July 2009

Stories I'm reading this Friday: Longest recession on record Memo: Dems plan battle against insurers How Yahoo really gets shafted in the Microsoft deal The deficit: how we got it and why it matters Airlines cashing in on your bad luck Khosla on the money to be made in cleantech New Jersey finally wins at something How to eat on just $36 bucks per month Restaurant volume ... read more

The Cash for Clunkers program shows that the real way to stimulate the economy is by properly incentivizing the consumer. Auto Nation says that the average credit score of a 'clunkers' buyer is higher than that of their average customer, indicating that a more fiscally conservative buyer is finally coming off the sidelines to make a large transaction. The existing home sales data trends ... read more

Nancy Pelosi seemed to confirm the sentiment held by the painter I overheard in a deli recently lashing out against the insurance companies. Reuters reports: "It's almost immoral what they are doing," Pelosi said to reporters, referring to insurance companies. "Of course they've been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they ... read more

Cash for Clunkers is officially a success.    Consumers are streaming into showrooms and cars are selling.   But less than a month into the plan, that success is generating concerns among dealers which may stall the program less than a month into it. The problem has to do with money, paperwork and time. The government has allocated $1 billion for the Cars Allowance Rebate System ... read more

Just found out my mortgage was bought by a new company called Ally Bank.    The website notes that Ally is an online bank that was "built on the foundation of GMAC Financial Services. Hmm. GM took more than $13 billion in taxpayer money before filing for bankruptcy .. and its bankruptcy will cost every taxpayer in America even more over the next few years. GMAC took about $6 billion in ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Wednesday: Microsoft teams up with Yahoo and no one cares Much chatter on housing market recovery Bernie speaks and says he hates his kids The politics of speculation KKR plans its first IPO in a long time Farm lobby divided over climate bille Massachusetts pension fund continues to get hammered Apple plays hardball with Google over iPhone apps Is ... read more

While the government continues its fixation on Wall Street pay by making comments about the anticipated $100 million dollar pay package for Citigroup trader Andrew Hall ... other outsize compensation packages go ignored. Perhaps we need to take the super size pay targeting to other professions as well .. I'm thinking: Baseball players:  Look at these yearly salary stats.   $27 million for ... read more

First things first ... yes, I know it is rude to eavesdrop.   But with apologizes to etiquette gurus, a recent conversation I overheard (okay, eavesdropped) between two painters in a deli near my office may have given me some insight into feelings around the health care debate and a new angle to the story - is much of the 'support' for the overhaul plan not support for the plan itself, but ... read more

Stories I'm reading this Tuesday: Home prices (again) fall but less than expected Graphic above shows fewer plan to buy a home Administration pushing harder for mortgage modifications eMac on why GE Capital needs more money CFTC wants to rein in oil traders Martin Feldstein on why health care proposal is bad Is your Bank of America branch going to close? read more

Stories I'm reading this Monday: Big week for earnings and economic data Not surprisingly loans shrink (subscription required) Why consumers won't lead us out of this recession Is it really health care welfare? CBO: President's health care plan saves almost no money over 10 years WSJ on why common sense may sink the health care plan Europe's coming credit card problem The ... read more