The Radford Free Press – Page 453 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / business investment, exports, GDP, inventories, recovery, stimulus, unemployment /

Good GDP Data

September 30, 2009

This morning’s news about the second quarter GDP decline was actually good: the drop from the first to second quarters has been revised to only 0.7%, which compares with the original estimate of 1.0%. So the second quarter contraction in the economy was less than originally thought, and less than most forecasters dared hope. Clearly […]

Economics / Case Shiller Index, Consumer Board, consumer confidence, consumption, home prices, jobs, real estate, recovery, unemployment /

House Prices and Consumers

September 29, 2009

We have two pieces of news today that need to be mentioned: the Case Schiller home price index and the Conference Board’s index of consumer sentiment. The Case Schiller index shows that home prices are rising very slightly from the lows reached earlier this year. The increase was 1.6% in July compared with June. This […]

Economics / banking, bankruptcy, capital ratios, deregulation, externalities, GE, leverage, regulation, toxic assets /

Financial Reform, Pollution, and Social Value

September 28, 2009

I can hear you all saying: ‘Huh?’ Well there’s no economic news today so I thought I would attempt to tie together a few of the broader themes that seem, to me at least, to be crucial as we get the economy going again. That’s where what I call social value comes in. The purpose […]