Economic Crisis

The poet Gertrude Stein called the young survivors of the First World War the “Lost Generation.” Now the media have noticed an updated “Lost Generation” - or what The New York Times calls “Generation Limbo”: Young people generally between the ages of 18 and 29 have lost all hope because of the current economic crisis.

Also called Millennials, they have “literally lost their future,” according to columnist Elise Jordan. She bases this conclusion on just-released data from the U.S. Census. And the data is grim.

The employment rate for this age group is at its lowest level since World War II, falling 12 percentage points just since the year 2000. The number of Americans aged 25 to 34 who are living with their parents has jumped by over 14 percent since the Great Recession began, to a total of 5.9 million. more >>

Discount retailer Syms Corp and its wholly owned subsidiary Filene’s Basement filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday after failing to make ends meet during tough economic times, to the demise of many brides-to-be.

The company, well-known for its annual one-day “Running of the Brides” dress sale, filed for voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in a court in Wilmington, Del., ending a long “uphill battle.”

“This has been a challenging time for Syms and Filene’s Basement,” Syms CEO Marcy Syms said in a statement. more >>

“I’m worried you’re going to fail the country,” Erskine Bowles told the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “supercommittee,” on Tuesday. Bowles, a Democrat, is the former White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton and co-chaired, with former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (Wyo.), President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

The supercommittee was created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 to craft a bill that would reduce future budget deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Bowles was speaking at the supercommittee's last public hearing before its Nov. 23 deadline.

“I think that we face the most predictable economic crisis in history. I know that the fiscal path we are on here in Washington is not sustainable, and I know that each of you know it and you see it, because it is as clear as day,” Bowles said. more >>

Your immediate response may be, “What does Christianity have to do with economics?” In response, I would say: everything, if you think of economics as the system and means of production and exchange whereby people meet their own and each other’s essential needs.

Lest anyone presume otherwise, to think “Christianly” about these subjects does not imply that the Christian perspective must align with Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian political positions. Christian theology transcends all of these and to be fair, each may include-to one degree or another-aspects of Christian economic ideas and philosophy. However, as Christians our faith and worldview should inform our moral, political, and economic views, not vice versa.

To be sure, there is a debate raging in this country about the nature of economics and, more specifically, the role of government in promoting and/or achieving economic prosperity. more >>

MF Global, the firm headed by former U.S. Senator and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, has admitted to using client funds as it found itself in financial dire straits, said an anonymous federal official.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection Monday as a result of insufficient cash flow following multibillion-dollar bets on European debt. The meltdown took less than a week to unfold and is to date the biggest U.S. casualty of Europe’s ongoing debt crisis.

Corzine and a team of investment bankers worked furiously over the weekend to avert a shutdown by trying to line up potential buyers, but after one prominent buyer walked away from the table over a discrepancy of hundreds of millions of dollars, the fledging firm was left with no options other than to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. more >>

The Republican nominee has yet to be formally announced. But the Democratic National Committee has already chosen its enemy: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The DNC released a three-page memo on Friday saying that Romney has had a “rough couple of weeks” due to his “self-inflicted wounds” and inability to garner enthusiasm from the GOP base. He also “callously” stood with Wall Street over Main Street. The memo regards him as an “out of touch” candidate with policies that would harm middle-class Americans.

"To say that Mitt Romney flips around on his positions more than a weathervane would be an insult to weathervanes," DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse wrote. "As Mitt Romney clings to his status as a frontrunner of the GOP presidential field, even Republicans seem to be nervous about who Mitt Romney really is and what he actually believes." more >>