Tuesday, December 2, 2008
It’s official. A report from the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed what most Americans already know, we’re in a recession. The bureau evaluates the nation’s economic cycles and it says the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007. On that news Monday, the shaky stock market took a serious dive with the Dow Jones Industrial closing down […]
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wall Street investors are getting very nervous about the economy and that makes the rest us pretty jumpy as well. Today the stock market tumbled off a cliff with a drop of 445 points, closing at 7,552. Apparently a host of bad economic news, including the failure of congress to come up with a solution to the Big Three automakers’ copped […]
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Some of us are still getting over the $85 billion bailout insurance conglomerate AIG got from the federal government a few weeks ago. Now comes word AIG is getting billions more in federal money. You’d think the company would have sold off some of its vast assets before coming back to the bailout well again, but no. Yesterday it was announced, the New York Federal Reserve is lending […]
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The $700-plus billion bailout was supposed to ease investors’ fears. Many Americans are still jittery about the ailing economy; and apparently a lot of players in the financial markets around the world are feeling the same way. Yesterday, the Dow Jones plunged 800 points — the most ever in one day— before recovering somewhat, closing down 370 points, but below 10,000 […]
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The stock market rallied several hundred points today, after yesterday’s historic plunge on Wall Street. Monday, stocks dropped 778 points or 7 percent. The biggest point loss ever. Also, the biggest percentage loss since September 17, 2001, the first day of trading after the deadly September 11 terrorist attacks. The meltdown started when it became clear the highly touted $700 billion financial bailout for […]
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Burbank/August 2008 I complained a lot during the summer about the jacked-up prices of gasoline. As recently as mid-August gas prices at the pumps in Burbank were still over $4 a gallon. Then prices began to tumble. About two weeks ago, I paid $3.70 a gallon — on Monday, I paid even less, $3.60 a gallon. I should be doing the happy […]