The FDIC was wielding its deadly scythe throughout the land today. It managed to cut down five banks today. Here are the links: Mutual Bank, Harvey, Illionis FirstbankAmericano, Elizabeth, New Jersey Peoples Community Bank, Westchester, Ohio Integrity Bank, Jupiter, Ohio First State Bank of Altus, Altus, Oklahoma If you’re keeping track that makes 69 for […]
Archive for July, 2009
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How Defense Saved Second Quarter GDP
Posted by Tom Lindmark on July 31st, 2009
I bought into the meme floating around earlier today and credited fiscal stimulus with playing a part in the better Q2 GDP numbers. It turns out that government spending helped a lot but not money being spent under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It came from the Defense Department. From the WSJ Real Time […]
“Cash For Clunkers” Crashing Into The Bureaucracy
Posted by Tom Lindmark on July 31st, 2009
Why am I not surprised that the “cash for clunkers” program may already be a bureaucratic hairball. A reader who uses the pseudonym Jaxon left a comment that directed me to the Ex-Car Salesman Blog. He has some interesting behind the scenes info. First, because of the popularity, there is a huge backlog of paperwork. […]
The Recession Bottoms Out
Posted by Tom Lindmark on July 31st, 2009
Here is the requisite Q2 GDP post, just keep in mind that , as you will shortly see, these numbers are subject to significant adjustment. The headline number is that GDP registered a decline of 1% in the April through June quarter. In the first quarter GDP declined 6.4% which represents an upward revision to […]
“Cash For Clunkers” Is A Home Run
Posted by Tom Lindmark on July 30th, 2009
“Cash for clunkers” is out of money! So what to do now? The “cash for clunkers” program has been a roaring success. in just one week Americans bought enough new cars utilizing the program that the NTSA said it was pretty certain it had exhausted the $1 billion that had been appropriated and was, therefore, […]
Wonk Alert
Posted by Tom Lindmark on July 30th, 2009
Tomorrow morning we get our first glance at second quarter GDP. That will dominate the news and everyone will forget that it’s a first estimate and subject to change. But something just as important is going to go on with national economic statistics tomorrow and will likely get lost in the mist for a few […]
Citi Passes Into The Taxpayers Hands
Posted by Tom Lindmark on July 30th, 2009
I almost missed this one. Today, my fellow taxpayers, we all became owners of about 34% of Citi’s common stock. From Reuters: One hundred ninety-seven years, one month and 14 days after its founding, Citigroup Inc has given a roughly 34 percent stake to U.S. taxpayers. While a few technical details still remain, the bank […]
