the eastern seaboard” to house them, ABC News has learned.

The financial giant’s upgrade includes nearly $120 million for two Gulfstream 650 planes and $18 million for a

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March 23rd, 2009 // comments (0)

AIG Bonuses: To Take Or Not To Take

A.I.G. employees must decide whether or take or leave their bonuses by 5PM today. You can’t almost guarantee anyone who doesn’t choose ‘leave’ will be outed…

Management at American International Group’s financial products unit asked its employees to let the unit know by 5 p.m. on Monday if they plan to return all or part of the bonuses they got under an employee retention program, said the Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter.

March 23rd, 2009 // comments (0)

Finally: Geithner’s ‘Toxic Assets’ Plan

Time to toss another trillion dollars into the fireplace. Details:

The plan aims to remove so-called toxic assets — many of them bad mortgage investments — from the banks’ balance sheets through a private-public partnership. The program will rely heavily on private investors, such as hedge funds and private-equity firms, to buy up $500 billion to $1 trillion of assets with the government providing incentives such as low interest loans and sharing in both the risk and possible profits.

“The

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March 23rd, 2009 // comments (0)

Positive News Sends Markets Higher

Well, look at that… a second round of positive housing news:

The National Association of Realtors says pending U.S. home sales rose 5.1 percent in February to rate of 4.72 million units. Economists had expected sales would fall. That’s the second bit of good housing news over the past week — last Tuesday, the government issued a better-than-expected housing starts report.

Stocks were already sharply higher following after the Treasury Department announced a plan to revive lending. The effort would

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