Articles About Economics

As George Harrison said in his 1989 song, “Cheer down.”  In a move that surprised many economists, GDP growth for the 1st quarter of 2010 has been revised slightly downward – from 3.2 percent to three percent – according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Even with the downward revision, the 1st quarter was the […]

State-owned holding company Dubai World is in talks to renegotiate $26 billion of debt and asking its banks for approval to defer loan payments.  The banks are hoping to avoid a haircut – taking less money than they are owed.  Dubai’s government also might provide a guarantee to the banks that are owned money.  Dubai […]

Washington, D.C.’s fabled Watergate Hotel – the site of the notorious 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters that set off the political scandal that toppled Richard M. Nixon’s presidency – has been sold and will be redeveloped as an “upper-upscale hotel”. According to The Wall Street Journal, Euro Capital Partners, a redevelopment specialist, […]

The economic upheavals of recent years have changed Americans in ways that we are still coming to terms with because it marks the end of an era.  The Great Recession was anything but an ordinary downturn and the way we live and work has been transformed.  Construction and auto jobs have declined by one-third; retail […]

If you’ve noticed a recent drop in mortgage interest rates, thank the PIGS’ (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) troubles, which are causing jitters in the globe’s equity markets.  Seeking a safe haven, investors are putting their money into U.S. Treasury notes.  Because mortgage interest rates tend to rise and fall with 10-year U.S. Treasury note […]

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) is enjoying a big victory in his last days in the Senate following passage of broad financial reform legislation designed to rein in the excesses that caused the financial meltdown.  First, the Senate and House versions of the bill must undergo reconciliation.  Under the new law, for example, homebuyers will have […]

Wells Fargo & Company and LNR Property Corporation are hunting for buyers for $1 billion each of distressed commercial real estate assets and loans.  San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest commercial real estate lender, is soliciting bids on $500 million to $1 billion worth of office and hotels.  LNR, the nation’s largest CBMS special […]

The Great Recession has taken a toll on the famous American optimism and belief in social mobility as defined by the stories of such luminaries as Alexis de Tocqueville, Horatio Alger and Barack Obama.  According to a poll by YouGov for The Economist, 39 percent responded that the opportunities available to them were not as […]

Foreign governments are a growth engine for New York City commercial and residential real estate at a time when many cash-strapped European nations are facing financial crises.  For example, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations has $8 million to spend and is looking at Manhattan office space.  Laos recently paid $4.2 million in […]

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the Senate voted 96 – 0 to attach a modified version of an amendment proposed by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) to the financial regulatory bill to investigate transparency in emergency lending practices by the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis.  “This amendment begins the process of lifting the veil […]