The New York Times reported this week that Hurricane Irene may become one of the top 10 costliest disasters in American history, with insurers, individuals and the federal government paying between $7 billion and $10 billion to fix homes and businesses. The Times, which trumpeted the finding in the lead story on the front page of
Continue reading …Even though recent college graduates are still faring significantly better than their lesser-educated counterparts, they’re still facing lower salaries than they would be earning if they had graduated a few years ago. Average hourly wages for both men and women dropped by about a dollar from 2000 to 2010, as you can see in the
Continue reading …The United States may not deserve a triple AAA credit rating, but the same sub-prime mortgage assets that caused the housing bust do — at least according to the country’s leading ratings agency. Standard & Poor’s is set to slap a coveted AAA rating on a set of bonds tied to mortgages given to homeowners
Continue reading …As you’d expect, responses to the news that the economy gained zero jobs last month have been pretty universally downbeat. Still, there are some valuable insights out there, that go beyond the woeful top-line numbers. Here are a few of the more interesting ones: • White House economics adviser Gene Sperling: “We have to do
Continue reading …When President Obama stands before Congress on Thursday to lay out his new ideas for the improving the economy, he will face a daunting task. Job growth ground to a halt in August, unemployment remains above 9 percent, and the president’s approval ratings have fallen to around 40 percent. How much blame does Obama deserve
Continue reading …The economy added no net jobs in August — an even worse performance than had been predicted. The overall jobless rate stayed at 9.1 percent. The news, which comes from the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, may revive concerns that the economy could be on the verge of a double-dip recession.
Continue reading …Welcome to First Look, our daily roundup of early-bird news: • A federal regulator is said to be preparing to sue more than a dozen big banks, charging that they misrepresented the quality of mortgage securities during the housing boom. (The New York Times) • The Federal Reserve recently asked Bank of America to prepare
Continue reading …Recently, the charitable organization Save the Children asked documentary photographer James Mollison to come up with an idea to get people thinking about the rights of children around the world. What he came up with was an unusual, but powerful project: a photo essay of more than 200 children and their bedrooms, called “Where Children
Continue reading …Hurricane Irene brought unexpectedly disastrous floods to the state of Vermont — the worst in 75 years or “perhaps ever,” according to Governor Peter Shumlin. The epic storm created massive flooding, 250 road closures and caused one death. But the most striking image many have taken from reports on the state’s ordeal stems from the
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