Good thing the National Bureau of Economic Research wasn’t established with the goal of providing timely economic analysis; otherwise its announcement Monday that the country has been in a recession since December 2007 might seem, you know, ludicrous. But the NBER’s business is quantitative historical analysis, not timely economic intelligence. And that makes today’s pronouncement even more worrisome.
Read More »
While $25 billion in low-cost federal loans keeps General Motors, Ford and Chrysler churning out SUVs through the econalypse, the wheels are coming off cleantech car company Tesla Motors. Without access to the same sorts of loans given its Detroit colleagues, the country’s leading electric car maker is delaying production of its Model S sedan, sacking an unspecified number of employees and shuttering two offices.
Read More »
Finally, some reassuring news amid all this economic woe. The United States financial system is suffering the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Treasury is planning to buy up to $700 billion in bad debt. But things are looking up for the long-suffering employees of investment bank Lehman Brothers. They’ve got a bonus pool.
Read More »