“America’s New Poor” Segment – Notable Excerpts

Yesterday, CBS aired a segment on its “Sunday Morning” show titled “America’s new poor.” While dynamics similar to those discussed in the segment have been noted in previous posts on this blog, this segment is yet another notable reminder of the changing economic condition and the growing need for food assistance.  This segment focuses on …

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Walmart’s Q3 2012 Results – Comments

I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q3 conference call transcript (pdf) dated November 15, 2011.  I view Walmart’s results and comments as particularly noteworthy given their retail prominence and focus on low prices.  I have previously commented on their quarterly results; these previous posts are found under the “paycheck to paycheck” tag. Here are various excerpts that I find …

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November 10 Gallup Poll On Americans’ Ability To Afford Food – Notable Excerpts

In the October 17 post (“Danger Signs In The Stock Market, Financial System And Economy“) I mentioned in point #6 “…numerous signs of broad-based financial strain among households.” A November 10 Gallup poll titled “Americans’ Ability to Afford Food Nears Three-Year Low” illustrates one of these strains. Here are what I found as the most …

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Market Action During Periods Of Intervention – Chart Since 2007

In the August 9 post (“QE3 – Various Thoughts“) I posted a chart that depicted the movements of the S&P500, 10-Year Treasury Yield and the Fed Funds rate spanning the periods of various interventions since 2007. For reference purposes, here is an updated chart from Doug Short’s blog post of November 7 (“Fed Intervention and …

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Disturbing Charts (Update 5)

I find the following charts to be disturbing.   These charts would be disturbing at any point in the economic cycle; that they depict such a tenuous situation now – 28 months after the official (as per the 9-20-10 NBER announcement) June 2009 end of the recession – is especially notable. These charts raise a lot …

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Recession Measures – Updated

This post is the latest update to a series of blog posts seen on the CalculatedRisk.com blog.  The original blog post of April 12, 2010, is titled “Recession Measures.” In it, Bill discussed key measures that the NBER uses to determine recoveries, and posted four charts. Here are those charts, updated in his October 30, 2011 post titled …

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October 19 Gallup Poll On Americans’ Personal Finances – Notable Excerpts

On October 19, Gallup released poll results titled “Americans Grow More Negative About Their Personal Finances.” I find this poll interesting for a variety of reasons; perhaps chief among them is as another indication of growing financial strain among households.  A few excerpts of note: Nearly one in four U.S. adults (22%) now rate their personal …

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