United States

The word on the street is that Lehman will be bought by September 13th. The rumor mill swirls when a stock crashes like Lehman has. Rumors fill the vacuum left by a lack of certainty about a company's prospects. And right now people are…

The Department of Labor released jobless claims numbers today at 8:30 AM. Jobless claims came in at 445,000, down from an upwardly revised 451,000 the week before. Claims are averaging now 440,000 for the past 4 weeks, 115000 higher than…

When the housing mania was in full bloom, many first-time home buyers were understandably panicked about being locked out of home ownership and missing the boat to get onto the property ladder. This was the case in both the UK and in the…

Today, David Wighton over at the Times Online referenced U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's quip that the U.S. Government had a bazooka ready to us in the case of the Frannie and Freddie Nightmare on Wall Street in saying:Helping to…

Apparently, the answer is yes. Thirteen "major" dealers of credit-default swaps agreed "unanimously" that the rescue constitutes a credit event triggering payment or delivery of the companies' bonds, the International Swaps and Derivatives…

For every business cycle since 1929, when U.S. unemployment data was first calculated, when the unemployment rate has gone up more than 1% in one year's time, this has spelled recession. Moreover, the unemployment rate has never risen 1.0%…

I received this e-mail from a friend that was originally penned by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska where Sarah Palin was mayor before becoming Governor of Alaska. It gives a fairly intimate look at Palin and how she got to where she is.…

Mark Thoma has a thoughtful post on the news swirling around the Sarah Palin pick as VP candidate for the GOP. His point is that the Dems risk looking condescending and elitist toward small town America in their attacks on Palin and had…

For the past several weeks, jobless claims have arguably been distorted by seasonality and the extension of unemployment benefits from six to nine months. However, the numbers have risen well above the critical 400,000 mark. Are these…

Obama mentor Joe Lieberman is going all out for Obama's opponent in order to defeat Obama. Why, you ask, when he made quotes like this one in 2006 (via Political Wire):"The gifts that God has given to Barack Obama are as enormous as his…