Have you ever gone to the refrigerator, opened it up, and been hit in the face with an odor that tells you something in the fridge is not quite right? Well, that is precisely what is happening right now with the government’s current crop of economic statistics. Something stinks. The problem is that it is sometimes extremely difficult to tell what the smelly culprit is, and if a wrong guess is made, the health-related consequences could be significant, much like trying to digest a rotten piece of food.
Mar 21 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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Earlier this month Site Selection magazine awarded its grand prize to Ohio for being the state with the most major business expansions in 2011 at 498 projects. The runner-up was Texas with 464 such projects. As might be expected, Ohio officials, including Mark Kvamme as head of Governor Kasich’s JobsOhio program, declared the victory a vindication of their efforts and suggested Ohio would remain a leader in attracting major expansions and new businesses, thereby producing good job growth for Ohioans.
Mar 14 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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Looking into the future is always fraught with danger given the multitude of known influences that need to be considered, not to mention those factors that are unknown at the time a forecast is produced. For example, how could anyone have guessed that a Japanese tsunami would roil markets last year or that an uncommonly mild winter would prevail in the U.S. this year while many parts of Europe dig out from under record snowfalls?
Mar 7 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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The housing industry is suffering, in part because the structure of our nation’s financial markets does not allow us to escape from past mistakes. To a significant degree, this inability to break with the past can be directly blamed on a federal government that clings to its own ineptness and forces the marketplace to adjust for the mismanagement of the two GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Feb 29 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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Imagine you are aware of two companies that, over the past few years, have managed to record losses of more than $150 billion, with the potential for red ink flowing as far as the eye can see. Would you expect to see these companies continue to operate and shake down unsuspecting investors for more funds to stay afloat?
Feb 21 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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Five years and counting — that’s how long the U.S. housing crisis has been going on, and so far the country has little to show for it. Millions of people have lost (or are in the process of losing) their homes to foreclosure and average home prices have fallen by approximately one-third from their peak. The government has initiated a number of programs to help Americans deal with the crisis — such as the Home Affordable Modification Program — but the results have been quite disappointing.
Feb 15 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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While I don’t want to palm myself off as a political analyst, it looks as though the presidential showdown may see a face-off between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Perhaps given this likelihood, virtually every statement made by each man is being dissected in great detail to better understand what each might stand for over the next four years. In the past week or so, both men have said some things that are getting tremendous exposure; an exposure that, perhaps, is incorrectly dissecting what the candidates actually said. As such, it may be appropriate to examine their actual statements and realize they are perhaps being misinterpreted.
Feb 8 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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Late last week the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released December 2011 employment/unemployment figures for the greater Columbus area, with the unemployment rate — not adjusted for seasonal variations — dropping to 6.4 percent. This rate was down from November’s 6.6 percent, and was far below the unemployment rate of 7.7 percent in December 2010. And the reaction at the Department of Job and Family Services? According to their spokesman, Benjamin Johnson, “It shows definite improvement … (i)t shows a strengthening economy and an improving job market.”
Feb 1 2012 | Posted in
Jim Newton |
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