Category: Economy

I don't know about you, but today's employment data makes me thankful to have a job. Now 1 person in 10 is out of work. In my anecdotal experience, things feel even worse. I see an increasing number of fathers doing drop off at kids' schools, something I didn't see a year ago. And there doesn't seem to be any change in the number of requests I'm getting for job contacts -- and not just for leads in my field.

One interesting fact I came across: If the 15.7 million unemployed lived in one state, that state would be the country's fifth largest. Wow!

But, even more distressing than today's jobs report is the outlook for employment. After the Q3 GDP report came out, hopes were high that the Great Recession was over, and recovery was finally underway.

The number of workers receiving pink slips each month is finally beginning to tail off, but companies plan to keep laying off workers despite signs of a pick up in the U.S. economy.

Private-sector employers cut 203,000 jobs in October, after eliminating 227,000 jobs the previous month, according to a report out today by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. and Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in economic forecasting.

On a more encouraging note, U.S. companies said they were planning fewer layoffs going forward. Planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell to 55,679 in October, down from 66,404 a month earlier, according to outplacement-consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The bulk of the layoffs are expected to come from the auto industry, non-profit firms, and state and local governments.

Authored by Stephanie May, NBR Summer 2009 Intern

Over the summer we dove into the idea that if you spend less during the week, you can make up for times when spending gets a bit more out of control (e.g. the weekend). But now I'm really starting to question that theory.

October was a semi-normal month for me until this last week. Boulder, Colorado puts on a Halloween celebration that rivals the best of them. It's not just one night up here. It's a whole week affair. And forget costume repetition. Creative, elaborate, and different costumes are a must. As you can imagine, this can get extremely expensive. Halloween wiped out my bank account, leaving me with a grand total of 6 dollars. Would I trade the fun I had for a bigger bank balance? Absolutely not. But, when I saw what I spent, I did wonder, "When will this get easier?"

Law makers are closing in on approving an extension of federal unemployment-insurance benefits. The bill would provide an extra 14 weeks of benefits for people who've exhausted their benefits. Those who live in states where the unemployment rate is more than 8.5 percent would get up to 20 weeks of extended benefits.

It's tough to argue that extending unemployment benefits is a bad idea at a time when more than 15 million people are out of work. The extension would come at a time when as many as 7,000 people a day are exhausting their unemployment benefits.

But that doesn't stop some people from trying.

Climate change is one of the most complicated subjects I have ever taken on. It involves intricate scientific topics and will likely have broad economic impact.

And clearly many Americans are having a tough time making up their mind on this topic. A recent poll by the Pew Center shows the number of people who think climate change is caused by human activity is falling. This alarms many scientists who consider the evidence to be clear cut.

Rather than opine on this, I thought I'd point readers to some of the sources I have found useful on this topic.

The recent moves by the Obama Administration and the Federal Reserve to "examine" what they believe is excessive pay to bank executives is yet another example of contemporary policymakers not learning the lessons of the Great Depression. Putting aside the question of whether bailed out banks have any right to complain about their sugar daddy now wanting to call the tunes, the bigger issue is whether this move will have any positive effect on the economy. A look back at the 1930s suggests that not only won't it help, it may well make matters worse.

One of the notable features of the entire decade of the 1930s was the abysmally low level of private investment. The economic historian Robert Higgs has argued that investors were hesitant because they simply were not clear what the rules of the game were. The inconsistent policy moves by the Hoover and Roosevelt Administration as well as FDR's increasingly anti-business rhetoric and policies through the mid-30s led people to not want to take chances on longer-run investments.

Sales of newly built homes fell in September for the first time in five months. New single-family home sales dropped 3.6 percent from the previous month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. It was brow-popping news to market watchers, who'd been expecting sales to increase by 2.6 percent in the month.

Now, wait a minute. Weren't consumers and investors (oh, and yes, real-estate agents) just cheering reports of a surprising leap in existing-home sales? The National Association of Realtors announced Friday that sales of single-family town homes, condominiums and co-ops jumped 9.4 percent in September. The rise in home sales, almost double the increase expected, had people speculating that the long-awaited housing-market rebound had finally arrived.

Then boom ... new-home sales tank. What happened?

Authored by Stephanie May, NBR Summer 2009 Intern

After weeks of financial musings and bringing you (my wonderful readers) along on my journey of financial self-discovery, I feel it is time to return to our money makeover roots for a quick visit.

I am so appreciative of the comments I receive from you all. I love to hear what you have to say. One recent comment from reader "dmd" really made me think...

Stephanie, ...For your sake, I hope the job will be a well paying one or that the Bank of Mom doesn't run out of capital. Otherwise you may have to stop blowing an extra $2,000 a month, or not be able to afford $115 shades or weekend trips to Las Vegas. Let's see if you still take 15 minute showers when you're paying the water and electric bills.

Stephanie, it's time to leave Fantasyland and move into the real world... most of us, including those of us who are fortunate enough to have well-paying, are still struggling with many aspects of today's financial climate. The last thing I need to read about is some college kid's out-of-control spending habits.

After a very long earnings recession (defined as consecutive quarters of declining/negative earnings growth), there is finally an end in sight. So far Q3 results, while still negative, look decidedly better. While market pros are happy about the improved profits, they are mostly jazzed that the numbers are beating expectations. This is one of those funny inside Wall Street nuances. Its not so important what the company earned as it is what everyone thinks it will earn. In other words it's all about "expectations." In Q3 companies are surpassing those expectations....and in some cases by a lot.

Not too long ago, few people worried about financial firms being "too big to fail," but with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars going to bail out Wall Street, that's changed.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is working with Treasury officials on a new proposal to give the government more authority to take over troubled financial firms. The proposal is still being worked on, but what we know so far is that it would give the government powers to seize troubled financial firms, throw out their management, change terms of existing loans and wipe out shareholder stakes.