Articles About Recession

$70 trillion dollars.  That’s all the money in the world, or to get technical, the subset of global savings known as fixed-income securities.  And it almost doubled from $36 trillion in just six years.  How did this happen? The Federal Reserve presided over the creation of what we have learned (the hard way) is a […]

Even during a steep recession, the demand for the right niche product like student housing remains strong because people know they need education and training to compete effectively in a fast-shrinking job pool.  At a time when universities have seen their endowments and investment revenues decrease because of the state of the equity markets, private-sector […]

A significant measure of manufacturing activity rose for the fourth straight month in April. This could mean that the sector is starting to stabilize, even though the index has been at contraction level for 15 consecutive months. According to the Tempe, AZ-based Institute for Supply Management (ISM), its manufacturing index climbed to 40.1 in April, […]

Encouraging data on home and auto sales, homebuilding and consumer spending is seen by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as “tentative signs” that the recession may be moderating.  Still, he cautions that lasting recovery depends on the government’s success in stabilizing the reeling financial markets and unfreezing credit. In remarks to faculty and students at […]

What recession? A recent conversation with a friend revealed the unexpected nugget that at least one segment of the credit industry is alive and extremely well. The friend’s mortgage broker daughter is taking a leave of absence from law school to concentrate her energies on processing all the refinance applications coming her way – a […]

The credit crunch and sluggish return-on-investment environment are impacting green commercial real estate development – and not in a good way.  Even on projects where dirt actually gets moved, it will be more difficult to incorporate sustainable design principles as companies become more cost conscious.  The greening of the workplace should pick up once again […]

Wonder where real estate titan Sam Zell’s investment dollars are going during these recessionary times?  Despite the global financial crisis, Zell is investing in countries like Brazil, Egypt, Mexico and China – all of which he says have a shortage of affordable housing and lack infrastructure. Zell, the chairman of Chicago-based Equity Group Investments, LLC, likes […]

It’s now official.  We are in a recession and it started a lot longer ago than we thought – in December of 2007.  That’s the verdict of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee, the non-profit organization that economists and the government regard as the arbiter on recessions. According to the […]

Ben Bernanke has spoken.  The Fed chairman and the Federal Reserve moved recently to stimulate the economy when the policy-making committee cut the federal funds rate – the rate at which banks lend to each other – to just one percent.  This represents a half percentage point cut from the previous 1.5 percent rate.  By […]

“It’s not going to be a problem in the short run.  Inflation doesn’t flourish in the face of recession,” said Paul Volcker, who served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 until 1987.  “It’s something we have to worry about when we get out of this recession.  I have been around for a while.  […]