http://alamedalearning.com/reality Separating fact from fiction in finance and economics Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:46:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In February, Federal government revenue covered only one-third of expenditures. Politicians believe there is no need to worry about the deficit, they can spend any amount of money on anything without consequence. And that's true. For a while. And then the roof falls in. http://alamedalearning.com/reality/2010/03/10/borrowing-time/ Consumer credit has been declining, and I had assumed that people were using their credit cards less and paying down their balances, just as Suze Orman told them. Maybe even building up their "emergency fund". Actually, no. Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but consumers aren't paying off ... http://alamedalearning.com/reality/2010/03/10/charge-it/ George Orwell is laughing in his grave. Nancy Pelosi on healthcare: “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. Unbelievable arrogance. That's from her website, you can't make this stuff up. In fairness, she doesn't know ... http://alamedalearning.com/reality/2010/03/09/big-sister/ From Reuters: Jobs outlook may be too optimistic: SF Fed study. Economists Mary Daly and Bart Hobijn trace last year's surge in joblessness to unusually strong productivity growth at U.S. businesses. Companies' ability to keep output steady, even as they slashed jobs, meant the unemployment rate rose twice as fast as predicted ... http://alamedalearning.com/reality/2010/03/08/produktivitatswunder/ The administration's attempts to support the real estate market grow more desperate and bizarre every day. Now it wants to pay people to walk away. More precisely, force lenders to accept a short sale and pay the "owner" to leave. Presuming, I guess, that the prices might be better than ... http://alamedalearning.com/reality/2010/03/08/price-supports-never-work/