Clipmarks | rmowery's 'economy' clips

Bush to America: Hang in there

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:25:00 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Bush to America: Hang in there

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush on Tuesday told a country engulfed by dire economic news that it should not expect a sudden recovery, but rather a gradual rebound that will test people's patience.

Pounding home a sober tone, Bush said about a dozen times that the nation is enduring "tough times."

"I know that the days are dim right now for a lot of folks," Bush said. "But I firmly believe tomorrow is going to be brighter."

Just not literally tomorrow.

The government's unprecedented plan to buy up Wall Street's failed assets has not kept the stock market from plunging or the credit crisis from imperiling financial markets around the globe. That, in turn, has exacerbated the confusion of the public, which was told repeatedly that the government plan was a rescue.

So the White House, led by Bush, is sending this message: Hang in there, America. The massive federal intervention will just take time to work.

Tags: bush, chantilly, economy, pep talk, finance, retirement, housing

Buy Stock now or Why You Should Fear the Future

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:54:12 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.fool.com

Why You Should Fear the Future

Remember when everyone was quoting Baron Rothschild, saying, "Buy when blood is in the streets"? Well, this is it. We're in the Wall Street equivalent of Kill Bill meets Jurassic Park. It looks like it's all over but the spurting.

Warren Buffett knows how to play this game. He's buying, and he says that in five or 10 years, "we'll look back on this period and we'll see that you could have made some extraordinary buys."

But when the market drops 9% in a day, it's hard to react logically, like Buffett -- and not, say, curl up into a quivering, sniffling ball. Here are five ways to help you achieve your goal.

1. Be afraid -- be very afraid
Instead of looking at how much you can make by buying a stock, examine all the ways that you can lose. Bruce Berkowitz, who manages the Fairholme Fund, swears by this strategy. He tries to think of every possible scenario that can kill a company -- and if he can't find any, then he'll buy.

Tags: stocks, market, economy, buffet, investment

Wealthy Are Afraid They’ll Run Out of Money

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:57:52 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: blogs.wsj.com

Wealthy Are Afraid They’ll Run Out of Money

It’s not just the middle class that has money worries. Even the affluent are worrying about running out of cash.

According to a new survey from American Express Publishing and the Harrison Group, nearly half of respondents with incomes of $250,000 or more agreed with the statement that “I worry that at some point I could run out of money.” That’s up from about a third in April.

Fully 69% agreed with the statement that “The recent real estate and banking crisis has affected my sense of financial security.”

Of course, $250,000 is only “Obama wealthy.” And running out of money “at some point” is a long time horizon. Yet the survey suggests that even high-income earners are cutting back their spending for fear of what the financial future might bring. Fully two-thirds say that they are “looking closely at every spending category to see where I can save.”

Tags: wealthy, middle class, money, finance, economy

Weird "Al" Yankovic on the Economy - Whatever You Like

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:58:09 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: LMAO -- the lyrics are a riot!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Whatever You Like

[Video]

Tags: weird al, lyrics, whatever you like, economy, entertainment, music

White House calls AIG spa trip ‘despicable’

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:59:14 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: UnFracking REAL.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

White House calls AIG spa trip ‘despicable’

Executives went to resort days after government bailed company out

WASHINGTON - The White House said on Wednesday it was "despicable" that American International Group Inc. executives spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a posh California retreat just days after getting a federal bailout.

Lawmakers investigating the meltdown of AIG said the retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove the company under, but they were still enraged that executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary spent $440,000 on the retreat, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings.

"It's pretty despicable," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Tags: aig, wall street, execs, spa, economy, bailout

5 Battered but Worthy Stocks

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:56:51 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.fool.com

5 Battered but Worthy Stocks

This past month has been brutal, and we've seen a lot of stocks lose value. Sometimes, a stock price declines because the market has efficiently digested new information and appropriately discounted the stock's value. And sometimes a stock price spikes downward because people panic.

But in Motley Fool CAPS, where 115,000-plus members offer their investing opinions, stocks with a maximum rating of five stars have a stellar record.

Still, some of our five-star stocks travel a turbulent road to good performance. And even though most of the five-star picks pan out, not all of them will. So let's examine some five-star stocks with large price declines over the past month. We'll look at some reasons for the decline and see whether these battered stocks are worth their stars.

Here are the past month's battered prospects:

Tags: stocks, worthy investments, economy, stock market

Police: Jobless father kills family, self

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:39:11 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: very sad.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Police: Jobless father kills family, self

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.

Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse, police said.

The two-story rented home is in gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The names of the victims have not been released, said Deputy Chief of Police Michel Moore.

The shootings were discovered at 7:15 a.m. Monday, when a neighbor called police to report that the wife had not picked her up as she usually did to take her to her job at a pharmacy, Moore said.

Tags: jobless, father, killing, los angeles, mba, economy

Economy Weakens Further

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:58:20 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: news.morningstar.com

Economy Weakens Further

Recent reports suggest a recession is intensifying.

Bill Bergman is a senior stock analyst with Morningstar. He served as a research associate with William Blair for five years, as an economist and senior financial markets policy analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for 13 years, and as an economist and director of the Summer Fellowship Program for the American Institute for Economic Research.

We've likely been in a recession this year, and last week's data suggest intensifying weakness lately. Employment has been falling steadily during 2008, and last Friday's employment report indicated an accelerating decline in recent months. Manufacturing activity had been holding up better than it usually does during a recession, but this previous source of relative strength may be throwing in the towel.

