Arnold Schwarzenegger may believe that he would be sitting in Barack Obama’s chair in the Oval Office if only he had been born a U.S. citizen
Is California the State Closest to Economic Ruin?
Tag Archives: economy
Could General Motors’ Stock Rise Again?
GM stock has been delisted, dumped from the Dow, and is pretty much worthless. But with government backing, as they say, even pigs can fly. Indeed, just days after filing for bankruptcy, General Motors Corp
Iran election race tightens
The day before polls open in Iran’s presidential election, the streets are suddenly quiet again as official campaigning comes to an end, and voters prepare for what is expected to be a record turnout. Whereas President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a sure bet just 10 days ago, the race has closed this past week, in what is clearly turning into a referendum on his four years in office. Rivers of green have flowed through the streets, those decked out in the colors of his main challenger, former Prime Minster Mir Hossein Moussavi.
A Drag on the Economic Rebound: Consumer Spending
Don’t get too excited about signs of life in the economy. Some days it seems there’s good news everywhere: home sales ticking up, slower job losses, the Dow turning positive for the year. But all that misses a looming reality
For Nicaraguans, New Currency Is a Hot Potato
In a country accustomed to surprises from its government, Nicaraguans received another curiosity on May 15 when they awoke to find that the Central Bank, moving in the night as stealthily as the Tooth Fairy, had snuck a new legal tender into their economy while the markets were sound asleep.
Financial Woes Spread to Smaller Banks
If you want to know whether the banking crisis is in the third inning or the ninth, consider Corus Bankshares. The Chicago regional bank has made just over $4 billion in commercial real estate loans. The recently completed government bank stress tests assumed that as many as 12% of all such loans could go bad in the next two years
Hispanic population boom fuels rising U.S. diversity
The nation is becoming even more diverse: More than one third of its population belongs to a minority group, and Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that the minority population reached an estimated 104.6 million — or 34 percent of the nation’s total population — on July 1, 2008, compared to 31 percent when the Census was taken in 2000
Latte with Fries? McDonald’s Takes Aim at Starbucks
The recession has been good to McDonald’s. As consumers trade down to cheaper, faster food on the go, McDonald’s has kept up its growth during the downturn. Same-store sales rose 4.3% for the quarter that ended March 29
Pandemic equals economic pain
While the swine flu raises public-health alarms globally, the prognosis for the world economy is not good if the outbreaks mutate into a pandemic. If there’s a pandemic on the level of the 1918 “Spanish” flu, a 2008 World Bank analysis says, it would cost the world economy $3.1 trillion and drop the world’s gross domestic product by 4.8 percent in the first year of infection. A pandemic like the less severe 1957 “Asian” flu would reduce global GDP by 2 percent, The World Bank concluded, while a pandemic like the most recent 1968 “Hong Kong” flu would cut world economic output by just under 1 percent
King: Second 100 days will be bigger test for Obama
As introductions go, it has been a fast-paced, fascinating first 100 days: an ambitious domestic agenda aimed at reinvigorating the economy and the government’s reach into its workings, and several provocative steps on the world stage that, like at home, signal a clear break from the previous administration.