CNBC reported this morning that FDIC Chair Sheila Bair is confident that the worst of the bank failures is yet to come. Her statement came with news that the big money center banks are racing to repay TARP funds. Of the 133 bank failures since the beginning of the crisis, very few are household names-something to be thankful for. When compared to the 1000 plus failures during the 1980s S&L crisis, 133 pales in comparison.
Archive for December, 2009
Bank Failures
Monday, December 14th, 2009Unemployment Numbers…What’s the Real Figure?
Monday, December 7th, 2009Last week was a positive week for the markets, celebrating with a 140 point rally early Friday on better than expected employment figures. Interestingly, by the end of the day massive selling took the gains away as if to suggest that market participants don’t believe the numbers. I don’t beleive them either.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration pitched that this was the best report since 2007. Don’t get me wrong, any good news on employment is great with me. I’m just not confident that the whole story is being told. I have read estimates that put real unemployment rates at 21 percent. Of course these estimates include workers who are underemployed or have just given up looking for a job.
If I lost my job as an investment advisor and took a job as a sales clerk in a retail shop, I would be underemployed and would want to be counted in the report.
