40 Million Americans Receiving Food Stamps
May 10, 2010
1 in 8 Americans is now receiving food stamps, a new record. Despite the economy purportedly adding jobs again, it is also adding to the number of people on food stamps. The USDA numbers show that 39.68M Americans were receiving food stamps in February, up 260,000 from January. And the problem is expected to grow. [...]
Read More >>Roubini’s Back: “In A Few Days There Might Not Be A Eurozone”
April 28, 2010
The prolific Roubini is back! At the Milken Global Conference on a panel to discuss the Eurozone, Roubini indicated that “in a few days…there might not be a eurozone for us to discuss.” That certainly is an extreme view. But if you have been following the Greek debt crisis, one thing is certain, and that [...]
Read More >>Dimon: California Larger Risk Than Greece
February 28, 2010
Jamie Dimon, the chief of JP Morgan Chase has indicated that California poses a larger risk than Greece. Mr Dimon told investors at the Wall Street bank’s annual meeting that “there could be contagion” if a state the size of California, the biggest of the United States, had problems making debt repayments. Dimon isn’t the [...]
Read More >>CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle on CNBC
January 28, 2010
Colin Dyer, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle was on CNBC discussing the CRE market. Unless there are additional monetary shocks, he sees a sharp V-shaped recovery when confidence returns. Interesting. The other guy in the interview, Ken Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard, didn’t seem like he was buying it and called Dyer on [...]
Read More >>Layoffs Back: Verizon 13K, Sam’s Club 11K
January 27, 2010
The other day Wal-Mart announced 11-12K layoffs at its Sam’s Club unit. Yesterday we got word that Verizon is planning on laying off roughly 13,000 employees in 2010. This comes on the back of some pretty significant cuts it made in 2009. And today Home Depot is announcing 1,000 layoffs. …and there will be more. [...]
Read More >>Howard Marks of Oaktree on the Economy
January 26, 2010
Hedge Fund Manager Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital put out a client memo discussing the economy. The 12-page letter is interesting, but the underlying theme is uncertainty. The document can be found on the below linked site. [via Business Insider]
Read More >>China Grows At 10.7% Year-Over-Year
January 21, 2010
China’s has returned to hyper-growth, with the latest GDP numbers coming in at 10.7% (YoY). Much of the growth is likely fueled by the property sector, which has been on fire thanks to low interest rates and fairly easy money. There are waiting lists for cars, and housing is at a ridiculous multiple to average incomes [...]
Read More >>2010 Dropped As Target Date For Binding Climate Agreement
December 18, 2009
The goal for Copenhagen was to continue work towards having a binding climate agreement in place by the end of 2010. That stipulation has just been dropped. This likely will slow down the velocity of ”green” and business relying on such an agreement to spur economic incentives and the such. [via Forbes]
Read More >>Commercial Real Estate Will Collapse!
November 19, 2009
How’s that for a title? That’s the title of a Forbes article out today by Stuart Saft, a partner at law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf who makes the argument that court decisions could be the nail in the coffin. We’ve discussed some of the decisions here, including the Citigroup deal in New York. In the [...]
Read More >>Jeremy Grantham on Equities
October 27, 2009
We just posted an article from Bill Gross discussing bond rates and economic growth. On the equity front is the view of Jeremy Grantham, chairman of GMO, and one of the most prescient investors out there. His Q3 newsletter can be downloaded here. Corporate ex-fi nancials profi t margins remain above average and, if I am [...]
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