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Sluggish job growth in May could be a sign that the economic recovery is losing momentum.According to the ADP May Employment Report, a mere 38,000 jobs were added in the private sector on a seasonally adjusted basis.  That was well below consensus estimates of 170,000 new jobs.  The report also revised downwards the estimated change […]

Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue calls it “America’s silver tsunami.” The name Kathleen Casey-Kirschling likely doesn’t ring any bells with the majority of Americans.  She holds the singular honor of being the nation’s very first baby boomer, born one minute after midnight on January 1, 1946 in Philadelphia celebrating her 65th birthday on New Year’s […]

There’s good news and bad news about foreclosures.  Although the number of foreclosures fell to their lowest rate in 4 ½ years in April, the reason is a delay in processing the orders, not because Americans are experiencing less trouble paying their mortgages.  “Foreclosure activity decreased on an annual basis for the seventh straight month […]

Portugal has become the third European nation to accept a financial bailout to the tune of € 78 billion, with € 12 billion going directly to the Iberian nation’s banks.  It is the third of four PIGS nations (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) to require a bailout.  Caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced that he had […]

The initial steps to dismantle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are underway with the introduction of a bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives that would replace the mortgage giants with a minimum of five companies that would issue mortgage-backed securities with significant federal regulation.  The compromise legislation proposed by Representative John Campbell (R-CA) and […]

While Blockbuster may have at one time ruled the world of video rentals, in recent years it has been overtaken by Netflix.  The internet-based DVD movie and television rental-by-mail service, which came to so dominate the market, has forced Blockbuster into bankruptcy.  I wrote about this for the Huffington Post back in January, but I […]

Twenty-five years in the bat of an eye.  I was fortunate enough to attend the final extravaganza at Chicago’s United Center to bid farewell to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as it concluded its quarter-century run.  Winfrey’s gala farewell as the “Queen of Talk” was attended by more than 20,000 fans and it was the hottest […]

American renters who pay more than 50 percent of their income on housing has peaked at the highest level in 50 years, according to a report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Approximately 26 percent of renters – that’s more than 10 million people – are spending more than 50 percent of their […]

The biggest battle in baseball these days isn’t being played out in the ball park but in the board room.  Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s recent takeover of the financially strapped Los Angeles Dodgers is perceived as a heroic act that likely will save the fabled franchise from the acrimonious divorce of owners Frank and Jamie […]

Now that the nearly 10-year-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden has ended, the question remains of what to do with the $50 million reward on the Al Qaeda leader? New York Representatives Anthony Weiner and Jerry Nadler have introduced a bill in Congress that would direct the money to groups that have helped those affected […]