11 to 20 of 85
Archive for “Economy Troubles” news
Tom Corbett Can’t Create Jobs Because You’re Getting High On Drugs
By Joel Mathis 4/30/2013
Comments 1
On the heels of Monday's news that Pennsylvania's job-creation ranks 49th among the 50 states, Gov. Tom Corbett has responded with a play straight out of the Giant Book of GOP Clichés: He's blaming the hippies:
“There are many employers who say, look, we’re looking for people but we can’t find anybody that has passed a drug test, a lot of them,” Corbett told PAMatters.com. “And that’s a concern for me because we’re having a serious problem with that.” It’s at 3:40 in the video.
Hooray For Not Being Last! PA 49th in Job Growth
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/29/2013
Comments 0
Things PA beats Wyoming at: JOBS! Compared to one year ago, Pennsylvania's job growth (several thousand jobs were actually lost) ranks 49th in the United States. Out of, you know, 50. Not to get political or anything here, Governor Corbett, but you know what really well-respected non-partisan think tanks said would result in 35,000 extra jobs by 2016? Approving Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. [PBJ]
Jim Cramer Taping “Mad Money” From Villanova Today
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/25/2013
Comments 0
Morning Glory Diner booster Jim Cramer will be taping "Mad Money" shows from Villanova today. The tapings will last from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. today. (More information on what to do and, um, how to dress is here.) Wait, did someone say shows? As in, plural? As in, he tapes these things ahead of time? You mean the up-to-the-minute financial advice I'm getting from Cramer is really just last week's news? Just another reason to be skeptical of the gong-banging Wyndmoor native, perhaps... [Patch]
City Hall Plans To Issue $400 Million In Bonds. That’s A Lot.
By Joel Mathis 4/24/2013
Comments 0
An article at Bloomberg makes more clear what city officials were doing last week in their closed-door meeting with prospective bondholders: The city wants to issue $400 million in new general obligation bonds—that is, add about $400 million in debt—in a nearly unprecedented move: "It would be the largest fixed-rate, long-term issue for the city since at least 1990," Bloomberg observes.
$218 million of that money would go to finance capital projects around town, but the remainder—$182 million—would go to "retire" old debts held by the city. Basically, it's a refinancing of the city's debt at a time when interest rates
Why is Mayor Nutter Auctioning Off Chunks of the City in Secret Meetings?
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/18/2013
Comments 6
Over at the Comcast Center right now, Mayor Nutter is dressing the city up real nice and showing her off. Because Philadelphia, officially the brokest of the country's five biggest cities, is bringing in big-name institutional investors for a two-day conference to try to entice them to purchase municipal bonds and city-owned assets. More specifically, all I can tell you is that Mayor Nutter is speaking right about now, and there's a cocktail party at 5:30 p.m. Tomorrow, investors will go check out PHL and Gas Works, among other things. Press aren't allowed, Comcast VP David Cohen said, because that
Winklevoss Twins Pouring Millions Into Bitcoin, Just as It’s Crashing
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/12/2013
Comments 0
The Winklevoss twins are back! (You may know them as Tyler and Cameron. Or just the Winklevii.) And this time they're not just peddling some silly plan to create a virtual "Face Book"--they're investing in play money! Bitcoin, the investment flavor of the last month, is a virtual currency that's supposed to be more reliable than fiat money. Here's what's happened to the virtual currency since January, when it was trading at about $10.
Prices quickly doubled, then tripled, and finally quadrupled in early 2013 as more and more companies began accepting Bitcoin payments....[then] the botched Cypriot bank bail-in scared so many
Penn’s Attempt to Copy Yale’s Famous Endowment Strategy Could Backfire
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/11/2013
Comments 0
In 1985, Yale hired investor David Swensen to manage its mega-sized endowment. Since then, Swensen's "Yale Model" has been the most celebrated in the country. In the last decade, the school's endowment netted a 10.6 annual return; Penn, by contrast, netted 7 percent. Many have since tried to copy the Yale Model, and Penn is now the latest, having just hired one of Swensen's deputies to manage its $7.8 billion in assets. Huzzah for the Quakers? Not so fast.
The Yale Model is distinguished by investing in hedge funds and other illiquid, "alternative" assets. For a while, that provided a big
Class of 2013: You’re Screwed
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/11/2013
Comments 0
A big study released yesterday by the Economic Policy Institute called the "Class of 2013" confirms what you've already seen up close: high school and college grads are in serious trouble. Half of all high school grads under 25 are underemployed, while 30% are unemployed; 18% of college grads are not working enough, while 9% are out of work altogether. (Compare that to 5.7% unemployment before the recession started.)
When it comes to Pennsylvania, things are looking a little less bleak. PA's unemployment rate for the under-25 set stands at 13.4 percent, well below the low-20s numbers you'll see in the
Do You Have Powerball’s Unclaimed $1 Million Ticket?
By Joel Mathis 4/03/2013
Comments 0
6ABC reports that a $1 million winning Powerball ticket, sold last year in South Brunswick, N.J., is about to expire on May 17, with the winnings unclaimed. "Lottery officials recommend that the ticketholder sign the ticket and contact state lottery headquarters or a lottery retailer to validate the ticket and file their claim," the station reports. The winning numbers were 3, 7, 21, 28 and 43 and the Red Ball number was 2. Which, come to think of it, sounds just like the ticket laying around the living room somewhere here...
Drexel Law Offering Students 2-Year, Vacationless Degrees
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 4/01/2013
Comments 1
No, this isn't some University of Phoenix type pseudodegree. Drexel University's Earle Macke School of Law is giving students the option to graduate in two years, rather than three. Given rising levels of student debt and law school tuition, this seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, there's a catch: It won't actually cost you less. Instead, you're paying the same price, but forgoing your summer vacation. Sure, you save an extra year of housing costs and get to the job market faster, but the degree may not be all it seems at first glance. [Inquirer]
