Aug 05 With 117,00 New Jobs in July, a Slight Improvement in the Solman Unemployment Scale By Paul Solman "Employment Report Damned with Faint Praise: It Could Have Been Worse." Thus does Nigel Gault, Chief U.S. Economist of IHS Global Insight, sum up the consensus view of Friday's unemployment numbers. Jobs added in July; upward revision for June. Even… Continue reading
Aug 04 On Dow’s Worst Day Since ’08, Running for Cover By Paul Solman A trader bows his head on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the closing bell Thursday; photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images. Just back from lunch, at which Brandeis classicists Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow and Cheryl Walker schooled me… Continue reading
Aug 03 After the Debt Deal, Where’s the Market Rally? Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on August 3, 2011 in New York City. The Dow closed 29 points up after a late afternoon rally, recovering from an eight day slump. Continue reading
Aug 02 No Cylons, No Caprica, But Still Pretty Fracking Cool By Paul Solman Pretty fracking cool, if you'll pardon our Battlestar Galactica reaction to this video from Studio 20 at New York University. Whether or not the method of natural gas extraction known as "fracking" is more costly than beneficial is the… Continue reading
Aug 01 Default by Debt Ceiling? ‘Complete Nonsense’ EmbedVideo(1145, 514, 320); Editor's Note: On Monday's NewsHour Paul Solman reports from the trading floor of Natixis CIB Americas to see how the stock market was reacting to news of the debt ceiling deal. Turns out the… Continue reading
Jul 29 How Did the U.S. Get $14 Trillion in Debt? A fascinating set of graphic debt data, courtesy of the New York Times. Meanwhile, amidst all the scare talk of a bond rate crisis, has anyone noticed that the bond market is rallying mightily today? As… Continue reading
Jul 29 Fancy a Pint? Brew Throughout the World Photo by Flickr user hakaider. Has all the talk about the debt ceiling left you wanting to reach for a cold one? Or several? How are they likely to be drowning their sorrows elsewhere in the world?… Continue reading
Jul 26 The ‘Bond Vigilantes’ and the Debt Ceiling Crisis: No Need to Panic or Lying in Wait? Harvard's eminent trade economist, Robert Lawrence, gave a talk in Greece this month. Among his slides was this image with the headline: "The Vigilantes are Asleep!" Slide image courtesy of Robert Lawrence. That would be the so-called "bond… Continue reading
Jul 20 Is Flogging a Better Option Than Prison? German soldiers flog a Russian villager while fellow villagers are forced to watch. This photograph was found on a dead German soldier. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images. A new book by Peter Moskos is as provocative in name as… Continue reading
Jul 19 Lincoln Electric Story Sparks Debate, Frank Koller Responds One more day's worth of reaction to our Lincoln Electric story, which has generated so much comment on PBS' Facebook page. It comes from Frank Koller, the Canadian journalist we interviewed, author of the book on Lincoln,… Continue reading