The Recession of 2008 is Now Unavoidable
Written by artboy on March 8, 2008 – 10:38 am -
The news keeps getting worse. The prospect that a recession is underway is becoming more of a reality each day. In a report by David Leonhardt of the New York Times, the dismal jobs report released Friday showed overall employment to be lower than it was three months ago. Every time such a slump has occurred since the early 1970s, a recession has followed — or already been under way.
For months, policy makers and Wall Street economists have been predicting, and hoping, that the aggressive series of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve would keep the economy growing, despite the housing bust. But the possibility seemed to diminish almost by the hour on Friday. Stocks fell when the markets opened at 9:30, recovered and then fell again, with the Standard & Poor 500-stock index closing down 0.8 percent.
Leonhardt states the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of academic economists that is based in Cambridge, Mass. is the most commonly cited arbiter of recessions and it is usually not clear whether there had been a recession until the bureau had made an announcement. In my opinion, all we have to do is look around at how many of our piers are out of work or see if we are making the same salaries that we were earning in 1999 to make an assessment.
Tell us what you think or how the current state of the economy is affecting you.
Tags: Ben Bernanke, Economy, employment, Federal Reserve, growth, housing, interest, loans, mortgage, NASDAQ, National Bureau of Economic Research, rates, recession, S&P, stocks Dow Jones, Wall Street
Posted in Economy | No Comments »
Would You Walk Away From Your New Home?
Written by artboy on February 29, 2008 – 5:29 pm -
In a declining housing market, what if you owed more than your house was worth and your mortgage payments shoot up to more than you could afford? This is a common topic that is reported on almost daily.
John Leland of the NY Times writes, “You Walk Away is a small sign of broad changes in the way many Americans look at housing. In an era in which new types of loans allowed many home buyers to move in with little or no down payment, and to cash out any equity by refinancing, the meaning of homeownership and foreclosure have changed, economists and housing experts say.” In recent months top executives from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wachovia have all described a new willingness by borrowers to walk away from mortgages.
So my question is if you had one of the new types of loans like interest-only mortgages and cash-out refinance loans that mean you do not pay down your mortgage, or an adjustable rate mortgage, would you walk away or rough it out?
Source: www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29walks.html?ex=
1204952400&en=c5e3b2323d80ad37&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Photo Credit: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Tags: adjustable rates, Ben Bernanke, declining housing, Economy, Federal Reserve, foreclosure, growth, homeownership, housing, interest, intrest-only, loans, mortgage, rates
Posted in Economy | No Comments »
Another Rate Cut Signaled
Written by artboy on February 27, 2008 – 2:45 pm -
AP writer Jeannine Aversa reported today on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s warning to Congress that the nation is in for a period of sluggish business growth and has sent a fresh signal Wednesday that interest rates will again be lowered to steady the teetering economy.
Source: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080227/ap_on_bi_ge/bernanke_congress
Photo Credit: Reuters Photo
Tags: Ben Bernanke, Economy, Federal Reserve, growth, interest, loans, mortgage, rates
Posted in Economy | No Comments »
