Economy Featured Articles

In the previous three articles in this series (click here for part 2) the definitions of recession and depression have been discussed based on the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Analysis) definition of recession and a modified definition of the business cycle. The previous articles have had an analysis of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) that explicitly separates the rebound from the bottom of the business cycle...

It's with interest and the inkling of the first stages of romance that I find myself here at RD. As I say on my blog, I'm NOT an economist, but have been writing on EM08 - Econ Meltdown 2008 - for quite a while.

My EM08 articles are for the everyday person. I hope they shed light and help spur us to positive action....

GDP was revised up. But, the revision obscures the real trends. 2/3rds of GDP is due to changes in inventory, not final sales. Final demand rose 1.9% revised DOWN from the previously estimated 2.2%. Consumer spending rose 1.7% DOWN from 2.8% in the third quarter....

Long, but well worth the read. I bolded a few passages that I thought were important for those short on time. I will put my comments in the comment section below. Wall Street's Bailout Hustle Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creati...

Now Goldman Sachs (GS) is being painted into the center of the emerging picture of the Greek crisis. An article in Satuday's New York Times by Louise Story, Landon Thomas Jr. and Nelson D. Schwartz describes how Goldman designed vehicles to transfer current obligations of the Greek government far into the future....

With unemployment at 10% (Dec) and expected to remain the same or increase slightly for January, it begs the question, WHERE’S THE JOBS? Last week’s GDP report came in at an astounding 5.7%. Historically GDP above 5% should substantially lower unemployment, even with it being a lagging indicator. However, this does not seem to be...

A 5.7% GDP number is awesome! Who would have thought! We should be dancing in the streets! Once again the cynical side of me emerges. If the number is so great, why are stocks up only 1% on the news? They should be up substantially more if this is sustainable. After all, consensus was only 4.5% and the HIGH end est was 5.7%. But notice that 60% of GDP is due to inventory build-up. Inventories were depleted to...

These hearings are simply amazing. First, Tim Geithner. Timmy made a lot of noise about "total meltdown" risk (and indeed even referenced the possible loss of civil order!) but the question that was not asked is this: Who stoked that fear in Congress? That would be Bernanke and Paulson, right? They in fact told Congress...