Earn What You Spend

No matter your political persuasion, it is undoubtable last night was historic.  John McCain gave, in my opinion, one of the best speeches of his life, again reminding people around the globe why he has been, and will continue to be, such a beloved patriot. 
Barack Obama’s speech was immensely powerful, a testament to himself, his family, and his [...]

The Federal Reserve cut the benchmark rate by a half point, in what is surely more confirmation of the unfriendly economic environment.  Full release below: 
The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 50 basis points to 1 percent.
The pace of economic activity appears to have slowed markedly, [...]

The consumer credit card crisis is underway.
Consumer debt has far outpaced real growth in wages:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Source: Innovest
And we’re beginning to see the ramifications of this.  From this morning’s NYTimes:
After years of flooding Americans with credit card offers and sky-high credit lines, lenders are sharply curtailing both, just as an eroding economy squeezes consumers.
Currently, the total losses amount to [...]

We’ve been talking about consumer spending quite frequently.  And with good reason - it’s a crucial part of the cycle we’re currently in.  Or, as Paul Krugman stated, we face a widening gyre with “feedback loops causing the financial crisis to spin ever further out of control.”  
The WSJ takes a demographic look at the crisis, [...]

Yesterday’s New York Times asked an important question that I think is worth repeating:
Have We Learned Enough? 
We’re in a recession, undoubtedly.  (True, the NBER hasn’t declared it officially, but they issue statements after the fact, when all the evidence is in.)  Could we sink further, into a depression?  With all the bad news on the [...]

The blame game is well underway for the current financial crisis, and it will only get worse.  Who is to blame?  Well, that all depends on who you are, and what you have to gain from pushing the burden off to someone else. 
A common culprit is ‘greed,’ though I find this implausible.  If someone can point [...]