Jan 09 Could the U.S. Follow in the Eurozone’s Footsteps? German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday at the Chancellery in Berlin. The two leaders discussed the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis. Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images. Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users… Continue reading
Jan 06 Unemployment Dips to 8.5%, Lowest Rate in 2 Years A jobs sign hangs above the entrance to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building in Washington, D.C. Photo by Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images. By Paul Solman and Elizabeth Shell Friday's unemployment figures are positive all around: The official unemployment number… Continue reading
Jan 05 Could a Higher Import Tariff Pay for Medicare and Get the US Out of Debt? Cargo containers sit stacked on a ship at the Port of New Orleans in Louisiana. Photo by Paul Taggart/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news here on… Continue reading
Jan 04 Laughing at Macroeconomics: A Cartoon Introduction By Elizabeth Shell, Paul Solman By Paul Solman and Elizabeth Shell Unemployment rates, inflation, poverty, exchange rates -- all familiar topics for readers who frequent this page. Normally, these are no laughing matter. But cartoonist Grady Klein and stand-up comedian Yoram Bauman (who should… Continue reading
Jan 03 Should Our Economy Run Like a Cardiovascular System? Photo by RunPhoto via Getty Images. Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Tuesday's query: Name: Paul Johnson, Ph.D., cardiovascular physiologist and adjunct… Continue reading
Jan 02 Instead of ‘Fairness’ in the Tax System, Why Not Emphasize Results? Image by Spark Studio via Getty Images. Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Monday's query: Name: Ben Sands Question:… Continue reading
Dec 27 Latest U.S. Home Sales Price Reading a ‘Distinct Downer’ Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. It's the monthly moment for Case-Shiller/S&P, the most widely followed index of U.S. housing prices, and Tuesday's numbers are a distinct downer, prices dropping at an annual rate of over 1 percent,… Continue reading
Dec 23 Bargain Basement and Top Shelf: What’s Driving Growth for Retailers? Photo by flickr user Ian Britton, post by Elizabeth Shell. "We're all peacocks. We all like to show off." That's what Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, told us recently in a conversation about changes… Continue reading
Dec 21 When Did the Great Depression Start? – And Why That Matters A crowd of depositors gather in the rain outside Bank of United States after its failure in 1931 during the Great Depression. Photo by World Telegram staff photographer from the Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons. Last week's story… Continue reading
Dec 20 Why the Euro Might Not Be Good For Greece A Greek 500 drachma banknote sits atop euros. Photo by Peter Phipp via Getty Images. Today's post tries to answer a number of questions that have come in over the past few weeks along the lines of, "What's going… Continue reading