Economy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Economy: June 13, 2012
Excerpts and more top stories
JPMorgan Chief Is Expected to Play Down Trade Risks at Hearing
Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, NY Times – When JPMorgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, appears Wednesday on Capitol Hill, he plans to play down the risky trading activities that have already prompted at least $3 billion in losses. In prepared testimony for a Senate hearing into the trading mess, Mr. Dimon called the losses an “isolated event” that would not hurt customers or taxpayers.
Wealth Erased
NY Times op-ed - Americans know, all too well, the pain unleashed by the Great Recession of 2007-9. Still the numbers on the loss of personal wealth during those years are staggering and say a lot about why the economic recovery has been so sluggish — and why the government will need to do a lot more to turn things around.
Private Jobs Down 4.6 Million From January 2008; Federal Jobs Up 11.4%
Ed Carson, Investors Business Daily – President Obama’s statement Friday that the private sector is “doing fine” drew so much ridicule that he was forced to backtrack hours later. But it’s clear that Obama and many other Democrats see job problems — and solutions — starting and stopping with government employment. A quick look at payroll stats shows that’s not the case.
Mortgage Rates In U.S. Fall To Record Lows With 30-Year At 3.67%
Prashant Gopal, Bloomberg - Mortgage rates in the U.S. dropped to record lows for a sixth straight week as concerns over slowing job growth pushed investors into the safety of government bonds that guide interest costs. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage dropped to 3.67 percent in the week ended today from 3.75 percent, Freddie Mac said in a statement.
Americans Trust Romney More Than Obama on Economy: Survey
Steve Liesman, CNBC - President Obama’s economic policies do not appear to be resonating with the broader American public, but the effort to label him very liberal or a socialist also appears to have little traction so far, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey.
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Stock market is saying ‘Don’t fight the Fed’
Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch - That is only way I know of making sense of the stock market’s surprising strength on Tuesday. After all, the news coming out of Europe was so awful that most observers expected the U.S. stock market to plunge.
Why Berlin Is Balking on a Bailout
Hans-Werner Sinn, NY Times - Although Europe may seem far away from the economic life of the average American, the fate of the euro zone weighs heavily on the United States economy. Pension funds have invested in bonds issued by southern European states, while banks and insurance companies have underwritten a sizable fraction of the credit-default swaps protecting investors against default.
Why The Economy Can’t Get Out of First Gear
Robert Reich, Huffington Post – Rarely in history has the cause of a major economic problem been so clear yet have so few been willing to see it. The major reason this recovery has been so anemic is not Europe’s debt crisis. It’s not Japan’s tsumami. It’s not Wall Street’s continuing excesses.
How to Make Banks Less Risky
Sallie Krawcheck, Huffington Post - The announced $2 billion (and counting) JPMorgan trading losses are serving as a catalyst for a national discussion on the effectiveness of banking reforms enacted to date. But it risks getting mired in a debate on the minutiae of exactly what type of trade drove the loss. Would it have been classified as a proprietary trade or not?
