Forbes magazine has put together a list of America’s most stressful cities and as a product of Chicago, the winner of the dubious distinction of being America’s most stressful city, I have this to say: “Yeah, so? Shut up and let me eat my hot dog in peace for once, goddamn it. No, I’m not yelling. Why are you always saying that I’m yelling? It’s not like you never yell! Pass the sport peppers before this gets ugly.”
economy
Nobody Gave A Crap About The FDIC Until Fairly Recently
By 9.17.08
Spend a little time looking at Google trends and you’ll notice that no one really gave a crap about the FDIC until fairly recently.
What Types Of Accounts Are FDIC Insured? Are My Investments Safe?
By 9.17.08
What accounts are FDIC-insured? Which aren’t? Now that a fund that markets itself as the world’s “first and longest running money fund,” suddenly found itself in the nearly unprecedented position of having to “break the buck,” we thought we’d help clarify. Here we go:
Guess What Kids? You Ain't Getting $@%* For Christmas
By 9.17.08
A new Reuters polls says that shoppers will be cutting back on gift-buying this holiday season due to, you know, being broke. The poll found that there are six times as many shoppers planning to cut back than there are consumers who are planning to spend more than last year. The pollster in charge called these results “staggeringly bad.”
The 10 Biggest Chapter 11 Bankruptcies In US History
By 9.17.08
CNBC has put together a quick slideshow list of the top 10 largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in US history based on the pre-bankruptcy assets of the companies in question. It really gives you a sense of the incredible scale of the Lehman Brothers filing — the next closest bankruptcy was Worldcom, which had $103.9 billion in assets before the filing — 535.1 BILLION DOLLARS less than Lehman Brothers. Damn.
Signs Of The Apocalypse: Even Money Market Funds Are Losing Money
By 9.17.08
In the history of money market funds, says the NYT, only one had ever “broken the buck” or actually lost money… before yesterday. On Tuesday, the managers of a multi-billion dollar money market fund announced that their customers might lose money in the fund– a type of investment that is considered as safe as a savings account.
AIG's "Strength To Be There" Commercials Are Suddenly Hilarious
By 9.17.08
When Treasure Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, convened a meeting with House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill last night to discuss giving AIG an unprecedented $85 billion loan, do you think they had a laugh about AIG’s commercials? We picture Paulson saying something like, “Ha, ha, ha… ‘strength to be there.’ That’s rich! Rich! Ha! I’m on a roll!”
Feds Loan AIG $85 Billion
By 9.17.08
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will lend AIG $85 billion. Explaining the breathtaking move the Fed said, “a disorderly failure of A.I.G. could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility and lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance.” They’re not just dumping out the public purse on the counter, though. FBNY will take a 79.9% stake in the company, the collateralized loan is for two years, and is expected to be paid off by selling off assets. NYT writes, “the bailout is likely to prove controversial, because it effectively puts taxpayer money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions does business with.” You can say that again.
"Crazy" Jim Cramer Takes This Opportunity To Gloat
By 9.16.08
About a year ago, CNBC’s Jim Cramer completely lost his sh*t on CNBC, screaming at Bernanke to lower interest rates before millions of borrowers went into foreclosure. Now, as the “Armageddon” that he was carrying on about is in full swing, Cramer is taking this opportunity to gloat.
United: Did We Say $25 For The Second Bag? How About $50.
By 9.15.08
United Airlines has decided that $25 was too generous a price to check your second bag with their airline, and have announced that they’ll be bumping the fee up to $50.
By 9.15.08
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Gas prices spiked in Ike’s wake this weekend, in some places to over $5. [AP]
Washington Considering $25 Billion Loan Handout For U.S. Auto Makers
By 9.9.08
What do you do when your industry starts to go belly up and you can’t make enough revenue to stay afloat? If you’re a short-sighted U.S. auto maker, you beg the government for $25-50 billion in immediate, low-interest loans in order to retool your plants, so you can start producing the hybrid cars you should have been planning years ago.
"Dollar Or More" Store Apparently Doing Better Than "99 cents Or Less" Store
By 9.5.08
Reader Daniel says that this “dollar store” where everything is a dollar or more seems to be doing better than the 99 cents or less store on the same street. It’s having a store-wide 50% off sale.
Fed Says We Gotta Let Individual Banks Fail
By 9.2.08
A healthy economy “must be able to allow individual institutions to fail,” said Thomas Hoenig, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City president. He’s absolutely right. [NYT]
Backlash: United Drops Plan To Ax Hot Meals On International Flights
By 9.2.08
United Airlines said it would listen to feedback from customers about its proposed plan to ax hot meals for coach passengers on international flights… and it did. The company has decided not to go ahead with the plan. Reader Jason forwarded us the following email from Graham Atkinson, United’s Chief Customer Officer.
American Driving Declines By Steepest Amount In 100 Years
By 8.28.08
From November to June, American driving dropped by 53.2 billion miles, according to the Department of Transportation. Billion. 53.2 billion fewer miles. That’s insane, and kind of beautiful. [NYT]
The Legroom Party Is Officially Over At Midwest Airlines
By 8.27.08
Midwest Airlines loyalists, prepare to be upset, the airline is adding 11 seats to its formerly roomy coach section. In addition to converting good seats to less good ones, they’re adding a charge for the remaining quality seats.
