Where is the Money Going?
Consumer Credit Takes Huge Plunge as Lenders Hold on to Their Money
Efforts by Americans to pay down their debts have not yielded more available credit. The Federal Reserve has reported that consumer credit plunged $17.5 billion in November, as banks continued to pull back on lending. From September 2008 through N... read more
Simple Weapon against Bank Robberies: Put GPS Inside Stolen Cash
Bank robberies could become a thing of the past if financial institutions follow the lead of those in Illinois. Two years ago, banks in that state began inserting GPS tracking devices into bundles of bills, and since then, robberies have declined.... read more
Construction Jobs Decline in 324 of 337 U.S. Cities
One clear indicator of why the economy did so poorly last year was found in the construction industry, whose status can greatly affect the health of the nation. In 2009, more than 95% of 337 cities examined by the Associated General Contractors of... read more
Chrysler Sales in 2009 Dropped Below One Million for First Time Since 1962
December was not a month to remember for auto manufacturer Chrysler, and neither was the year it wrapped up. The bad news for Chrysler came in many forms: auto sales declined 4% last month compared to the same time in 2008; sales overall for 2009 ... read more
Solution to the Banking Crisis? Look to North Dakota
Fed up with the greed and recklessness of large national banks, critics of Wall Street are pointing to North Dakota as an alternative for reshaping the banking industry. North Dakota is the only state in the country to own its own bank, the Bank ... read more
Patent Office Loses $100 Million in Last-Minute Congressional Budget Change
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is patents that make new businesses a reality in a world of contracts and laws. Patent applications, however, are backing up at the federal office in charge of processing them, thanks to repeated bu... read more
U.S. Government Takes Control of GMAC
Demonstrating the financial industry isn’t entirely back on its feet again, GMAC, the finance branch of General Motors, came under the control of the federal government just before New Year’s, as Washington pumped another $3.8 billion into the stu... read more
Replace “Cap and Trade” with “Fee and Dividend”: James Hansen
Solving the problem of global warming requires discarding the cap-and-trade policy currently popular with public officials and going instead with something called fee-and-dividend, says scientist James Hansen, the director of the NASA Goddard Inst... read more
Top Wall Street CEOs Averaged $29 Million a Year Before the Collapse
The implosion of Wall Street last year didn’t come about overnight. It took years of risky investments and questionable decision-making, during which the heads of leading firms and banks earned substantial fortunes. From 2000-2007 these leaders ma... read more
Is it Time to End Subsidies for Oil and Coal Industries?
Advocates of solar power are arguing that if the federal government stopped subsidizing the oil and gas industry, energy derived from the sun could furnace 15% of America’s power needs within 10 years. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA... read more
Banks Hoard $1 Trillion in Reserves…and the Federal Reserve "Solution"
American banks are sitting on nearly $1 trillion in reserves, holding onto money instead of loaning it out to homeowners and businesses which the federal government has wanted for the past year. Beginning in September 2008, when the financial cris... read more
Financial Professionals Don’t Expect Significant Rehiring Until 2011…At Best
For those in search of rosy economic predictions, don’t bother reading the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP) report for 2010. The organization surveyed more than a thousand CFOs, vice presidents of finance, treasurers and other financia... read more
Half of USDA Farm Subsidy Dollars Go to Just 4% of Farms
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not spread the wealth when it comes to farm subsidies. In fact, from the mid-1990s to the middle of this decade, just over half of all subsidies were distributed to a mere 4% of all recipients, accord... read more
Campaign Finance Loopholes
Build a better mouse trap, and inevitably someone will build a better mouse. That’s the conundrum facing campaign finance advocates who, despite getting numerous laws in place at the state and federal level to limit big money contributions, have w... read more
Fannie and Freddie to Get Unlimited Aid…and Huge Executive Bonuses
The Obama administration made like Santa Claus just before the Christmas holiday, enlarging the potential bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—and approving Wall Street-like compensation packages for their leaders. On Thursday, Pr... read more
FAA Spent $5 Million on Christmas Parties
Claiming it needed to train its managers about a new labor contract with air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spent $5 million this month on three one- week “conferences” in Atlanta. But an investigation by ABC News r... read more