Posted by Bill on February 29, 2008 at 5:02 pm
As the title suggests, its been a wild week for bad economic news, and the stock market reflected this with the Dow dropping 315 points today.
It’s not if we need a bunch of pencil pushers crunching numbers to tell us how bad it is. I can take a quick drive down the road and look at all the empty retail space that litters my western Cleveland Ohio suburb. My best gauge of the economy is my disposable income, which is dwindling away faster then ever. I’m not alone it appears. Consumer sentiment of the economy is down to a 16 year low.
The cost of gasoline is responsible for eating away some of my income. And this week oil set new price records, so it looks like there is no temporary relief on the way. In fact, AAA says that gasoline might hit $4 a gallon in May. Surprisingly, President Bush appeared blind sided by the notion gas could reach $4 a gallon. You can read more about that here. Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Economy
Posted by Bill on February 25, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Today, MSNBC reports that housing prices and sales have continued their decline.
Sales of existing homes fell for the sixth straight month while median home prices declined by by nearly 5% from a year ago. With the decline of the largest asset owned by working class Americans, what does this mean for our economy?
Cleveland Ohio, known as the home foreclosure epicenter of the United States, has taken legal action against twenty one banks. A handful of local citizens are attempting to jump on the bandwagon too and seek financial restitution for the loss of their homes. It’s good to see cities and previous homeowners demand answers and compensation for being duped.
The foreclosure flood that hit Cleveland has resulted in nearly 1,000 properties being sold for an average price of $2,321 (source). Now if that does not drag down the value of surrounding houses and neighborhoods, I don’t know what will. Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Housing
Posted by Bill on February 22, 2008 at 11:36 am
Just in from the news… Arizona Representative Renzi has been indicted for extortion.
In the indictment, Representative Renzi allegedly conspired to sell land that could be swapped for land owned by the Federal Government. Renzi’s charges include extortion, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Since this is a breaking news story, more information can be found here as details come in.
Archived under Corruption
Posted by Bill on February 21, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Just yesterday the Federal Reserve Minutes were released. Today, the Conference Board released its assessment of the economy.
Like the Federal Reserve, the Conference Board paints a dismal picture of the economy, with a few bright spots. To view the Conference Board’s Press Release, click here. Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Economy
Posted by Bill on February 20, 2008 at 4:02 pm
The Federal Reserve verified today what many citizens already know. The United States economy is getting worse. The Federal Reserve predicts that the US economy will see slower growth, higher unemployment, and higher inflation for 2008. If you would like to read the Fed’s minutes, please click here.
In the Fed’s report, they noted that the continued deterioration of the housing market was partially to blame. And in Cleveland, the housing problems just keep getting worse. A recent story on MSNBC noted that many of the Homeless were breaking into foreclosed homes and living in them.
There is talk that President Bush’s second economic stimulus package will rescue our economy. In previous posts I strongly disagreed with such beliefs. Below I will expand on why the tax stimulus package will not help our economy in the long term.
Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Economy
Posted by Bill on February 13, 2008 at 7:42 pm
As we all know now, President Bush has signed into law a stimulus package that is designed to boost the economy to avert a recession. Some blue collar workers suspect this is nothing more then an attempt by President Bush and Congress to avoid being labeled economic failures.
I spent some time polling my family on what they are going to do with their tax rebates. Most of my family members are going to pay off some bills. My parents plan on getting new doors for their house, citing that as a way to reduce their high heating bills. And of course, there is myself. I plan on making a mortgage payment. If the Federal Government expects my family to stimulate the economy, well that just is not going to happen.
I believe this Federal Tax Stimulus (aka Rebate) will help in the short term to get the economy moving. But the economy is going to fall flat on its face once the spending dries up. The fundamentals, as observed by the average Joe and Jane, just don’t leave much to be desired.
For too long this country has been robbing Peter to pay Paul. This rebate, along with other irresponsible spending, is going to leave future generations holding the tab. There is no way around it. Right now, Federal spending so far this year is twice the rate of last year. Check out this story if you have not read it yet. Federal revenue has dropped 2.1% while spending is up 6.7%. Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Economy
Posted by Bill on February 2, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Hat’s off to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and the other members of the board. They successfully avoided the housing bubble bust that was inevitably going to happen in the last couple of weeks.
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates 1.25% over the last couple of weeks. This not only helped to preserve the large housing bubble, but it also led to the highest weekly stock gains in five years. The S&P 500 was up 4.9%, the Dow was up 4.4%, and the NASDAQ was up 3.8% for the week. That’s great news for the minority of Americans that have money to invest in any significant quantity of stocks.
The Fed has saved the day, and now some economists are predicting a recession may now be avoided. That’s great news! But don’t these economists get paid to wear rose colored glasses and pump a failed economy which ultimately gets dumped on hard working Americans backs? You bet they do! Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Housing
Posted by Bill on February 2, 2008 at 11:57 am
It was just about a month ago that leaders in Ohio were talking about expanding state subsidized health care coverage to children. Now, reality has set in.
Ohio is expecting a budget shortfall up to possibly $1.9 billion dollars by June of 2009. Major budget cuts are on the way and there is probably more budget cuts coming in the following years.
How did Ohio get in this financial mess? First, let’s look at Governor Ted Strickland’s ambitious plan to provide an expand homestead exemption for the disabled and senior citizens over age 65. This property tax break sapped $257 million dollars out of Ohio’s budget. But this action by our Democratic Governor is not the entire cause. Look back to Republican Governor Bob Taft, and his efforts to cut income tax rates by 21% might have something to do with the current financial problems.
Normally I would be overjoyed with tax cuts, because I believe Government is bloated from the local to federal level. But there is a difference between giving money back to the people and just being plain irresponsible. As citizens, we make financial sacrifices all the time. To buy that new TV, we eat out less often. To afford the heating costs of our homes, we turn the thermostat down. Why can’t any level of government see that reducing taxes requires reducing the size of government first? There must be cost savings elsewhere before cutting taxes. Read the rest of this entry »
Archived under Ohio
