Dec 29 States Plow Through Snow-Removal Budgets While it's been barely more than a week since the official start of winter, cash-strapped state and local governments have already plowed through all or most of their available snow-removal budgets, reports the Wall Street Journal. In Maryland,… Continue reading
Dec 29 If Banks Aren't Lending, How Did They Make Recent Profits? Question: I’ve always understood that banks made their money by lending. If they are not lending, what accounts for their recent profits? Paul Solman: They’re lending all right. It’s just that they’re not lending much to individuals or businesses. They… Continue reading
Dec 28 How Did Banks, in Dire Straits Just Last Year, Pay Back TARP Money? Question: Hi, Paul. I really enjoy your attempts to make this banking mess clear to us. My big question that I don’t seem to be reading anywhere: If most of the banks were in such dire straits last year about… Continue reading
Dec 28 Watch Looking Back at Wall Street's Behavior in 2009 Jeffrey Brown speaks with Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times and John Cassidy of The New Yorker about the fallout from the financial crisis, the big bailouts and Wall Street's mentality. Continue watching
Dec 25 Up Next on Capitol Hill: Financial Reform With the end of the health care battle finally in sight (Democrats are talking about getting a bill to the President's desk by some time in February), there is plenty of talk here in Washington among reporters, lawmakers and… Continue reading
Dec 25 Samuelson on Economics and Behavior Paul Solman: A final excerpt from my interview with Paul Samuelson about a decade ago. For this Christmas Day edition of Business Desk, Samuelson on where behavior and economics intersect. Continue reading
Dec 25 Watch Billions in Pension Payments Loom for Struggling State Budgets In a weak economy, many states, cities and towns may be facing billions of dollars in pension liabilities that are currently underfunded. Spencer Michels reports from California on that state's pension challenge. Continue watching
Dec 24 Samuelson on Whether Economics Is a Science Paul Solman: More excerpts today from an interview I did with economist Paul Samuelson nearly a decade ago. Today, his thoughts on whether economics is a science and where math fits in the discipline. Click through to read the transcript. Continue reading
Dec 24 Bah Humbug: The Case Against Holiday Presents In his new book, "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays," economist Joel Waldfogel argues that giving unwanted presents is not just bad for those who receive them, it's bad for the economy as well. Continue reading
Dec 23 Signs of Economic Recovery in Hard-Hit Elkhart, Ind. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that in the heart of unemployment country, Elkhart, Indiana, things are looking up -- or, more accurately perhaps, "less down." Unemployment there now stands at 14.5 percent, reasonably well below its peak of… Continue reading