Articles About Economics

There is no doubt that America needs to get its economic mojo back: in the 2nd quarter its GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.7 percent, according to revised figures published on August 29th.  That growth number is down from two percent in the 1st quarter and 4.1 percent in late 2011. But, anyone […]

US banks are finally opening their purse strings according to The Federal Reserve’s quarterly senior loan officer survey. Who’s getting loans? Large companies, people with decent credit applying for auto loans or credit cards and also people buying homes. There are a number of reasons for why the banks are feeling more confident: less competition […]

All of Wall Street is abuzz about stock brokerage Knight Capital which was brought to the edge of bankruptcy by a software glitch. Seventeen-year old Knight is one of the most trusted trading intermediaries for many of America’s largest mutual-fund companies and retail brokers. It could have all ended when, on August 1st, a software […]

My recent column on the Huffington Post reported on the advent on Wall Street into the housing market as companies like Blackstone and Colony Capital commit billions of dollars to bulk buying bank-owned (REO) single-family homes. I agree that there are pros and cons to this program. The clear source of popular resentment is that […]

Here’s a little news to buck up the real estate mavens weathered by the daily diet of recessionary news: Google has signed the largest lease in downtown Chicago in 7 years. It is a familiar story – a marquee firm relocating downtown because of the hip, cosmopolitan appeal and amenities of a CBD — but […]

What will solve the housing crisis? The Keynesians think it’s a government bailout and the Hayekians think it will ultimately be the invisible hand and spontaneous order of supply and demand that will ameliorate the underwater single-family home sector. Well, could it both? In other words, the government steps in to structure a private sector […]

On June 29, Congress avoided doubling interest rates for new federal student loans. Republicans and Democrats came together to keep interest rates on new Stafford loans, which are subsidized by the federal government, at 3.4 percent. The rates were set to double in July. It’s good news not just for matriculating freshmen but also for […]

The French soothsayer, Michel de Nostredame or Nostradamus, became something of a celebrity starting in the 1550s because of his prophecies in all he made 6,338 predictions in a series of almanacs — everything from plagues to invasions to the end of the world. People still raise his name today when they speak about impending […]

During this campaign year, you’ve heard about politicians referring to our country as a welfare state, heavy with unaffordable entitlements for seniors that are stalling our economic growth.  Our growing welfare state is slated to cost $10.3 trillion over the next 10 years-that’s $72,000 a household, said Mitt Romney to voters in Bedford, N.H., on […]

People who don’t follow the capital markets on a continuing basis might be forgiven for thinking that LIBOR was the name of a fitness instructor from Norway. But no, it’s actually what a lot of people in the business world, including those of us in real estate, look to benchmark the interest rates that we […]