Mar 17 New Home Construction Jumps as Wholesale Prices Edge Up By PBS News Hour The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that construction of new homes and apartments jumped 22.2 percent in February compared with January, pushing total activity to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 units. Continue reading
Mar 09 What’s the Total Wealth of the United States? Question: With all this economic turmoil and talk of trillions of dollars, my question is: What is the total wealth of the United States? If the total U.S. wealth is, say, $100,000 trillion, then spending $1 trillion to help banks… Continue reading
Mar 04 New Details Emerge on Mortgage Relief Plan By Admin, PBS News Hour The Obama administration on Wednesday announced new details on its $75 billion mortgage relief plan to help those in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. Continue reading
Mar 03 Obama, Brown Praise Relations, Assess the Economic Crisis By Admin, PBS News Hour President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday hailed the "special relationship" between their countries as the two held talks on how to solve the economic crisis reverberating around the globe. Continue reading
Feb 25 Are We Overreacting to Unemployment Numbers? Question/Comment: In the early ’80’s unemployment was over 10 percent. I’m old enough to remember what the economy was like at that time. It wasn’t pretty given interest rates, but on the other hand we weren’t considering massive government funding… Continue reading
Feb 20 Watch Investors’ Hopes for Turnaround Dim as Markets Plummet As fears over the economic crisis continue to erode investors' confidence, markets at home and abroad are feeling the effects. Financial analysts discuss how the markets relate to the realities of the economic turmoil. Continue watching
Feb 19 Watch Public, Bankers, Analysts Debate Merits of Obama’s Foreclosure Plan Reaction in the banking world and among the public to President Barack Obama's plan to ease home foreclosures has proven mixed. Analysts debate the plan's merits and examine what the measure may mean for homeowners and lenders. Continue watching
Feb 03 Watch Spending, Tax Cuts in Stimulus Package Provoke Fierce Debate in Senate Opponents of the stimulus package moving through the Senate are skeptical of the bill's increasing size, and of certain proposals they claim would not effectively boost the economy. Senators Jack Reed and John Thune debate the measure. Continue watching
Feb 03 Was the Wall Street Money Real or Imagined? Question/Comment: Could you explain where all the money went that supposedly vanished during the Wall Street meltdown? Who has it? Was it imaginary or did it really exist? Paul Solman: All Wall Street values are imaginary. All money is imaginary. 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