Tags: economy, weakening, recession, morningstar

Under-employed and under the radar

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:19:57 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Under-employed and under the radar

A growing number of people are working part-time jobs because they can't find full-time work, or abandoning their job search altogether.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The economic crisis has taken a severe toll on the nation's workforce. But while much of the discussion centers around layoffs and unemployment, a growing number of Americans are becoming under-employed - struggling to pay their bills on a smaller salary, or completely giving up on finding any work.

Unemployment claims have climbed to 7-year highs, but the number of people who have settled for part-time work or given up on finding a job altogether is the worst it's been in over 14 years, but isn't included in the official unemployment rate.

Tags: under employment, part-time, jobs, work, economy, recession

Family forced to live in tent

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:20:42 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

A Kansas City family is living in a tent after losing their home to foreclosure. KMBC reports.

• Politics - News, Opinion and Analysis from CNN.com

Family forced to live in tent

Tags: economy, foreclosure, family, tent, kids, kansas

President Bush: 'The economy is strong. The economy is strong ... whoops!'

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:10:55 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

President Bush: 'The economy is strong. The economy is strong ... whoops!'

We've heard President Bush say it, seemingly more times than even Google can count: Stop worrying. The American economy is strong. We are going through difficult times, perhaps, but the economy is strong.

Ditto Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman.

Throughout 2007, the economy was just great. Well into 2008, it was just great. Matter of fact, it was just great until the $700-billion bailout/rescue/whatever plan came along.

Suddenly, the president had a new message: Start worrying. Congress' failure to approve the plan could put the entire U.S. economy -- and perhaps that of the whole world -- at risk.

"We're facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans," the president said Tuesday in one of his early-morning message-to-the-market appearances. "And for the financial security of every American, Congress must act."

Tags: bush, economy, lies, economic meltdown, money, finance

US superpower status is shaken

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:54:07 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I think we will survive and thrive, but what this shows is that the American people need to pay more attention to who we put in office at all levels. Having incompetent people in office for the last 2 White House terms has dramatically set us back.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US superpower status is shaken

The financial crisis is likely to diminish the status of the United States as the world's only superpower.

On the practical level, the US is already stretched militarily, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is now stretched financially.

On the philosophical level, it will be harder for it to argue in favour of its free market ideas, if its own markets have collapsed.

Pivotal moment?

Some see this as a pivotal moment.

The political philosopher John Gray, who recently retired as a professor at the London School of Economics, wrote in the London paper The Observer: "Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably.

Tags: us, superpower, crisis, economy, elections, recovery

Why The Flow Of Innovation Has Reversed

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:08:04 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I think this will be the case with ClipMarks. The service driven by consumers will eventually be desired by enterprise and then the government.

Clip Source: www.unionsquareventures.com

Why The Flow Of Innovation Has Reversed

I had a beer recently with Dave McClure of 500 Hats. As is always the case when I get together with Dave, we had a long, rambling and enjoyable conversation about how the Web is changing the way businesses get built.

At some point, I said that the vector of innovation has changed. It used to be that innovation started with NASA, flowed to the military, then to the enterprise, and finally to the consumer. Today, it is the reverse. All of the most interesting stuff is being built first for consumers and is tricking back to the enterprise. I suggested that one reason this is happening is that the success of a web service is more often determined by its social engineering than its electrical engineering.

Dave immediately said he’d give me three months to blog that before he did. I thought that was generous even for me who doesn’t blog easily or often. But just to be sure I make the deadline, here is the post.

Tags: web services, innovation, nasa, enterprise, economy

A default by the US government is no longer unthinkable

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:37:17 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I disagree - the gov't can always fabricate and print more money any time it wants/needs to and if that doesn't work, then they just tax the people more. Heck - soon we will be paying 85% of our work efforts in taxes.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

A default by the US government is no longer unthinkable

So, here we are – the start of a new world order. After the tumultuous events of the last fortnight, the global economic landscape will never look the same again.

Power has tangibly shifted – away from the United States and the Western world generally, and towards the fast-growing giants of the East. That’s been happening for some years now. But September 2008 marks the moment when the scale of our excesses, the extent of our debts and the moral bankruptcy of our financial regulatory system finally began to be truly exposed.

I say began to be exposed. Back in March, Standard and Poor’s, the US ratings agency, estimated some $285bn (£156bn) of mortgage-backed securities would eventually be written-off by the global banking sector. On Friday, almost unnoticed amid the panic, that forecast was upped to $378bn.

Tags: default, us government, federal reserve, economy, global economics

Bush to address country about bailout plan

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:47:53 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: I personally still think it is BS that this thing has such a RUSH on it. If it is that bad, then why did they not fix it a few weeks ago or a month ago. Forecasting could have shown projections on where things were going.
There is definitely something else behind this whole thing to RUSH things through.
Hell - did they not RUSH through the war package that was needed and for how many billions?

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Bush to address country about bailout plan

Democrats win concessions on executive pay, try to cut cost of proposal

WASHINGTON - Democrats won a key concession from the White House on the financial bailout plan Wednesday and sought to drastically slash the $700 billion size of the rescue. President Bush readied a prime-time speech in a push to persuade resistant lawmakers to back his proposal to stave off a deepening economic crisis.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed to demands from critics in both parties to limit the pay packages of Wall Street executives whose companies would benefit from the proposed bailout.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pressed Paulson on the idea Tuesday and was told it would be a “grave mistake.”

“I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time,” he said.

Tags: bush, economics, bailout plan, concessions, economy