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How Oil Reveals Where the Next Bombs Will Fall
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2011 Comment (3)When President Obama explained America's involvement in Libya's civil war, he didn't mention oil once. Instead, he used euphemisms like "national interest" and "strategic interest." Yet it's hard to imagine that the United States or its European allies would be mounting airstrikes in Libya if the African nation weren't one of the world's top 20 oil producers.
[See 5 upsides to global turmoil.]
The other conditions Obama cited to justify airstrikes are valid: It was obvious that Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi was massacring civilians and intent on murdering many more. Some form of meaningful opposition was forming. Airstrikes by coalition jets could accomplish something tangible, by holding off or driving back Qaddafi forces. Yet the same conditions exist in other nations, and the West doesn't intervene there.
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What It Will Take to Fix the Housing Market
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2011 Comment (14)If you're a squeamish homeowner, you probably can't bear to follow the housing news anymore. Home prices have fallen by more than 30 percent over the last five years, yet the pain still isn't over: After a respite when it looked like the bust was ending, price declines have been accelerating once again. Sales are abysmal, despite the lowest interest rates in a generation. The inventory of foreclosures and other fire-sale homes is going up, not down, which will put further downward pressure on prices for much of 2011. Housing usually rebounds after a recession, giving the recovery legs. But the housing market is so bad that some analysts worry it could drag the whole economy back down into a dreaded double-dip recession.
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How Geraldine Ferraro Conquered Career Setbacks
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2011 CommentGeraldine Ferraro, who died at 75 on March 26 from blood cancer she battled for more than a decade, is best known for her historic 1984 bid as the first female vice-presidential candidate. But her life and career also reflected the everyday challenges women have faced over the last several decades as they've become an economic, political, and social force in America. I interviewed Ferraro in 2009 and asked about her career breakthroughs and setbacks. Here are some of her remarks:
I was eight years old when my father died suddenly. My father was not a peasant. He came here [from Italy] first-class. When he was alive, I could have anything I wanted. At 44, he had a heart attack. I missed him something awful. I was the youngest of four. One of my parents' kids died at six days. Another died in a car crash at three years. I was named after him.
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Where Rents Are Rising the Most, and Least
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2011 Comment (4)We all want our living costs to go down, not up. But a surge in rents may represent a surprising bit of good news for the beleaguered housing industry, which has been in the dumps for half a decade.
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One Sign the Housing Bust Could End Soon
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2011 Comment (7)It's not usually welcome news when the landlord hikes your rent. But for the housing market, rising rents may be one of the most hopeful signs in years.
The markets for rented and purchased homes usually move in opposite directions. When the housing market is hot and more people are buying homes, rents tend to stay low or go down, because there are fewer renters. But when high interest rates or other factors cool the housing market, more people rent. Since it takes awhile for builders to add more units, the supply-demand mismatch drives rents up.
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Bad Advice About 3 Big Purchases
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2011 Comment (16)Some important things have clearly changed in the U.S. economy. Jobs are hard to find and probably will be for awhile. Many families feel like they're falling behind. Retirement, for many, seems more like an unaffordable luxury than a natural phase of life. Even the government may not be able to keep its promise to millions of Americans expecting Social Security and Medicare benefits.
[See 10 industries that will hire the most in 2011.]
Life is tougher than it used to be, but it's also human nature to overreact, and some Americans have gone from pessimistic to downright apocalyptic. America faces a lot of challenges, but the nation is still rich with resources and talented problem solvers. The middle class is under stress, but millions of families are also paying down debt, realigning their priorities, and setting the stage for a prosperous future. Ambitious people will continue to get ahead. And many of today's recession babies are growing up with more realistic expectations than their parents did. Intergenerational renewal has already begun.
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4 Reasons Rising Prices Are Good News
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2011 Comment (2)The rent is going up, but your paycheck isn't. It's hard to offset a rising food bill when your cart is already filled with store brands and bulk items. And the prospect of $4 gas triggers a sense of gloom that makes you want to hide your wallet in a drawer.
[See 10 industries that will hire the most in 2011.]
Inflation is on a lot of people's minds, especially since the Federal Reserve and many economists measure inflation in a way that understates the rising costs that many families bear. The Fed focuses on "core" inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, because that gives them the clearest picture of what's happening in businesses and the labor market. But families don't have the option of foregoing food or fuel. So the policymakers guiding the economy seem out of step with the ordinary folks they're supposedly aiming to help.
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Why Car Prices Will Rise As Japan Recovers
Tweet Share on Facebook March 22, 2011 Comment (2)The aftershocks are subsiding, and the nuclear disaster caused by Japan's massive earthquake may finally be under control. But Japan's huge industrial sector still faces weeks of turmoil that will affect markets throughout the world.
[See 10 reasons you don't need a hybrid.]
Like other industries, Japan's automotive sector is deeply intertwined with suppliers, distributors, and retailers in dozens of countries. The March 11 Sendai earthquake knocked out a few automotive assembly plants, but it also wrecked numerous parts factories and left Japan with reduced electrical power that's cutting into the nation's manufacturing capability. Japanese automakers, including Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, are still figuring out how extensive the damage is to their supply systems, and a few stalled assembly lines are restarting. But supply problems could get considerably worse as warehouses exhaust their stockpiles of vital parts. "The supply of Japanese vehicles in the United States is likely to diminish in the short term," writes analyst Michael Robinet of forecasting firm IHS Global Insight. "This is starting to drive up prices for certain imported vehicles. The situation is unlikely to return to normalcy any time soon."
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5 Upsides to Global Turmoil
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2011 Comment (5)Radiation leaks. Bloodshed in the Middle East. The possibility of western airstrikes in an oil-producing nation. This is not the kind of news that cheers consumers or boosts confidence in a halting economic recovery.
[See 10 industries that will hire the most in 2011.]
So far, 2011 has been a year of unforeseen shocks and frayed nerves. Uprisings in the Middle East caught investors by surprise and rattled the oil markets, just as the global economy seemed to be getting back on its feet following the Great Recession. Then the Japanese earthquake and tsunami derailed the world's third-largest economy. And scary headlines about the unthinkable disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear facility have been a stunning reminder that things can still go terribly wrong.
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How to Tell When the Debt Crisis Gets Serious
Tweet Share on Facebook March 17, 2011 Comment (7)If you charge up your credit cards, you can keep the party going as long as you have enough cash to make the minimum monthly payments. But start to miss those and the banks will slash your credit, bombard you with phone calls, and turn the collection agencies loose on you.
So who is Uncle Sam's collection agency? And what, exactly, will trigger the ruinous debt crisis that many economists say is coming?
