Greg Parker, CEO of The Parker Companies, in Sunday’s Savannah Morning News: Retail fuels prices are ultimately determined by four related expenditures: crude oil costs, taxes, refining costs and distribution/marketing. By far, crude oil prices have the biggest effect over…
Category: Economics
Economy adds a pretty good 227,000 jobs in February; unemployment rate unchanged at 8.3%
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 227,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in professional and businesses services, health care…
NPR’s Marketplace takes a look at Georgia and Atlanta, a city with “no logical reason” to be where it is
Open the post for more. Warning: two audio clips might start playing automatically; just hit pause on one or both if you don’t have ears that can juggle.
Bank failure Friday again in Georgia
From the FDIC: Global Commerce Bank, Doraville, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and…
Georgia challenges Michigan for #4 slot for highest percentage of mortgages underwater
The states with the biggest mortgage crises? Nevada has been the worst for a while, with Arizona running a strong but still distant second. Florida comes in third, but we’ve seen changing fortunes of the rest of the lead pack.…
Are home prices cheap right now? Or falling more?
There’s no question that home prices are now well within the range suggested by historical trends. One could argue that they are even cheap at this point. But are they cheap enough? By a couple of key measures, it’s obvious…
The latest on home prices from S&P/Case-Shiller — and more bad news for the Atlanta housing market
A few notes regarding the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller indices: There are actually three different indices: a 10-city composite, a 20-city composite, and a national index updated quarterly while the other two are update monthly. Each month’s data is actually a…
AJC: mounting opposition in DeKalb for 1% transportation tax
This July, voters across the state will be voting for regional 1% sales taxes (much like SPLOST and ESPLOST) for transportation infrastructure — roads, transit, etc. You’re going to be hearing a lot more about that. The battle in the…
An update on the Georgia banking crisis, which is slowly abating
So where do we stand in terms of the Georgia banking crisis? It’s clear, first off, that things are improving, despite the 76 bank failures in the state since 2007 — and despite at least 65 banks in the state…
Another Georgia bank fails
Central Bank of Georgia in Ellaville, Georgia was closed today. From the FDIC press release: Central Bank of Georgia, Ellaville, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)…
2011: the worst year for new home sales since 1963
The U.S. Census started tracking sales of new homes in 1963. From Calculated Risk: Even with the upward revisions to new home sales in October, November and December, 2011 was the worst year for new home sales since the Census…
How are Sunday sales impacting excise tax revenue in Georgia?
I think over the long run Sunday sales will have minimal impact on total sales of beer, wine, and liquor in the state. To me, the issue was never really about increased tax revenue, but simply about freedom — freedom…
Sears Corp. announces more store closures, mostly Kmart locations
Sears lost $2.4 billion in the 4th quarter of 2011, but investors liked today’s bold moves to close stores, spin off others, and do some restructuring. Despite the huge loss, Sears stock soared more than $9 per share today to…