Jan 16 Dodge Foundation Cancels Poetry Festival The largest poetry festival in North America has just become the latest victim of the financial crisis. The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation announced Friday in a letter to supporters that it will cancel the next Dodge Poetry Festival. Continue reading
Jan 16 Bank of America Posts Big Losses, Citigroup Splits in Two By PBS News Hour Bank of America posted its first quarterly loss in 17 years and received a boost from the government while Citigroup reported a fourth-quarter loss of $8.29 billion and decided to split up its businesses in a new round of gloomy… Continue reading
Jan 16 Are You Moving in With Friends to Save Money? Question/Comment: I heard Paul Solman say yesterday… wait, you are Paul Solman… that the economy is so bad, lots of people are now moving in with friends to save money. Is this really true? Paul Solman: In the interests of… Continue reading
Jan 15 Watch Steve Jobs' Medical Leave Raises Questions for Apple Apple CEO Steve Jobs' decision to take six months of medical leave for an illness he has deemed a "horomone imbalance" caused the company's stock to fall sharply. Spencer Michels examines Jobs' singular influence in the technology world. Continue watching
Jan 15 Democrats Unveil $825B Stimulus Plan By Admin, PBS News Hour House Democrats on Thursday released an $825 billion economic rescue plan that aims to alleviate the economic downturn through a combination of $550 billion in spending and state aid, and $275 billion in tax cuts. Continue reading
Jan 15 In Case You Missed It: Economists Place Their Bets With Predictions for 2009 Last night on the NewsHour, we did a story on economic predictions for the future, featuring two economists who’d correctly called the current crisis: Martin Feldstein and Ken Rogoff. You can watch the piece here. We ended the story… Continue reading
Jan 14 Watch Economists Place Their Bets With Predictions for 2009 In the second of his new series on making sense of financial news, Paul Solman asks economists for predictions for the year ahead and interviews "standup economist" Yoram Bauman, who mines financial news for comedic material. Continue watching
Jan 14 Retail Sales Sag 2.7% in December; Stocks Drop By PBS News Hour Retail sales dropped more than expected in December -- a sixth straight monthly slide -- as consumers took heed of an economy pummeled by a recession, credit squeeze and continuing job losses. Continue reading
Jan 13 Can We Really Compare Today's Unemployment Numbers With Those During the Great Depresssion? Question/Comment: After the rebroadcast of your interview with Robert Solow I had a discussion with my daughter, who is a high school junior. She noted that Solow mentioned the unemployment rate in the Great Depression was 25 to 30… Continue reading
Jan 12 Why Can't We Bail Out Americans Who Have Overcharged Their Credit Cards? Question/Comment: Sir, I am curious why no one is talking about a sure-fire way to assist over one hundred million Americans and put over one hundred billion dollars back into the economy every month. I am talking about a bail… Continue reading