Free Republic

A booming economy should help people make good financial decisions since more money can be directed to other needs. That is why savings rates normally go up as the economy improves. People naturally tend to take advantage of better days especially after bad or slow times. This is not happening now. Many Americans are spending more on consumer goods, but they are not saving their money or accumulating wealth. No Emergency Funds Nearly a quarter of households, for example, do not have any available emergency funds according to a survey conducted by the SSRS research firm. Another third do not...

<p>It is becoming increasingly clear that the story of the global economy is a tale of two worlds. In one, there is only gloom and doom, and in the other there is light and hope. In the traditional bastions of wealth and power—America, Europe and Japan—it is difficult to find much good news. But there is a new world out there—China, India, Indonesia, Brazil—in which economic growth continues to power ahead, in which governments are not buried under a mountain of debt and in which citizens remain remarkably optimistic about their future. This divergence, between the once rich and the once poor, might mark a turn in history.</p>

(Fortune Magazine) -- Just how red-hot is the current worldwide expansion? "This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime," U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson declared on a recent visit to Fortune's offices. That may come as news to many Americans, whose boom-time memories are stuck in the 1990s, when Silicon Valley was the epicenter of our growth fantasies. But the fellow now occupying Paulson's old office at 85 Broad Street in downtown Manhattan shares that upbeat view. Just returned from a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Middle East, Goldman Sachs (Charts, Fortune 500) CEO...

The number of U.S. workers seeking new jobless benefits fell last week to its lowest in over five years, the government reported on Thursday and a private group said the services sector grew last month, boding well for the economic outlook. The strong data came one day before the closely watched Labor Department report on employment. Economists expect a solid 200,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls in December, with the jobless rate holding steady at 5 percent. In other data, major U.S. retailers on Thursday reported that deep discounts lured holiday shoppers last month and pushed sales slightly ahead of modest...