Business Buzz The London Interbank Offered Rate is one good measure of the credit crisis: It’s the interest rate that good, steady banks can expect to pay when borrowing from each other. The further it gets from the Fed rate, the worse things are. The LIBOR gets set every day by the British Bankers’ Association in London. As banks grow more unwilling to lend each other money — because who knows if they’ll get it back — the LIBOR climbs further from the steady U.S. Fed rate, making it more and more difficult for banks to get money on credit.
The World Economic Forum’s 2008-2009 index rankings still have the U.S. in first place when it comes to competitiveness. One silver lining in the dark economic cloud, the U.S. still has a competitive advantage over most of the world. (Switzerland is second.)
Culture Buzz As the economy continues its death march, it’s time we all started tightening our belts. From eating out less to (gulp) “cheap” Apple laptops ($800!), Americans are making or getting ready to make major lifestyle changes as the stock and credit markets change wildly.
Business Buzz Sure, the Dow and the S&P 500 are down, but one index is at an all-time high: the VIX, which measures investor fear. As a volatility index, the VIX tries to measure the market’s expectation of change in the S&P 500 over the next month. With the market in weird, wild territory, the VIX has been going through the roof.
What some stocks that were worth $1,000 a year ago would be worth now, plus what you could have done with that money had you spent it on beer instead. The thing about beer can cars is that they don’t handle all that well.
Business Buzz Dilbert, the Onion and even Paul Bernanke all called the current economic crisis long before it happened, though in very different ways. If the 20-something writers at the Onion saw this coming, why not the Fed?
Business Buzz Some of the best online explanations of why the financial world is currently going to hell. These are the clearest, cleanest descriptions I’ve found so far of what’s going on with the financial crisis: how it started, how it got this bad, and what it might mean. Please add links you’ve found helpful.
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