Oct 8 2009

Bankruptcy Filings Spiking: Chapter 7 Booming and 8 Years of Credit Card Industry Lobbying and $100 Million in Fees.

There is probably no bigger sign of economic distress than bankruptcy.  It can be in the form of a business unable to pay debt obligations or an individual simply unable to keep up with former obligations.  Most people that file for bankruptcy are not in a good economic spot.  In fact, if you want a […]

Aug 1 2009

FDIC Loan Report and Plan C: Nearly Half of the $7.7 trillion in Loans Outstanding at FDIC Insured Banks are in the form of Commercial Real Estate. USPS Contracting CRE Space. Drop in Restaurant Traffic.

The commercial real estate debacle is heating up.  Although the market is cheering the better than expected drop in second quarter GDP, much of the reason for a less than spectacular fall came from the “G” in the equation, government spending.  By the way, we revised Q1 GDP lower to -6.4 percent but not much […]

Jun 28 2009

The Country that Punishes Savers: Americans Saving 7 percent of Income Putting nearly $800 Billion Annual Rate on the Sidelines. Banks offering 0 to 0.10 Percent to Borrow Your Money.

Americans are increasingly putting more and more money on the sidelines.  For the month of May Americans put away 6.9 percent of their income into savings.  Not the stock market or real estate but bona fide savings.  This is a stark contrast from the zero rates achieved back in April of 2008.  When we discussed […]

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