Jan 20 Is Unemployment in Massachusetts to Blame for Coakley's Loss? By Hari Sreenivasan _pap_embed_custom('news01s392cqd89',482,304,""); As the GOP's Scott Brown prepares to head to Washington after his victory in the Massachusetts Senate race, Dante Chinni of the Patchwork Nation project stopped by the Rundown Wednesday to discuss the issues driving the unexpected… Continue reading
Jan 20 Bank Bonuses to Exceed Pre-Crisis Levels By Carolyn O'Hara _pap_embed_custom('news01s3928qd89',482,304,""); With Wall Street banks poised to offer record paydays for employees, Wall Street Journal columnist Dennis Berman explains the latest bank earnings reports and Wall Street's reaction to the Obama administration's proposed tax on big banks. Continue reading
Jan 20 How Can We Base an Economy on Consumption? Question: I have heard and read many times that consumer spending is a major part of our economy. Reading the paper on a recent morning, I read that consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. It is… Continue reading
Jan 19 Kraft and Cadbury Reach Merger Deal After several months of often contentious talks, Cadbury has accepted Kraft's takeover offer, creating the world's biggest confectioner in a deal valued around $19.4 billion. Cadbury had strongly resisted any such deal for months; at one point in… Continue reading
Jan 19 Richard Freeman on Changing Wall Street By Business Desk Paul Solman: A few months ago, Harvard economist Richard Freeman took us on a recession walking tour of the Boston area. Among the many hats Freeman wears is working at the National Bureau of Economic Research, which declares… Continue reading
Jan 15 Paul Krugman on Values and Economics By Business Desk Paul Solman: To follow up our conversation with Paul Krugman yesterday on how to tackle financial reform, we go ‘up close and personal’ with the Nobel-winning economist today, kicking off with this question I pose to him: Don’t… Continue reading
Jan 14 Paul Krugman on Financial Reform By Business Desk Paul Solman: At January's annual economics meeting in Atlanta, we sat down one-on-one with a variety of intriguing economists, none of whom I've known longer than Paul Krugman. I first interviewed him in the early 1980s, back when… Continue reading
Jan 14 Obama Proposes Tax on Biggest Banks to Recoup Bailout Funds UPDATE - 2:05 P.M.: In his remarks this morning announcing the proposed tax on the nation's biggest banks, President Obama said he wants to "recover every single dime the American people are owed." He went on: "We're already hearing a… Continue reading
Jan 14 Watch Big Banks Brace for Major Tax Hike President Obama announced Thursday plans to tax the nation's biggest banks to recoup TARP costs. But not everyone thinks this is such a great idea. Continue watching
Jan 13 How Job Numbers Stack Up Across Patchwork Nation By Hari Sreenivasan // In his latest visit to the Rundown, Patchwork Nation's Dante Chinni discussed how unemployment rates in some U.S. communities have fared over the last year, how income disparities break down across the country and how it all may… Continue reading