Author Archives: Popular Economics Weekly

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About Popular Economics Weekly

Harlan Green is editor/publisher of PopularEconomics.com, and content provider of 3 weekly columns to various blogs--Popular Economics Weekly, Financial FAQs and the Mortgage Corner.

Yellen’s Federal Reserve To Keep Rates Low

The Mortgage Corner The Fed’s FOMC minutes of their last meeting were just released, and they show the Fed intends to keep interest rates low for as long as possible, until the unemployment rate drops substantially. And the Fed’s maintenance … Continue reading →

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Jobs Recession Finally Over?

Financial FAQs Is the jobs recession finally over? It’s taken this long to bring employment back to pre-Great Recession levels. Overall employment is still slightly below the pre-recession peak (437 thousand fewer total jobs).  But private employment is now above … Continue reading →

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The Ryan Budget Myth and Obamacare

Popular Economics Weekly Representative Paul Ryan has come up with his latest Republican budget proposal, and it changes nothing. It neither promotes economic growth, nor reduces the budget deficit, as with past Republican budget proposals. That’s because its real target … Continue reading →

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Fed Chair Yellen Is the Workers’ Best Friend

Financial FAQs We have just heard from new Federal Reserve Chairperson Janet Yellen in her first official speech entitled, What the Federal Reserve is Doing to Promote a Stronger Job Market. Her speech not only boosted the financial markets, but … Continue reading →

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No Relief Yet With Pending Sales

The Mortgage Corner We can’t yet count on Pending Home Sales, a predictor of closings in 60 to 90 days, to predict a boost to this year’s sales. They have been falling since last July, and the last spike in … Continue reading →

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Greenspan’s Greed and The Federal Deficit

Popular Economics Weekly The deficit this year is expected to be $514 billion— just 3 percent the size of the economy and significantly less than the $1.4 trillion deficit Congress ran up when it pumped stimulus into the economy in … Continue reading →

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What’s Happened to New-Home Sales?

The Financial FAQs Sales of new single-family houses in February 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates. This is 3.3 percent below the … Continue reading →

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So Fannie and Freddie Weren’t the Problem…

Popular Economics Weekly We are learning just how much mortgage fraud was committed by 17 national and international banks and other financial entities that the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) originally sued to recover some $200 billion in losses to … Continue reading →

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What Did Janet Yellen and FOMC Really Say?

Popular Economics Weekly The moment that the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting ended, and its comments were released, interest rates rose. Why? Because bond-holders and currency traders in particular (the dollar exchange rate rose, also), believed that the Fed could raise … Continue reading →

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Will Housing Starts Save Inventories?

The Mortgage Corner Will new housing construction improve the very low inventory levels that are restricting housing sales? It is hard to know at present if this slowdown is due more to the severe winter weather, lack of inventory, or … Continue reading →

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