Articles About Economics

Last year, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback stunned the national arts community by vetoing funding for the Kansas Arts Commission.  Brownback recently changed his mind and approved a state budget that includes $700,000 for a newly created Creative Arts Industries Commission. “It’s a big win for Kansas,” said Sarah Fizell of Kansas Citizens for the Arts.  […]

The world’s largest banks need to raise as much as $566 billion of common equity to meet Basel III rules on capital to be implemented by 2019, cutting shareholder returns, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings.  The 29 global banks that regulators believe are too big to fail need new capital that equals nearly 23 […]

The 17-nation Eurozone is at risk of falling into a “severe recession,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned, as it called on governments and the European Central Bank to act quickly to keep the slowdown from becoming a drag on the global economy.  OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan warned the euro-zone […]

If you want to sell a product, price it correctly. That theory at long last appears to be working in the U.S. housing market.  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes rose 3.4 percent in April when compared with March.  One reason is that asking prices were remarkably affordable.  The […]

Despite Germany’s strong manufacturing output in March, it was not enough to compensate for a slump across the rest of the Eurozone with declining production, a signal that an expected recession may not be as mild as policymakers hope.  Industrial production in the 17 Eurozone countries declined 0.3 percent in March when compared with February, […]

As the Department of Justice and the FBI open their investigation into how JP Morgan Chase lost $2 billion, the government is investigating to determine if any criminal wrongdoing occurred.  The inquiry is in the preliminary stages.  Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates derivatives trading, […]

The American economy grew less than expected during the 1st quarter as the biggest gain in consumer spending in more than a year failed to overcome a diminished contribution from business inventories.  Gross domestic product rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate after a three percent increase in the 4th quarter of 2011, according to […]

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities revealed a 3.5 percent decline when compared with last year.  Home prices are now at their lowest levels since November 2002.  “Nine (housing markets) hit post-bubble lows,” said David Blitzer, spokesman for S&P, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York.  “While there might be pieces […]

Couch potatoes of the world can find something new to cheer about.  If sitting at the drive-through at your local Burger King isn’t working for you,  a few stores in Virginia and Maryland are now home delivering meals — for a $2 charge on a minimum order of $8 to $10.  Burger King is is […]

Ten of the 15 richest counties in the United States are located in Washington, D.C.’s Virginia and Maryland suburbs. According to 2010 Census Bureau data, with three counties exceeding the $100,000 mark, life seems pretty good in these areas, even as the U.S. median household income declined 2.3 percent between 2009 to 2010.  Even so, […]