The IMF loans to Greece

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 9, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments This afternoon it was announced that the International Monetary Fund approved a three-year $38 billion loan to Greece.  The loan is the single largest amount ever given by the IMF to a single country.  The loan is a portion of the monies being lent to Greece, with the rest coming mostly from members of the European Union.  Like other discussions involving Greece right now, strict restraints are...
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Emergency fund in the Eurozone

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 9, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Because there is a potential for financial market panic regarding the bailout of Greece, as well as other struggling European economies, the members of eurozone economies are conducting emergency meetings.  So far there is not much to write about other than the usual European shenanigans when crisis hits that continent.  In other words, there have been press releases of promises but without...
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Many, many jobs added!

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 7, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments In April the United States added 290,000 jobs, far, far more than the 180,000 jobs economists had been expecting.  What’s more, March’s originally reported increase of 162,000 has been revised upward to 180,000.  Despite these job adds the unemployment rate rose to 9.9%. Analysis: I wish I could say that I was surprised, but I am not.  I have been saying now since March’s big...
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Wow on the Dow

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 6, 2010 in Best of the Blog, Blog | 0 comments The news today is sure to be replete with stories of the almost 1,000 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Averages.  That is pretty close to a 10% drop.  Ostensibly the stock markets value the worth of U.S. businesses.  Can anyone out there reading this honestly say that the value of almost all U.S. businesses today changed by 10% in the negative direction?  No.  Were stocks 10% overvalued,...
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Retail sales disappoint

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 6, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Another piece of economic data was reported today, retail sales.  While the numbers were disappointing to some, this is only in comparison to high expectations after a robust March.  Actual same-store retail sales were up 1.7%. Analysis: While some folks may be disappointed by the retail sales figure, they are still up.  That is a good thing.  The U.S. consumer continues to open his/her wallet...
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Jobless claims stable

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 6, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments The Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims fell this week by 7,000 to 440,000 total initial claims filed.  The four week moving average barely changed, falling 4,750 to 458,500. Analysis: Obviously the economy, now basically recovered, has to start creating jobs.  While the above data are largely treading water, the fact is that all of the other fundamentals of the economy have...
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That all important measure: productivity

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on May 6, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments U.S. productivity for the first quarter was up 3.6%.  This compares to the previous quarter’s revised gain of 6.3%. Analysis: I have written at length on the blog about the difference between economic growth as measured by gross domestic product and what I refer to as real economic growth.  One of the measures of this latter kind of economic expansion is productivity so I prefer...
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