Archive for August 10th, 2010

Pedal Misapplication Fingered In Toyota Crashes

Barring some new calamity, the three biggest corporate villains of 2010 have been Goldman Sachs, BP and Toyota. All have been subjected to Congressional inquisitions and seemingly endless pillorying by the media, and all have parted with significant sums of money in an effort to put their problems behind them. At least one appears to […]

Confidence Erodes Among Small Businesses

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is out with its August survey and it makes for pretty dismal reading. Here is there summary: The Index of Small Business Optimism lost 0.9 points in July following a sharp decline in June. The persistence of Index readings below 90 is unprecedented in survey history. The performance of the […]

Fed Rolls Out The Same Rusty Cannon

Well the Fed has spoken and the Cliff Notes version is that the economy is starting to suck again and their plan is to reinvest their maturing MBS portfolio into Treasuries. Note that they aren’t going to expand their balance sheet, just not let it get smaller. Basically saying this is how they’ll do QE2 […]

Obama Is Doing Just Fine With The Electorate

Ezra Klein spins Obama’s poll ratings this way this morning: But so far as the polls go, Obama is doing okay among the left. In fact, as the graph below shows (click on it for a larger version), his approval trends among Democrats, independents and the country mirror Ronald Reagan’s ratings among Republicans, independents and […]