Actually, I believe the economy began its recovery in July but calling an end to a recession is usually no big deal. And I imagine it doesn’t feel like a recovery to the almost 10% of us who are unemployed. It may be hard for the rest of us to believe as well since I [...]

Some investors were miffed, others were worried but most were confused simply because the markets did little this week. Like junkies needing more juice, the bears can’t wait for the markets to crater while the bulls see no reason why the summer rally should not continue. Yet remember that this, the last week in August [...]

“After contracting sharply over the past year, economic activity appears to be leveling out, both in the United States and abroad, and the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good,” so said Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank on Friday. Once his statement was released, the stock market [...]

Recently, I wrote columns on both the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program and the Credit Card Relief Act. I thought I should give my readers an update on these government initiatives given recent developments.

As I said last week, I was expecting a minor pullback in the averages and that’s exactly what the markets did this week. The damage was contained however and the 1,000 level of the S&P 500 Index appears to be the line in the sand for both bulls and bears. But as August wanes the [...]

This year one sector of our nation’s economy is bucking the recessionary trend—the business of county fairs. Over the next few weeks, if the weather cooperates, the region will benefit from a migration of visitors from all over the region as Americans pass up expensive out-of-town trips in favor of demo-derbies, hot-dog eating contests and [...]

All week the tension built. After Monday’s big move upward, traders were convinced that it was time for a market pullback; after all the S&P 500 Index had finally clawed its way back above the 1,000 level. Surely the markets would pause here, they reasoned, and Friday’s unemployment number would be the excuse. Wrong!

As the Obama health care initiative occupies the nation’s center stage, Massachusetts’s landmark, employer-paid Medical Security Program continues to be touted as a model for national reform. This week’s news that the program will run out of money by January, thanks to the high rate of the state’s unemployment and ballooning medical costs, makes one [...]