Stimulus Package Details
Updated: 2/14 Feb. 12 – Details of the final version of the stimulus package have been released. The final price tag would come out to about $789 billion, broken down to roughly $282 billion in tax changes (I will not call them tax cuts because most of them aren’t) and $507 billion in spending. What .. read more
The World’s Biggest Companies – Forbes
The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the biggest public companies around the world. Rankings are based on four metrics, which are compiled to form a total composite score. The metrics used are sales, profits, assets and market value. This year, 60 countries were represented, as opposed to the 51 that had entries in 2004, the first .. read more
The Bailout Game
A fun time waster: The Bailout Game I tried it several ways. Some clues: 1. You can’t let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go under. If you do, its depression time. 2. You have to bail out some good banks. 3. If you let everything fail, its depression time. 4. You can let the auto .. read more
Economic Report: Producer Price Index
As the global economic crisis persists, the nation’s producers are getting somewhat of a break, as wholesale prices have scaled back for the fifth straight month. The US producer price index fell another 1.9% in the month of December, after a 2.2% decline in November and a record 2.8% decline in October. Wholesales energy prices, which fell 9.3% for the .. read more
Is This Good News?
The Term Securities Lending Facility was put in place to lend to primary dealers. When it was put in place right after the Bear debacle, it was meant to help the brokers who weren’t able to borrow from Fed. One thing I’ve been waiting to see is a drop in the amount of lending through .. read more
America’s Largest Private Companies – Forbes
In 2008, the 441 companies on Forbes‘ survey of privately-held U.S. businesses sold a trillion dollars’ worth of goods and services and employed 4 million people. Those are staggering numbers. Here is a list of the largest privately-held companies in the US, via Forbes: Rank Company State Industry Revenue ($bil) Employees 1 Cargill MN Farm Products .. read more
Fed Beige Book – January
The Federal Reserve Beige Book is a commentary on current economic conditions. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. .. read more
Economic Report: Retail Sales – December
According to the monthly Commerce Department report, retail sales, which account for about one-third of US gross domestic product, fell another 2.7% in December, after a downwardly-revised record 3.4% decline in October and a 2.1% drop in November. In the last quarter of the year, retail sales are down 7.7% from the same period a year ago, a staggering .. read more
