An Economy Political Blog Roundup
An Economy Political Blog Roundup – by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at the Care2 Election Blog)
This week’s political blog roundup is going to feature women political bloggers – specifically posts relating to the economy and money. As this CBS News video shows, things are looking pretty bad for the U.S. economy…
From The New York Times
Almost everything seems to be going wrong for the American economy at once. People are buying less, but most things are costing more. Mortgage rates are rising, the dollar is falling and prices of key commodities like oil are leaping from one record high to the next.
This is from a post by Morra Aarons at BlogHer — Election 2008: Recession Talk
Today, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine said “We are in a recession…We have pretty strong indications that we have seen a major, major downshift in the economy. I think we’ll find we started in the last quarter of last year.” And he should know; he used to be head of Goldman Sachs. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said the US faces the “gravest set of economic and credit difficulties possibly since World War II and is likely already in a recession.”
So what does this mean? I don’t know, because this goes way beyond my Macroeconomics 101. If we are in a recession, do we one day get a notice in the mail? Is there a message on our TV from the emergency broadcast system? No, it doesn’t seem so. But the signs are insidious and they are here. This hits home for me since I’m about to start looking for a job.
This is from a post at The Little Pink Clubhouse…
Oh, baby. My blood pressure’s up already, and it’s just after 7 a.m. in Seattle.
Several credit card customers who traveled to DC to testify before Congress about usurious and capricious interest rate changes were told that they would be compelled to reveal their private financial information before being allowed to testify at the hearing. The credit card companies demanded it, and Congress buckled under.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=4448963&page=1
At the 11th hour, the credit companies found a way to stop those that had traveled to Washington today to tell their story to the congressional panel on consumer credit.
The banks whose practices were about to be discussed on Capitol Hill demanded that those testifying before Congress about credit card practices sign a waiver that allowed their personal financial information be revealed to the public.
The Republicans on the subcommittee backed the banks’ requests and a procedural battle would have ensued.
All the panelists declined to sign the waiver.
The Mixter’s Mix…
I do not know about you, but I have been more interested in the real “meat and potatoes” of the campaign between Obama & Clinton, than the television ads and the debates. The debates are just too short too cover and real material. They just hit the tip of many icebergs. One of the things that I am very concerned about, as I am sure most of us are right now with the prices of things continually going up and the entire health care mess, I wanted to know what their economic stances were. Also, maybe like you, I want all my information in one nice, neat package. I hate to go back and forth between web pages to read and compare and contrast. So, lucky for me that Mother Jones had an excellent tutorial. An economic policy primer with the stances of both candidates spelled out all nice and the like. It was a good way for me to get the key info, that I desired, with each candidate back to back.
This is from a post by Pamela at BlogHer…
The US national debt now stands in excess of 9.4 trillion dollars.
It has been projected that the final costs of the Iraq & Afghanistan wars will exceed $3 trillion. The Christian Science Monitor recently reported:
“The cost is going up every month,” says Linda Bilmes, an expert at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She estimates the short-term, “running cost” has reached $12.5 billion a month. That’s up from $4.4 billion a month in 2003. Add in long-term factors, such as the care of veterans and interest on federal debt incurred as a result of the war, and the cost piles up to $25 billion a month nowadays.”
Yet, two days ago, The Federal Reserve announced a rescue package for banks and investment houses that would provide approximately $200 billion using at risk home-loan packages as collateral.
From In Women We Trust…
Thank you Goldman Sachs for investing in women around the world. Your 10,000 women project is a powerful statement. As other micro lenders have found out, leading money to women makes good business sense. The return on the investment is very high. Check out their fact sheet on it.
Following the money is another reason the green movement is doing so well now, it’s right economic thing to do. When you add this women’s economic movement to it, what’s not to love?
From Barbara’s Blog…
While Americans search for interview outfits in consignment stores and switch from Whole Foods to Wal-Mart for sustenance, the world watches tremulously. The Australian Courier-Mail, for example, warns of an economic “pandemic” if Americans cut back any further, since we are responsible for $9 trillion a year in spending, compared to a puny $1 trillion for the one billion-strong Chinese. Yes, we have been the world’s designated shoppers, and, if we fall down on the job, we take the global economy with us.
Moonbeam McQueen has 10 Things I’m Currently Worrying About…
Money. I have got to figure out a way to earn an income. I’m a wee bit panicky, and am looking for more stuff of Tom’s to pawn on eBay (for some reason, the Celestial Stove didn’t sell). Please don’t tell him.
From Opinions Unlimited…
Well, it looks as if ABC’s offering to host a debate prior to the Pa. primary has been accepted. This will probably be the last chance primary voters will have to choose between the two, so….
DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT
1. race
2. gender
3. electability
4. things surrogates have said
5. religion
6. favorite food, dress, movie, music, etc.DO ASK…
