If home ownership is the American Dream… then why do we need government to subsidize it?
China is the world’s second-largest economy, a simple fact that underscores the importance of its financial health to investors worldwide.
And unfortunately, thanks to China’s subprime crisis, it’s not doing as well as we’re led to believe.
With Ben Bernanke prepared to step down as Federal Reserve chairman within the next year, the human resource debacle of locating the next Federal Reserve chair is underway.
Don’t expect a definitive answer from this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on when the Fed will begin tapering its massive quantitative easing program.
Instead, the focus will be on the FOMC’s statement, which will be scoured for clues about when scaling back QE3 could begin.
June 28 saw the corporate breakup of News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), the world’s 2nd largest media-entertainment conglomerate with some $34 billion in revenues worldwide.
“Education is a bubble in a classic sense. To call something a bubble, it must be overpriced and there must be an intense belief in it. Housing was a classic bubble, as were tech stocks in the ’90s, because they were both very overvalued, but there was an incredibly widespread belief that almost could not be questioned – you had to own a house in 2005, and you had to be in an equity-market index fund in 1999.” ~ Peter Thiel on higher education for NRO.
We were all shocked by the sudden, untimely death of James Gandolfini. Gandolfini was an immensely gifted actor who changed the face of television entertainment in the role of Anthony “Tony” Soprano, a deeply troubled gangster-in-therapy, who had to balance obligations to his family… and his Family.
By all accounts, James Gandolfini was generous and kind to family and friends alike. It has been reported that he left a large legacy, in excess of $70 million, to be divided between them. His net worth is an estimate, and his asset inventory hasn’t yet been disclosed, but he did alright for a middle class kid from North Jersey.
Sadly, however, his nearest and dearest won’t see anywhere near the full amount he left behind.
It turns out that James Gandolfini was generous – to a fault. His wish was that his legacy, in the form of real estate and other assets in the United States and Italy, be distributed in large chunks, the largest in a trust for his 13-year old son, Michael and 8-month old daughter, Liliana. His widow, Deborah Lin, is set to receive 20% of his estate. The will stipulates that the shares to be doled out after taxes.
America has become a part-time nation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that in June part-time employees in the labor force reached an all-time high of 28 million, 3 million more than when the recession began in 2007.
Periodically, each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its geographic district.
Banks take into consideration the outlook of regional Fed bank directors, interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources.
Student debt in the United States has already surpassed the country’s auto loans and consumer credit card debt. A student loan bubble looms on America’s horizon, and promises dark times should it ever burst.
And earlier this month, the student loan problem worsened.