In a couple of words: 2% Pay Raise
The tax deal struck to extend the Bush tax cuts also includes a temporary 2 percentage-point reduction in the payroll tax. This one-year reduction of the payroll tax effectively means that every working American will receive a 2% PAY RAISE beginning the first of January 2011.
So, what [...]
“Only” a quarter million Americans lost their jobs in July and unemployment dropped from 9.5% to 9.4%. Earlier, everyone was expecting unemployment to rise to 9.6%, so that is good news, right?
The latest edition of Wired (print copy I got in the mail, this story isn’t online yet) had a blurb about FreeRisk.org – a new site that wants to take on the credit rating agencies:
* A. M. Best
* Dominion Bond Rating Service
* Fitch [...]
If you are on the wrong side of events, it may be very difficult to see the silver lining in a dark cloud. The most recent economic downturn has been very difficult for some home owners who are living beyond their means and the likely end result has been their losing their house. [...]
Very important vote in the House of Representatives today on the economic rescue plan. Here is what one of the prediction markets is predicting now:
How many US Representatives will vote in favor of the Bailout Plan?
It is a live widget, so it will update as we careen out of control towards the [...]
The markets are crazy insane again today. They don’t have the same doom and gloom feeling as Monday’s toppling, but it is a negative market – Dow is down about 350 five minutes before the closing bell.
The future of the economy in the US, as well as the rest of the world, is dependent [...]
The sudden leap in oil prices has been yammered about – Oil jumps $25! – but, in fact it is a market anomaly brought on by the expiration of a futures contract. The contract expired today and many of those who were short the contract – hoping that it would go down – were [...]
Image by José Antonio Galloso via Flickr I just flipped on the TV and saw that CNBC was broadcasting the International version of their show on the US channel. It is 10:00PM on the east coast and I was taking my Lipitor – basically unwinding, not really listening to the market chaos being [...]
Image via Wikipedia The Federal minimum wage is increasing:
Previous Federal Minimum Wage:
$5.15
New Federal Minimum Wage:
$5.85 – July 24th, 2007
$6.55 – July 24th, 2008
$7.25 – July 24th, 2009
The unemployment rate just surged to 6.1% – still historically low – but in comparison to the 4-5% rates the nation has enjoyed in the last three or four [...]
Peer-to-Peer Lending – Social Lending – P2P Loans – microfinancing – all part of the Web 2.0 trend of adding “social” to any activity and creating something new. Instead of going to a bank for a loan, a borrower works with a group of her peers to finance the loan. The social aspect [...]
