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Unemployment in the United States – Going Up or Down?

by macromikeApril 24, 2012

Unemployment is up!  Unemployment is down!  Jobs are available everywhere!  There are no jobs! If you watch a financial news channel for more than 10 minutes, you are reasonably sure to hear and see each of these topics offered – sometimes by the same commentator!  How can that be?  Are there jobs available or not?  [...]

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Three Percent Annual GDP Growth in Q4 – So What?

by macromikeMarch 7, 2012

According to the United States Commerce Department, our economy expanded at an annualized 3% rate for the final three months of 2011.    The “estimate” was for a growth of 2.8%, so the actual number was slightly better than the estimate.  For comparison, the US economy grew at a rate of 1.8% in the third quarter, [...]

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Here We Go Again …

by macromikeJanuary 27, 2012

Are you confused about the situation in Greece regarding the repayment of the government’s debt obligations?  Any idea what the difference is among the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”), the European Stability Mechanism (“ESM”), and the European Financial Stability Facility (“EFSF”)?  I’m getting a little dizzy trying to figure it out myself, so let’s start with [...]

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Debt?

by macromikeJanuary 5, 2012

Debt?  Everyone knows what debt is – you borrow money and you owe it back.   You might borrow as an individual, from a bank, a friend or a family member.  You might borrow as an entity, such as a homeowners’ association replacing a playground and paying for it over time via a bond issued to [...]

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How Will I Ever Save Enough to Retire?

by macromikeDecember 27, 2011

Remember the commercials during the Super Bowl last year which extol the virtues of saving money?  My favorite is the baby who appears to be talking in an adult voice, who says “I was going to buy expensive electronic gadgets with my birthday gift money, but I decided to create a long-term savings account instead.” [...]

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Supreme Court Decides Health Care?

by macromikeDecember 21, 2011

There have been many, many articles recently regarding the November 14th decision by the United States Supreme Court agreeing to review a key component of the Affordable Care Act.   A recent article in the New York Times discusses this odd turn of events, specifically the legal requirement under the Act for all Americans to be [...]

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Occupy Wall Street? Why Not “Occupy Main Street”?

by macromikeOctober 19, 2011

A recent article in the New York Times addresses some of the issues raised by Occupy Wall Street (“OWS”).  The author, Nancy Folbre, is not only a good writer but is also a professor of economics at UMass Amherst.  She outlines many of the themes we’re heard associated with OWS for the past month, such [...]

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Why Americans Can’t Save

by macromikeMarch 14, 2011

A recent article in the New York Times “No Pension, No Chance” by Thomas Geoghegan strikes a chord among many of us – for various reasons, it’s difficult if not impossible to save for the future.  Geoghegan starts by recounting the historical context of saving for retirement – “in 1980 two out of three American [...]

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Market Trends

by macromikeNovember 9, 2010

There have been many, many recent articles and media comments on market trends (bullish, bearish, long-term, short-term, etc.) that it seemed to be a good time to review what all these terms actually mean. Most simply, a market trend is the tendency of a market (stocks, bonds, commodities) to move in one direction for some [...]

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