Via the WSJ Real Time Economics Blog:
European Central Bank board member Mario Draghi Friday called on governments to bolster demand by boosting spending or cutting taxes, the first such exhortation from an ECB official during the current crisis. It’s far more typical to hear ECB officials, including President Jean-Claude Trichet, admonishing governments to adhere to [...]
The NYT has a story about the Treasury Department’s plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure:
As the Treasury Department prepares a $40 billion program to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure, it confronts a difficult challenge: not making the plan too tempting to people like Todd Lawrence.
An airline pilot who lives outside Norwich, Conn., Mr. Lawrence has [...]
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and its monthly report on Personal Income/Spending, in the past few months, US consumers have cut back on big-ticket purchases and expenses and started saving for a change. Nominal consumer spending decreased 0.3% for the month of September, after a flat August. This was inline with economists estimates, as a loss was [...]
Politicians seem to have succeeded in bullying the nation’s bankers into lending their newfound, vote buying government capital. Politicians didn’t agree to jam taxpayer money down the gaping balance sheets of the nation’s banks without expecting something in return. It’s an election year if you hadn’t heard and the economy is not exactly humming on [...]
