Real gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of the economy's output -- probably fell at an annual rate of 0.6% in the third quarter, economists surveyed by MarketWatch
The U.S. Treasury is considering taking stakes in insurers, as it prepares a new round of capital injections targeted at regional banks and other financial companies, a person briefed on the plan said
Some life insurers have asked the government to make the participation of life companies mandatory because firms don't want to identify themselves as needing funds
Mandatory to get taxpayer funds simply because they do not want to identify themselves?
Additional details are how the Treasury didn't anticipant the drop in the markets. Right, they scream Fire in the Theater and are now surprised?
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
This evening I cannot help but revisit the 1930's. A famous film from the Great Depression is Our Daily Bread. Labeled pinko and capitalist propaganda at the same time, the story depicts communal living during the depression era.
Crude oil and copper led a drop in commodities, extending a record quarterly decline, on expectations an economic slump will sap demand for raw materials.
Sales in September 2008 (5.18 million SAAR) were higher than in September 2007 (5.11 million SAAR). This is the first time sales have increased for any month year-over-year since November 2005.
In the more hopeful of my two scenarios for 2009, the September retail rout turns out to be a one-month event, driven in large part by Bush's awful "Panic NOW!!!" speech in support of the Wall Street bailout. I speculated that consumers might decide Bush was as wrong about economic Armaggeddon as he has been about everything else.
Yearly NRSE sales increased 1.1 percent for the week ending October 18 as compared to the same week in 2007, while week-over-week sales posted a reasonably strong 4.7 percent gain as compared to the week ending October 11, largely due to the Columbus Day holiday. The year-over-year increase is slightly misleading, as the comparison week in October '07 did not contain Columbus Day. Additionally, sales for the month of October are down 0.9 percent compared to last year.
Man oh man, if there ever was a prime example of a revelation of the greatest flaw in libertarian economic theory, it had to be Alan Greenspan's speech. For those not in the know, the former Federal Reserve Chairman spoke before a Congressional committee yesterday. Long one of the grand proponents of laissez fair capitalism, his decisions, ironically, probably has lead to the complete discrediting of such economics.
"Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief," said Greenspan, who stepped down from the Fed in 2006.
The above image is from the United States Treasury agreement (pdf) on how much it will pay the Bank of New York Mellon for running the auctions to buy up toxic assets as proposed in the bail out.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy! 
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