Aug 12 Watch With General Motors Back in Black, Interim CEO Steps Aside As General Motors announced a $1.3 billion quarterly profit Thursday, CEO Edward Whitacre announced he will step down on Sept. 1. Jim Lehrer talks to David Shepardson from The Detroit News and George Magliano of IHS Automotive about the company's… Continue watching
Jul 27 Watch News Wrap: $9 Billion for Iraq Rebuilding Missing In other news Tuesday, an inspector general's report shows that the U.S. Defense Department can't find $9 billion of Iraqi oil money earmarked for rebuilding. Also, the campaign financial bill stalled in the Senate. Continue watching
Mar 30 Why Is the Trade Deficit Important? Question: Please explain the trade deficit. What is it? Why is it important? Is it an indicator like taking someone’s temperature or is it a debt that has to be paid? Does it relate directly to our national debt?… Continue reading
Mar 18 How and Why Is the Fed Creating $1 Trillion? By Business Desk Question: How and why is the Fed creating $1 trillion in new funds to buy securities? Paul Solman: They’ve been calling Fed chairman Bernanke “Helicopter Ben” since he told conservative economics icon Milton Friedman, in a speech a few… Continue reading
Oct 23 If America is losing money, who’s gaining? Does there have to be balance? Question/Comment: If the world today has all the same resources it had yesterday and America is losing money there must be someone somewhere gaining from this crisis in order for there to be a balance. Am I right? If I… Continue reading
May 29 How does the U.S. “export” its inflation to other countries? Question/Comment: How does the U.S. “export” its inflation to other countries? And a second question: Frequently pundits say the U.S. can and does print money to achieve some economic or financial goal. However, my economics professor says the government does… Continue reading
Apr 04 Why is the price in oil rising and who is getting the money? Question/Comment: Oil has gone up in price per barrel a huge amount during the last few weeks. Neither the cost of producing that oil nor our falling dollar value could have made much of a difference in that short term. Continue reading
Apr 01 Will JPMorgan Chase have to assume all of Bear Stearns’ debt? Question/Comment: Will JPMorgan Chase have to assume all of Bear Stearns’ debt? Paul Solman: Nope. The Fed covers the first $30 billion dollars of Bear Stearns losses — $30… Continue reading
Feb 15 It’s been a long time since I took Econ. 101, but as I remember, if you keep printing ever-greater amounts of currency, inflation takes on a life of its own. Question/Comment: It’s been a long time since I took Econ. 101, but as I remember, if you keep printing ever-greater amounts of currency, inflation takes on a life of its own. Isn’t that what we’ve been doing at the rate… Continue reading