by rdan Who is Neel Kashkari? Neel Kashkari was designated as the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability on October 6, 2008. In this capacity, Mr. Kashkari oversees the Office of Financial Stability including the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Mr. Kashkari also continues to hold the position of Assistant Secretary of the […]
by rdan An opinion at Salon caught my attention….here is part of the main point: As his campaign manager has described it, John McCain is now looking at a “narrow-victory scenario.” “The fact that we’re in the race at all,” added Steve Schmidt, “is a miracle. Because the environment is so bad and the head […]
rdan A quick search on 401ks in response to reader Noni Mausa: Via Money Central: Financially stretched workers are increasingly breaking into their retirement accounts to get cash.Over the past couple of decades, the 401(k) account and its brethren have become the main retirement savings vehicles for millions of Americans. But as the credit crunch […]
AP reports that US helicopters flew into Syrian airspace and killed eight people today. Any more news?
by rdanThe NYT provides charts and article as well. (hat tip reader kuros) Layoffs have arrived in force, like a wrenching second act in the unfolding crisis. In just the last two weeks, the list of companies announcing their intention to cut workers has read like a Who’s Who of corporate America: Merck, Yahoo, General […]
OMB Watch carries: Notes from the Economy: UnderemploymentWhile the monthly number is an important component in summarizing the state of economy, but it’s an incomplete indicator. For example, at the state level in August, 20 states had unemployment rates greater than the national average of 6.1 percent, while 31 states had unemployment rates below the […]
by cactus Infant Mortality – The Excuse is Addressed From a report put out by the CDC: Infant mortality rates were generally lowest (below 3.5 per 1,000) in selected Scandinavian (Sweden, Norway, and Finland) and East Asian (Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) countries. In 2004, 22 countries had infant mortality rates below 5.0. The United […]
rdan The NYT shows us this angle on the bailout: William Frey, the president of one of the funds, Greenwich Financial Services of Greenwich, Conn., said that he was acting to protect the firm’s investments. “Any investor in mortgage-backed securities has the right to insist that their contract be enforced,” he said. In letters sent […]
Failout Part 3 – The Summary or “Remember the Gift Horse & All That…”We’ve paid off the mortgages of people who would otherwise have gone into default triggering all sorts of chaos in the financial markets – from institutions performing loan portfolio write-downs to calling in credit default swaps, we’ve avoided that nasty mess and […]