Author: Tom Silva

Worker productivity increased 3.8 percent in 2009, the best record since 2002. Writing in the Washington Post, Neil Irwin notes, “That means high-level gains in productivity – which in the long run is the key to a higher standard of living but in the short run contributes to sky-high unemployment.  So long as employers can […]

Jon Levy is a European Union analyst with Eurasia Group and a frequent commentator on European issues, appearing on CNN, CNBC and NPR.  He was previously director of national security policy for John Kerry’s presidential campaign.  In a recent interview for the Alter NOW podcasts, Levy discussed several factors shaping European real estate markets – […]

One-fourth of American workers have saved less than $1,000 for their retirement, according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).  The EBRI survey reveals that 27 percent reported saving less than $1,000 for retirement, not counting the value of their home or defined-benefit plans.  A similar percentage reported saving between $1,000 and […]

Does the introduction of Apple’s new iPad sound the death knell for laptop computers?  The Wall Street Journal’s Personal Technology columnist Walt Mossberg’s test drive of an iPad has him believing that the new product has “the potential to change portable computing as we know it.”  During the test drive, Mossberg used his laptops only […]

The Obama administration has announced a new initiative to assist troubled homeowners by helping them refinance with government-backed mortgages that cut monthly payments.  The program would also temporarily reduce payments for unemployed borrowers who are actively job hunting.  The government is encouraging lenders to write down the value of loans for borrowers participating in modification […]

Despite the Snowmageddon that crippled Washington, D.C. and much of the East Coast during February, the economy continued to grow at a modest rate.  This is the opinion of the Federal Reserve’s newly issued Beige Book report – officially known as the “Summary of Commentary on Current Economics Conditions by Federal Reserve District” — which […]

The Bernard Madoff affair is the scandal that keeps on giving.  In the latest twist, Madoff’s daughter-in-law, Stephanie, is seeking legal approval to change her surname to Morgan to protect herself and her two young children against death threats, embarrassment and humiliation. In legal filings made in Manhattan, Stephanie Madoff says that her father-in-law, who […]

The 8.8 magnitude Chilean earthquake was so strong that it literally knocked the earth off its axis – permanently. Richard Gross, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, calculated that the earth’s rotation changed so that the length of our day is now roughly 1.26 microseconds shorter.  A microsecond is equivalent to one millionth […]

Economic indicators show that the recession is over.  This is the opinion of Rick Mattoon, a senior economist and advisor in the economic research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  Rick’s primary research focuses on issues facing the Midwest regional economy. […]

Arizona, Georgia and Texas are the growth centers in terms of new residents in the last few years, according to an Associated Press analysis of Internal Revenue Service migration data. The IRS compared the states where taxpayers filed their returns from 2007 to 2008 to arrive at their conclusions. Texas led the nation, with 62,827 […]