Spam and Kool-Aid showing double digit growth, Obama Plans To Create 2.5 million jobs, The Cost of A GM Collapse, $250 billion in mortgages resetting in 2009.
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Span, Beer, Jell-o and Kool-Aid Seeing Double Digit Growth
As consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of thrifty grocery items that are selling steadily. Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm. “We’ve seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans,” said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain, in an e-mail message. “They’re real belly fillers.” Kraft Foods said recently that some of its value-oriented products like macaroni and cheese, Jell-O and Kool-Aid were experiencing robust growth. And sales are still growing, if not booming, for Velveeta, a Kraft product that bears the same passing resemblance to cheese as Spam bears to ham. Source: Bloomberg.com. Read Full Story.
Obama Plans To Create 2. Million Jobs By 2011
President-elect Barack Obama aims to create 2.5 million jobs by January 2011, and he wants to get it through Congress quickly and sign it soon after taking office. The plan centers on creating jobs by rebuilding roads and bridges and modernizing schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars. This is welcome news considering the Labor Department recently reported that claims for unemployment benefits jumped to 542,000. That marked the highest level since July 1992 and provided fresh evidence of a rapidly weakening job market that is expected to get even worse next year. Source: Businessweek.com. Read Full Story.
The Cost Of A GM Collapse
According to a forecast from IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, a GM collapse alone would cost the government as much as $200 billion for costs associated with unemployment insurance and other programs after millions of auto-related job losses. A GM shutdown would cost jobs among suppliers as well as at the automaker itself, pushing the U.S. unemployment rate next year to 9.5 percent, compared with current projections of as high as 8.5 percent due to the weakened economy. Federal, state and local governments would lose $108.1 billion in tax revenue over three years in the event of a 50 percent reduction in U.S. automaker operations, according to a Nov. 4 report by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Source: Blomberg.com. Read Full Story.
$250 Billion Mortgages Set To Reset in 2009
A new report from Demos, a public policy research group in New York, points out that millions of mortgages are ticking toward a possible explosion. The report, citing data from First American CoreLogic, a real estate research firm, says $250 billion in loans will reset in 2009 and $700 billion in 2010 and after. If left on their own financially, many of these borrowers will be forced into foreclosure. Source: NYTimes.com. Read Full Story
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