While I’m not always a huge fan of Ben Stein, he does come up with some interesting insights every now and again, and he does have some clever and funny things to say about them. For Fortune Magazine, he recently offered these 4 lessons that he learned from the recession:

Economic forecasting is difficult.
Financial market forecasting is more troublesome than economic forecasting.
The financial sector in this country has lied a great deal.
The government cannot predict the economy or financial markets.

These are, of course, very good lessons to learn. It is important to realize that neither the government, nor the financial “experts”, …read more

In these times of economic turmoil, one of the biggest casualties has been personal credit. Many people are seeing a drop to their credit scores, and finding it difficult to get the best rates on a number of products and services. This includes car leases, for those who prefer to lease their cars. And, if a double-dip recession becomes a reality, this problem could continue. Those with credit that is good enough to lease may find that they are not getting the best payment plan for their money.
One way that you can improve your chances of getting better pricing is …read more

We’ve heard a lot of talk about the economy lately. And that talk has increased as the latest unemployment data puts the new jobless rate at 10.2%. The news is that, even though the recession is technically over, there are still some very grim economic realities to deal with. Whether you are planning on investing in economic recovery, or just want to gauge the health of the economy, MoneyNing offers three economic indicators you should not overlook:

Consumer Confidence Index: This measures how consumers feel about the economy. It is a measure of whether or not consumers feel confident enough about …read more

In a rather dour Friday morning surprise, the U.S. unemployment rate hit 10.2%. There have been predictions for months that the unemployment rate would exceed 10%, but as the economy started showing signs of life, hope was emerging along the lines of thinking that maybe that psychologically important level could be avoided. This morning’s non-farms payroll data destroyed all such thoughts.
However, even though the news sent stocks a little lower initially, they are inching up, desperate to remain in the black, even with the news. Even though the unemployment rate is higher, job loss is moving at a slower pace, …read more

The Federal Reserve should be announcing its interest rate decision later today, and stocks are heading higher on the assumption that the Fed is likely to keep interest rates near 0%, as well as the expectation that the Fed will keep stimulus help coming in. Indeed, what Ben Bernanke says about economic policy going forward is more likely to influence the stock market than just about anything else today, and expectations that he will play up the fact that we’re only at the beginning of the recovery, and that there will be a continued need for economic stimulus for some …read more

Towards the end of the fiscal year, IT department are usually using up all the budget they have for the current fiscal year and at the same time the IT head is writing down tens of pages of IT proposals which include plans, roadmap, budget required, improvements to be implemented, purchases to be made, raise in IT staff salary and so many things.

When the economy is good and the company is doing well, the head of the I.T. department wouldn’t have problems convincing the decision makers to approve of the budget requested. But during tough times, these proposals are …read more

I started thinking this evening about the current economic situation in the United States and wondering about the impact of technology and the Internet on the current recession. Is it possible that the powers of technology and the Internet could help keep businesses and individual more productive and efficient?
My thoughts were just wondering if the features and benefits of the World Wide Web and Internet provide a little bit more of an opportunity for cushion on the ups and downs of someone’s personal and professional finances. Is the ability for a business of any size to really market itself to …read more

Here’s an interesting take on the best way to support your fellow countrymen during the recession, almost recession, or whatever it is we’re having (or not) – buy beer.
As the theory goes, much of the money spent on most non-perishable items ends up somewhere else, as I covered in a different blog. At least beer money, when spent on American brews, should stay here. Not sure that works out as planned when the beer contains Hallertau, Tettnang or Saaz hops, or malt from the UK, but then again it was said more in jest than anything else.
As it happens, …read more