Archive for category Budget
Two million may lose unemployment benefits at year-end
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Ноябрь 22nd, 2010
One of the worst aspects of the Great Recession is not only the persistently high rate of unemployment, but the length of joblessness many have fallen into.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington D.C.-based think-tank, in the third quarter of 2010, 43 percent of the unemployed had been looking for work for more than six months, and 22.7 percent had been looking for work for more than a year.
Moreover, two million long-term unemployed – those who have been seeking work for six months or longer – will lose their unemployment insurance benefits before the end of this year if Congress fails to act to maintain extended benefits.
“In the three years since the Great Recession began, there have at times been more than six unemployed workers competing for every job opening,” wrote Andrea Orr, and editor at EPI.
“Today, well over a year since the recession officially ended, there remain five unemployed workers for every job opening. That current ratio is well above the peak of 2.8-to-1 reached in the prior recession and speaks to the difficult odds even the most motivated unemployed worker faces in finding a new job today.”
Orr notes that critics of extended unemployment insurance often maintain that giving money to people who cannot find work removes the incentive to look for work. Read the rest of this entry »
What The Fed Does not Want You To Know
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Ноябрь 17th, 2010
Yesterday gold and silver staged a sharp reversal day after first making new highs for the year intra-day. There were a couple of reasons for the sharp pullback. The first was the stronger U.S. Dollar Index and the second was the sudden increase in margin requirements for silver. While we are not sure why the margin requirements increased for silver so suddenly we do know why the U.S. Dollar Index traded higher.
The U.S. Dollar Index caught a bid yesterday due to the fact that Ireland and Portugal bunds spreads are the widest they have ever been. In other words these two countries are in serious trouble. Other European Union countries remain in trouble and could soon face defaults as well.
In March, April, May, and June of this year gold and the U.S. Dollar Index actually rallied higher together. So please understand that gold does not just trade inverse to the U.S. Dollar Index. Gold and silver are now being viewed by the investor community as the only true form of currency.
While many say gold is in a bubble this simply does not hold any merit. A bubble occurs when everyone owns something such as a tech stock in 1999 or a house in 2005. Ask your next door neighbor if they own any gold outside of their jewelry and the answer is likely to be ‘no’. If gold was not so important the government would not want to tax it as a collectible at the highest rate allowed. Read the rest of this entry »
It will take 20 years to reduce unemployment
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Ноябрь 15th, 2010
While this morning’s October jobs report was certainly encouraging, given the vast numbers of Americans who remain unemployed, the pace of job growth is still not sufficient to lower the unemployment rate to pre-recession levels.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that jobs growth in the private sector climbed by 159,000, a faster pace than in recent months. Overall, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in October.
However, Heidi Shierholz, an economist at The Economic Policy Institute, notes that given the backlog of 14.8 million unemployed workers in the U.S., at October’s rate of job growth it would take another 20 years to bring the unemployment rate back down to the 5 percent level of December 2007 (at the onset of the recession).
Shierholz also cited that the workforce dropped by 254,000 in October, pushing the labor force participation rate down to 64.5 percent, well below its prerecession level of 66.0 percent in December 2007.
“The pool of ‘missing workers,’ i.e., workers who dropped out of (or didn’t enter) the labor force during the downturn, remains large,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »
Currency War: “The Worst of Wars”
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Ноябрь 1st, 2010
The United States is the lead negotiator in trying to convince China to revalue its undervalued yuan. But U.S. officials are simultaneously operating under the growing perception that it may be seeking a weaker currency of its own — by planning for another round of quantitative easing — thereby threatening its credibility.
That’s why U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made a strategic move to influence the G-20 agenda. He preceded the formal meetings last weekend with a letter to his G-20 counterparts, recommending a unified position and the language for G-20 opposition to the growing currency tensions in the world.
And for the most part, it worked.
Here’s the key take-away from the final G-20 communiqué and what it could mean for the direction of markets …
First, the communiqué said that they «met with a sense of urgency.» In fact, an ECB policymaker later called the dangerous currency wars «the worst of wars, because at the end there is no winner.»
This is significant …
The last time they made such a statement of urgency was when the euro was on the edge of a cliff. It coincidently bottomed the first trading day after meetings concluded. Read the rest of this entry »
The Recession Is Over!
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget, Favourites on Октябрь 27th, 2010
It turns out the recession ended more than a year ago. Feeling better now? The panel that determines the timing of recessions concluded Monday that this one ended — technically, anyway — in June 2009, and lasted 18 months. The duration makes it the longest since World War II.
It may be over, but you won’t be hearing any cheers from the millions of Americans who are struggling to find a job. Or are worried about the ones they have. Or have lost their homes. Or are behind on the mortgage.
«Every single one of the individuals who wrote the report needs a serious reality check,» said Bob Johnson of the Queens borough of New York, who is 46, had worked in communications and has been looking for a job for more than three years.
Not that it’s the fault of the academics — in this case the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of economists based in Cambridge, Mass. It’s their job to declare when recessions officially begin and end.
