By Kevin Krolicki DETROIT (Reuters) – In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded. After five hours of calling out a drumbeat of “no bid” for properties listed in an auction book as thick as a city phone […]
OMG graphgasm over at The Oil Drum! Posted by Gail the Actuary on October 9, 2009 – 6:40am We know oil prices peaked in the third quarter of 2008–in fact in July 2008. But what else peaked about the same time? It turns out when you look at the data, lots of things… What Peaked […]
From Calculated Risk: This graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in consumer credit. Consumer credit is off 4.4% over the last 12 months. The previous record YoY decline was 1.9% in 1991. Here is the Fed report: Consumer Credit Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-3/4 percent in August 2009. Revolving credit decreased […]
From Calculated Risk: This graph breaks down net job gains and losses by firm size since 1992. During the current employment recession, small firms have accounted for about 45% of the job losses – much higher than during the 2001 recession. Small Business and Employment Technorati Tags: financial collapse
By Robert Waweru TURKANA, Kenya (Reuters) – Villagers in northwest Kenya squat in the sparse shade of an acacia tree and watch as aid workers slaughter their prized goats before distributing the meat to hungry people waiting for relief food. Goats are the economic lifeblood of the minority Turkana tribe, who live around Kenya’s […]
[Google translation] Once they were symbols of growth and prosperity, today many American shopping malls only ruins are left. For artists and amateur archaeologists are the spirits Center exciting playgrounds of morbid beauty. They document the disintegration of the American way of life. By Iris Hellmuth …What he saw when he first entered, took his […]
By Martin Plaut, BBC Africa analyst The World Food Programme (WFP) is closing 12 feeding centres for mothers and children in Somalia. The WFP says it has simply run out of money and now has to make cuts. The decision has been made despite the ongoing crisis in Somalia, and the WFP says the reductions […]
From Calculated Risk: Here is a hockey stick graph … Fannie Mae reported that the serious delinquency rate for conventional loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 4.17 percent in July, up from 3.94 percent in June – and up from 1.45% in July 2008. “Includes seriously delinquent conventional single-family loans as a […]
By Jeremy Hance Kenya was once considered one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s success stories: the country possessed a relatively stable government, a good economy, a thriving tourist industry due to a beautiful landscape and abundant wildlife. But violent protests following a disputed election in 2007 hurt the country’s reputation, and then—even worse—drought and famine struck the […]
LONDON (Reuters) – Food aid is at a 20-year low despite the number of critically hungry people soaring this year to its highest level ever, the United Nations relief agency said Wednesday. The number of hungry people will pass 1 billion this year for the first time, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said, adding […]
