The book Dumb Money, written by Daniel Gross describes the era of “Dumb Money” and even “Dumber Money” causing the credit bubble that occurred prior to the 2008 financial crisis. Gross explains that it wasn’t “skeezy money managers” that caused the recent financial tsunami, but rather Ph.D. economists, central bankers, CEO’s and investment bankers. Gross reveals that the four factors that precipitated the Dumb Money era were low decreasing interest rates, increasing asset prices (real estate in particular), plentiful borrowers, and a strong debt market. He explains that due to the “shadow banking system” American financial culture was too fixated on short-term gains rather than long-term gains and encouraged excessive borrowing, lending, and trading. Gross criticizes
“Because and swaps—are instruments for speculation as well as hedges bonuses on Wall Street are tied to transaction volume, this creagainst a drop in an asset’s value. They can be used to bet ates an obvious problem.” that the price of an asset will go up or down. Derivatives also One fear is that losses in the trading department of a large can have more of an effect on a portfolio than simply buying bank, say, could cause a meltdown of the financial system, a or selling a stock or bond because of the leverage involved. scenario that has sometimes prompted calls for stricter regulaLast November, for instance, an investor could buy nearly $1 tion. Critics of government meddling note that these dire million in futures contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 In- warnings have never
Known in this case as Johnson Services which has accumulated significant losses. Issues: 1. Outstanding purchase of stock (a) Mr. Jones would like to know if he should purchase the stock of Smithton outright, leaving Smithton intact. He also wants to know if he issues debt in his Johnson Services to pay for the Smith Company would that raise debt to equity issues (b) Mr. Jones also wanted to know should he convert Smithton to an S Corporation and change the fiscal year to a calendar year. (c) Mr. Jones also asked what are the potential tax ramifications that exist for
Recently, the market is on an uptake with its improving stocks & bonds. The light in a year-plus-long tunnel is bringing both hope and realization. The market improvement is also shedding a truth on a troubling facet of the economy, the 401(K). The realization Stephen Gandel, of “Time Magazine”, has highlighted in his article “Why It’s Time to Retire the 401(k)” focuses on the sad truth that 401(K) is not effective and thus can not be relied on. 401(K) has become ineffective because of the corruption of big business, the misunderstanding of and as a result a mishandling of the 401(K) accounts, and its correlating dependency on the market’s success.
The economy is considered to be very unstable at the current time, and it is the duty of the United States government to do everything in their power to once again stabilize the once booming economy for the sake of the entire country and its citizens. Current Unemployment Rate Currently unemployment rates in the United Sates are a less than desirable 7.9%. Although, this number has decreased by 2.1% from its peak in recent years, it is still believed that there is a long way to go. Prior to the recession unemployment rates fluctuated between 4% and 6% (www.bls.gov, 2012). This increase in the unemployment rate is having considerable impacts on the economy.
Naturally, this construction cannot be started immediately but it could begin to be felt sometime next year. To sum up the economic impact, the short-term adverse consequences could push the economy the rest of the way into recession, but offsetting elements of stimulus should lead to a faster pace of business activity by the middle of 2002. As for the financial markets, the broad outlines of the implications are these: The stock market will be under intermittently severe pressure for some time, apart from defense- and commodity-related industries, including oil
At the same time, there are increasing concerns about the fact that concentration in the financial system has increased; big banks may feel less competitive pressure to lend – despite the fact that they are highly profitable. The “Too Big to Fail” bailout of our big banks will have the most resounding effect on economic future. The latest quarterly report from the Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), is the best official articulation yet of why Too Big To Fail is here to stay in the United States – and we are likely on the path to these institutions (Johnson & Kurtz, 2011) becoming Too Big To Save. There are moral hazard and potentially dire consequences associated with the continued presence of financial institutions that are deemed ‘too big to
He explains that federal regulation dates back to the Great Depression when millions of unemployed Americans lost their homes, life savings, and farms. Out of this economic disaster were added protections and insurance for depositors, investors, and loan recipients. Jost states that by the 1970s, the Supreme Court became critical of all the anti-fraud rules. Since then, there have been deregulatory initiatives that have shifted the power, once again, to the hands of the banks. Rodriguez argues that more needs to be done about regulating cash lender services, similar to the way banks have been regulated for decades.
Something strange is going on in the world today. The global financial crisis that began in 2008 and the ongoing crisis of the euro are both products of the model of lightly regulated financial capitalism that emerged over the past three decades. Yet despite widespread anger at Wall Street bailouts, there has been no great upsurge of left-wing American populism in response. It is conceivable that the Occupy Wall Street movement will gain traction, but the most dynamic recent populist movement to date has been the right-wing Tea Party, whose main target is the regulatory state that seeks to protect ordinary people from financial speculators. Something similar is true in Europe as well, where the left is anemic and right-wing populist parties
This presentation seeks to examine as well as inform the audience about the current state of today’s economy in the United States. In particular, the lecture places an emphasis on the economy’s extreme recovery lag in light of the most recent recession and the reasons behind this drastic delay. It seems that the ball was dropped somewhat, so to say, when it comes to the recession of 2008 here in the United States. Furthermore, we are stuck in this slump that is taking a perturbing amount of time to recuperate from. The problem seems to lie within the U.S. economy’s income distribution.