Their finding is one that economic historians spend a lot of time pondering. Politicians care, too. They don’t want to be blamed for downturns that happen on their watch. Read the rest of this entry »
The Secret To Saving Money
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Октябрь 22nd, 2010
Saving money is a basic concept of personal financial planning, and key to financial success. Yet many of us don’t have a formal savings plan. Without such a plan, the chances of ever saving enough money to meet long-term financial goals or achieve financial security are very slim.
It seems simple. In order to save money, you need to have «extra» cash, right? This is a common misconception. Having a spending plan (aka «budget»), will help you create money for savings. Most of us, by setting spending goals, can manage to save regularly, so if you’re tempted to hit your back button because you simply don’t have enough money to have a formal savings plan, STOP! This article will tell you the «secrets» to savings.
First, set a few short-term and long-term financial goals to work towards, like a down payment on a car or home. Include the dollar amount and a time frame for achieving the goal. It’s much more motivating to save when you know what you’re saving for. And remember, a goal that isn’t written down is only a dream.
Set up a separate savings account. If you mingle your savings with your regular checking account, you’ll almost certainly dip into your savings and may never pay them back. Having your savings in a separate account is a constant reminder that these funds are earmarked for your future, and watching the balance grow is not only rewarding and motivating — it’s downright exciting!
If you don’t already have a written budget that includes tracking your expenditures each month, begin one now. Whether you make thousands of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, you need a budget. Budgeting can be relatively simple and entirely guilt-free. See Budgeting 101 for simple, easy budgeting. Read the rest of this entry »
Which Companies Are Hiring for the Holidays
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget, Favourites on Октябрь 21st, 2010
According to a new projection from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, retailers will hire between 500,000 and 600,000 workers for the holidays. (Last year, 501,400 were hired.) If you expect to nab one of those seasonal slots, now is the time to act.
Start now: Almost every employer I spoke with said they will begin interviewing in early to mid-October to make sure their seasonal staff is in place when they need them. Don’t wait until Thanksgiving to pound the pavement. Now is your time.
Be flexible: You’ll have more options on scheduling the earlier you apply, but flexibility on day, evening, overnight and weekend shifts will give you access to the most opportunity. Be clear on which days and times you’re available.
Juggle Jobs, or Work from Home
Apply in person (where applicable): Apply in person where applicable. This may mean a paper application or a kiosk, depending on the company. Dress the part and chat up the manager, too, so you can put a face to your resume. If it’s retail, visit the store and get to know the merchandise before applying. Ask if and when you can call on the status of your application so you’re not in the dark. Read the rest of this entry »
Why You Failed the Taste Test
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Сентябрь 15th, 2010
If you have ever painted a room, you may have come to the conclusion that eggshell differs from alabaster only in its alphabetical distance from “white” – even as your spouse demands an opinion.
The modern marketplace asks us to make a lot of decisions like this — between the virtually indistinguishable and the nearly identical. One soap over another. One ketchup over another. One shade of lipstick, and so on. Does any of it really matter? The broader philosophical question aside, can any one of these choices — if made “correctly” — make us feel even slightly better off, slightly happier, than another?
A new paper in the journal Cognition, titled “Magic at the Marketplace,” suggests not. In fact, the results indicate not only that we consider such decisions trivial, but that we don’t even seem to know which choice we’ve made moments after we’ve made it. What’s more, we’ll defend a choice we didn’t even make, simply because we’re blind to the fact that we didn’t make it.
Here’s a closer look at the experiment, which was conducted by a team of cognitive scientists and psychologists in the U.K. and Sweden. The researchers set up a booth at a supermarket in Lund, Sweden, and had 180 consumers judge two flavors of jam and evaluate the scents of two varieties of tea. After the consumers made their choices, they were asked to sample their chosen jam or tea once more. Then, the consumers were asked to explain their choices and indicate on a 10-point scale how difficult they felt it was to distinguish between the two jams or teas. Read the rest of this entry »
Optimism…Pessimism…And A Bit Of Perspective
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget, Favourites on Сентябрь 6th, 2010
Here’s how I’m tempted to summarize today’s release of the August employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: more of the same. That theme fits nicely with comments this morning from Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, in a speech at East Tennessee State University. Here he calls for a little perspective:
«Some commentators are reading recent economic data as suggesting the onset of a second recession and deflationary cycle. Quite naturally, business people and consumers aren’t sure what to believe.
«At the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in Washington, the committee made a decision that has been widely interpreted as signaling declining confidence in the strength and sustainability of the recovery….
«In my remarks today, I will provide a less alarmist interpretation of recent economic information and the Fed’s recent policy decision. I will argue that, generally speaking, there was too much optimism in the early months and quarters of the recovery and now there may be excessive pessimism.»
One point is that recoveries are not generally linear affairs: Read the rest of this entry »
-
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Budget category.
Big Banks Easing Terms on Loans Deemed as Risks
6 Июль 2011
Euro Area Backs Greek Aid, Looks to New Bailout
4 Июль 2011
Americans may hit gas again after reserve release
29 Июнь 2011
Obama takes flak for tapping emergency oil reserves
28 Июнь 2011
Свежие комментарии