Feb 12 New Jobless Claims Drop; Retails Sales Up Slightly By Admin, PBS News Hour Government reports show the number of new jobless benefit claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 623,000, from 631,000 the previous week, while U.S. retail sales jumped 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month downward trend. Continue reading
Feb 11 Congress Reaches Agreement on $789 Billion Stimulus Bill By Admin, PBS News Hour House and Senate negotiators have reached an agreement Wednesday on a $789 billion economic stimulus plan aimed at creating millions of jobs and providing tax cuts for millions of lower and middle income taxpayers, lawmakers say. Continue reading
Feb 11 Watch Other News: FBI Investigates Corporate Fraud, Tornadoes Rip Through Oklahoma In other news of the day, the FBI announced its investigation of more than 500 potential cases of corporate fraud, and tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma killed at least 8, destroying homes and businesses. Continue watching
Feb 11 Watch Congress Strikes Tentative $789B Deal on Stimulus Plan Congressional leaders announced that they have reached a deal on a stimulus plan Wednesday -- although talks continued late in the day on the bill's final details. The Hotline's Amy Walter discusses the negotiations and Jeffrey Brown reports on the… Continue watching
Feb 11 Will Any Plan That Puts People Back to Work Actually Stimulate the Economy? Question/Comment: Everyone seems to have an opinion on what will stimulate the economy and what won’t. Won’t anything that puts people to work stimulate the economy, and are there entities, and their analyses, that can project stimulatory effects of different… Continue reading
Feb 11 Forecasting Our Economic Future Paul Solman: Historians sing of what has passed; journalists, of what is passing; economic forecasters, of what is to come. Over the years, and especially during presidential campaigns, we’ve featured the forecasting model of Yale economist Ray Fair here… Continue reading
Feb 10 Watch In Other News, Oil Prices Plunge, General Motors Announces More Job Cuts In other news of the day, the price of oil plunged after the energy department predicted shrinking demand, and General Motors announced it will cut 10,000 jobs. Continue watching
Feb 10 Watch Geithner Revamps Bank Rescue Plan The Treasury Department outlined an overhaul of the financial rescue plan Tuesday as the stimulus bill moved forward. Economists and analysts react to the developments. Continue watching
Feb 10 As a Stimulus, Would it Work to Give Money to Americans to Cover Their Mortgage or Credit Debt? By Business Desk Question/Comment: As a stimulus to the economy, would it work to give money to Americans to cover their mortgage or credit debt? Paul Solman: Any spending is a stimulus. You might take a few minutes to read, as I just… Continue reading
Feb 10 Congress to Mesh $800 Billion Stimulus Bills By Admin, PBS News Hour The Senate on Tuesday approved an $838 billion economic stimulus package of spending and tax cuts that now must be reconciled with the House's $819 billion version. President Barack Obama is pushing to get the plan signed by mid-February. Continue reading