February 20th, 2009
Not even the newly signed stimulus bill in
Washington could keep the oil prices from moving farther into negative
territory. Prices fell roughly 7 percent this week as many global indicators pointed
to a continued recession with no end in sight.
Crude prices for the week
could match the fall they took last week, which was nearly 12 percent. Just months ago
many experts predicted oil prices to fall to levels now being seen; however most
felt oil prices would not fall this quickly.
Iraq's oil minister pointed
to the lack of "sufficient incentives" available for investors to back new projects. He went on to say the current state of oil production
could set a stage for a huge shortage in supply across the globe.
With no
relief in sight, many experts believe prices will continue to fall for crude oil
while the prices might rise again considerably as OPEC continues to cut
production.
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February 18th, 2009
Last year was extremely unkind to those in houses in Las
Vegas and Orlando as nearly eight out of every 100 homes were either abandoned or
foreclosed. Things weren't any better on the rental side either. Richmond, Va.
had the nation's worst abandonment rate with nearly 24 percent of all apartment and home
rentals being empty.
The value of land has also seen a huge decline.
Some of the most expensive real estate in the U.S. is located on the Las Vegas strip
and today much of that land is worth far less than half of what it was just a year ago.
Expect things to only get worse in 2009.
Many
American families are hunkering down in multi-family housing or living with
other family members in the hopes of waiting out the current recession. With no end in sight for the recession, however, it is unclear just
when Americans will begin to shop for houses again.
Many cities will
undoubtedly see downsizing. Cities like Vegas and Orlando, however, will likely see
a resurgence in a few years as more Americans and visitors from from distant lands come
to experience all those cities have to offer. They are, after all, built on
tourist dollars.
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February 17th, 2009
The House voted in favor
of the bill with major opposition by Republicans where remained unanimous in
their opposition. The bill is expected to create millions of jobs in the next
few months and is expected to help roughly 95 percent of all Americans.
However, opponents to the bill say that unnecessary spending will severely limit
the jobs the bill was supposed to help create.
The stimulus plan is
considered to be the cornerstone of Obama's plan for economic recovery
and it has been clear up to this point that Democrats are fully in favor of the
stimulus package while Republicans have been wholeheartedly opposed to
it.
The stimulus package has been trimmed quite a bit but not enough
for a lot of experts.
When will the economy see the effects from the
stimulus bill passing? Tax relief for businesses and individuals, tax breaks
for first-time home buyers, new programs for federal school construction and
funds to modernize schools across the country should begin immediately. But many
months are likely to pass before any true signs of the bill's success or failure
will be measurable.
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February 06th, 2009
The latest job loss numbers were far worse than the extremely high
number of 525,000 that was predicted. More than 600,000 jobs were eliminated in
January, continuing a two month trend of worse than expected
numbers.
Even so the Dow moved up more than 2.5 percent
Despite the horrific unemployment
numbers, the Dow stayed in positive territory on Friday as speculation that the
stimulus bill on Capital Hill is close to being passed. The Obama
administration is betting that the stimulus package will help to reverse the
damage done by the lose of more 3.5 million jobs since the beginning of the
economic troubles in the U.S. last year.
It hasn't been easy for those
millions out of work due to the downturn in the economy. The average of time for
someone to find employment rose to nearly 20 weeks last month, up from just 17
weeks a year ago. Many who still have jobs are finding some of their hours each
week being eliminated or adjusted. January saw the average work week for the
American worker at just 33 hours a week, which is a record low.
Most
analysts belief things are going to get a lot worse, even if a sweeping stimulus
plan is passed in Congress.
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February 06th, 2009
January's U.S. unemployment numbers are due later on Friday
prompting speculation that numbers will show a further increase in claims. All
estimates point to another 500,000 jobs disappeared last month. While that
number may seem excessive, some analysts had predicted upwards of
700,000.
Still, the expectations for the U.S. government to implement
additional steps to bail out the financial sector led the markets into positive
numbers on Thursday, and it is likely that the Dow will finish up for the week
with another 1 percent to 3 percent gain by Friday's close.
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