It’ll be a while before we know if this arrangement will work or not, but I can’t help but think a new G.M. that builds better, greener autos will be competitive in the future.
From NY Times:
“We deeply appreciate the support we’ve received during this historic transformation and will work hard to repay the trust and [...]

Well, most economists the Wall Street Journal asked, so if that’s not your brand of whiskey, take it for what it’s worth.
But as I’ve said recently, there’s really no will for a second stimulus, and only 10% of the first stimulus has been spent so far so why everybody is getting so damned excited is [...]

Whenever Warren talks, people listen, but my gut tells me that a second stimulus is still politically impossible right now. Especially since nearly 90% of the original $787B is left to spend (which Dems are bemoaning)
Still, he has some entertaining euphemisms for the first round…
“I think that a second one may well be called for,” [...]

Talked about this recently when Biden admitted that there might be need for a second stimulus package at some point, but that the administration wanted to see how the first round would suss out.
Still, looks like Dems need to get their stories straight because they aren’t saying the same things.
Read more at True/Slant.

After I read Matt Taibbi’s piece about Goldman Sachs gaming the oil/gas marketplace and wrote my own response, I started to think about the massive $24.3 billion budget deficit in California, and I wondered, “How could they get that far in the hole?”
Sure, the global economy has tanked the past couple years and revenues aren’t [...]

The Veep sat down with Stephanopoulos recently and shared some sobering news about our economic health and how their projections and predictions were too rosy.
“The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited,” said Biden, who is leading the administration’s effort to implement it’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
“Now, [...]

Why?
Because wages are going down, down, down…

Basically, people won’t be spending more if they’re earning less.
So don’t worry about inflation…yet.
(h/t: NY Times)

If we’re headed towards economic recovery, the path is unlikely to be a smooth one. At least that’s what June’s unemployment numbers indicate as the nation lost 467,000 jobs, more than 100,000 above estimates.
With unemployment now at 9.5%, a 26 year high, most economists foresee double-digit unemployment before the end of the year with numbers [...]

Hello this is Mike Fritz from the American News Project. We have a new story out that focuses on those most affected by the bailout of General Motors: laid off autoworkers.
It examines one of the central tensions in the public takeover of the company: Should federal dollars be spent building a lean, [...]

Cause for alarm? If you track polls it might be because it has dipped to its lowest mark since he took office. And that means his overall rating has dipped to 58%.
Here are the breakouts…

My guess as to why this is happening? People are nervous about the economy and the deficits. And that last one [...]

This nifty little video provides a good breakdown of what went down and why.

Basically, it boils down to what we all suspected: grossly irresponsible lending brought about by deregulation.
It seems so obvious in retrospect.
(h/t: The Crisis of Credit)

That’s out of the nearly $230B given out over the past 9 months.
In other words, nearly 30% of the money that we would NEVER see again is being paid back. And the government could actually make a profit if they choose to exercise stock options, but there’s word they won’t do that.
Here’s more from Wash [...]

Last night, at a major Republican fundraiser, GOP leaders had some of their harshest words yet for President Obama and his agenda.
Newt Gingrich said the president’s stimulus plan has already failed. And:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Obama has a “radical agenda.” Republicans have “watched them take over banks, insurance companies, auto companies,” [...]

On 6 out of 10 issues.
But the most important one right now: the economy…
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more.
This is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on [...]

So let’s get this straight…
$87 billion of the $787 billion has already been spent in the past 3.5 months, and the monthly unemployment claims were cut in half last month (when compared to the previous 6 months) and the stimulus isn’t working?
This is in response to Republican lawmakers, specifically Sarah Palin, continuing to push the [...]

Some mildly encouraging news after months of 600K+ job loss.
Still, the unemployment rate is now at 9.4%, but underemployment almost has to be at 16% this month since it was 15.6% last month. Underemployment is the number of people who are out of work plus those who are working part time but want full time [...]

While the number of layoffs in May fell below expectations, the unemployment rate has now risen to 9.4%, a 25 year high. With 14.5 million Americans unemployed and countless others underemployed, any full recovery will have to be a long one.
Many economists believe the jobless rate will hit 10 percent by the end of this [...]

With government now taking ownership stakes in banks and car companies, all we’ve been hearing is how we’re riding a slippery slope towards the dreaded “S” word.
Well, Conor Clarke of The Atlantic put together a handy dandy pie chart to show just how serious this problem is…

Oh my…how long before we reach 0.5%?!?!
Let’s remember that [...]

In a bid to survive bankruptcy, Chrsyler is closing nearly 800 dealerships, a full quarter of the company’s dealers. The dealers themselves had no say.
While bankruptcy may be a better long-term solution for Chrysler than continued government bailouts, the short-term will not be pretty. Car dealerships provide a lot of jobs and a lot of [...]

This is actually good news since folks were expecting 620,000 jobs lost. Still, even if this begins to slow down even more, we’re likely to see double digit unemployment before this is all over. Because the unemployment rate is at 8.9% right now.
Also, let’s not forget the the underemployment numbers…
If laid-off workers who have given [...]