Submitted by The Capital Spectator
As dissension in central banking goes, yesterday’s discord was fairly tepid but significant nonetheless.
The Fed’s whopping 75-basis-point cut on Tuesday, which lowered the Fed fund rate to 2.25%, was approved by eight and questioned by two. Richard Fisher and Charles Plosser raised doubts about the wisdom of FOMC majority’s analysis by […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Less than 21 hours left to sign up for the 2008 NCAA Bracket Econbrowser Challenge. Register and fill in your bracket both at this link.
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
WASHINGTON, DC, March 19, 2008 – The top five recipients of migrant remittances in 2007 were India ($27 billion), China ($25.7 billion), Mexico ($25 billion), the Philippines ($17 billion), and France ($12.5 billion) according to the World Bank’s new Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, released today. Rich countries are the main source […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“Civil rights used to be about treating everyone the same. But today some people are so used to special treatment that equal treatment is considered to be discrimination.”
~Economist Thomas Sowell
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Conclusion of the study H-1 B Visas and Job Creation: Based on a regression model that controls for both general market conditions and firm size, requests for H-1B certifications by U.S. technology companies are associated with an increase in total employment more than five times the size of the H-1B request. The […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Bangalore–India’s IT giant Wipro plans to open more centers in the U.S. in a continuing trend of “reverse outsourcing,” as Indian information technology outsourcing companies recruit in the U.S. and Europe.
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro, India’s third-largest information technology outsourcing company, said it aimed to hire more than 1,000 people in […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
How much ammo is left in that fed funds gun?

Interesting reaction yesterday at the Chicago Board of Trade to the Fed’s decision to reduce its target for the fed funds rate by 75 basis points to a new objective of 2.25%. On Monday, the fed funds futures contract had been anticipating an average […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
That’s what’s implied by the graphic in today’s NYT article, based on CBO data.

Source: D. M. Herszenhorn, “Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark,” NYT, March 19, 2008.Given approximately $150 billion spent in FY2008, the burn rate is $12.5 billion per month, which is even higher than the “Hi” estimate […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

The Mortgage Bankers Association recently released mortgage delinquency and foreclosure data at the state level for the fourth quarter 2007. As the maps above show, most of the delinquency and foreclosure troubles are concentrated in 12 states for each category.
For serious delinquencies, the states with the biggest problems are Michigan (8.97%), Indiana […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Washington, DC (March 10) – The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its inaugural analysis of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Delinquency Rates for Major Investor Groups that shows delinquency rates ended 2007 at or near record lows for most major investor groups (see charts above, click to enlarge). Fourth quarter delinquency rates for four of […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
David Merkel has a very interesting article, A Social View of the FOMC, where he analyzes the background and credentials of the voting members, and also the non-voting bank Presidents.  Readers should download his handy PDF summary and also read his comments on each member.
He is highlighting an important question.  […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
It was a day when many questions would be raised, and a few were actually answered.
It was a time of financial crisis, with liquidity in doubt at several financial institutions.  The Bear Stearns “bailout” is fresh in the minds of all, with many stories asking “Who is next?”  The Fed […]

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