02.28.09
In the News
Here are a couple of stories from The New York Times that are informative and telling about our economic future. The first discusses the revised GDP numbers from the 4th quarter of 2008 and the second is an op-ed about unemployment.
02.12.09
Bonds
Here’s some reading for Stephanie…and the rest of you from the New York Times. An interesting story about NY municipal bonds that are about to reach their maturity date after 135 years.
02.07.09
Productivity & Growth
I handed out an outline for chapter 24 on Friday. However, you can download it here: chapter-24-outline.
In addtion, we discussed unemployment and examined a couple of interesting web sites. Check out this interactive site at MSNBC. It’s pretty interesting to see how the unemployment rate has changed over the past 18 months.
The Unit exam for chapters 22, 23, 24, & 26 will be on Wednesday. Enjoy your weekend.
01.29.09
CPI
There’s been a plethora of news about the economy over the past week — all of it bad. The Buruea of Labor Statistcs released its latest report for CPI on January 16th. The report indicated CPI for urban consumers has fallen: “On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U decreased 0.7 percent in December after declining 1.7 percent in November.”
Now, you might think lower prices would be a good thing for consumers (and it may be). However, can you explain why it points to trouble for the overall economy?
For fun, you can check out this CPI calculator from the BLS web site.
Click here to read more about the BLS and CPI.
Click here for an article about CPI from Bloomberg.com
And of course…Read Chapter 23 – Measuring The Cost of Living
01.28.09
More News
Several articles dealing with economic issues we are focusing on in class have appeared on major national news sites.
The first of these articles is a multimedia presentation from the New York Times. The article provides a historical look at how the U.S. government has dealt with recessions over the past 50 years. In addition to providing a timeline, audio from three prominent economists provide insight as to how the government looked to turn the economy around.
In additon, The Consumer Confidence Index was released this week and the numbers were not good. Statistics released this week indicate that consumer confidence is at an all-time low (since the government began reporting CCI in the mid-1960s).
And, as if the news wasn’t bad enough, Unemployment is edging up in all states. Here’s an interesting chart/map from the Wall Street Journal that shown the current trend in unemployment nationally. Closer to home, the Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland’s Unemployment Rate hit 5.8%, a 15 year high.
01.25.09
Bad News Ahead
Here’s an article from CNN that highlights some of the economic indicators we’ve been discussing in class. To Summarize:
Investors will also digest reports on housing, consumer confidence and leading economic indicators early in the week. The end of the week brings the fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report. It’s expected to have fallen by an annual rate of 5.2%, it biggest plunge in 26 years.
