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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the March employment report at 8:30 am.  Here is the least you need to know:

Net payroll employment declined in March by 663,000 jobs.
That’s a terrible number, and in line with expectations.
The unemployment rate increased from 8.1% to 8.5%.

Much of the press coverage talks about “5.1 million jobs lost since [...]

The President has arrived in London for the G-20 economic summit.  I have different policy views than the President on some of these issues, but I will not criticize him while he is overseas.  I will attempt to gently highlight a couple of substantive issues that concern me, but at the same time I want [...]

President Bush spoke today about the financial crisis to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
I’m going to use the President’s speech as an opportunity to explain to a non-financial audience what the Federal government did this week and why.  I will oversimplify in many cases, and will gloss over many details.  I don’t claim that the [...]

The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets met at 8:30 AM today to announce the specifics of the new policy actions described by the President in the Rose Garden earlier this morning.
This note is just a collection of primary source documents from today’s announcement.  Generalists will likely be interested in the first six documents, as [...]

President Bush gave a major policy address on the State Floor of the White House this evening.
THE WHITE HOUSE
State Floor
9:01 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT:  Good evening.  This is an extraordinary period for America’s economy.  Over the past few weeks, many Americans have felt anxiety about their finances and their future.  I understand their worry and their [...]

Here’s what President Bush said at 10:45 AM today in the Rose Garden.
This is really important.
Good morning.  I thank Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and SEC Chairman Chris Cox for joining me today.
This is a pivotal moment for America’s economy.  Problems that originated in the credit markets — and first showed [...]

The President will speak at 10:45 AM.  I’ll send his remarks soon after he has spoken.  Here’s what Secretary Paulson said shortly after 10 AM this morning.
Last night, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox and I had a lengthy and productive working session with Congressional leaders.  We began a substantive discussion on [...]

This is part two (of two) of your crash course on problems and solutions in the mortgage markets.  Here’s part one.  There is also a great op-ed on the financial market impacts of these mortgage market problems.  It ran in today’s Financial Times, and was coauthored by two Administration officials:  Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs [...]