WASHINGTON — Efforts to prevent the U.S. economy from going over a “fiscal cliff” stirred back to life on Wednesday with less than a week to go before potentially disastrous tax hikes and spending cuts kick in at the New Year. In a sign that there may be a way through deadlock in Congress, Republican […]
economy
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
U.S. holiday sales rise 0.7% as Washington hurts confidence
WASHINGTON — U.S. holiday sales growth slowed by more than half this year after gridlock in Washington soured consumers’ moods and Hurricane Sandy disrupted shopping, MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse said. Retail sales grew by 0.7 percent from Oct. 28 through Monday, the Purchase, N.Y., research firm said Wednesday without providing a dollar figure in the billions. […]
advertisement
Posted inLocal & State
Climate change vs. Maine’s winter tourism
NEWRY — A newly released study on the potential impact of global climate change on the snow-sports economy in Maine and New England is getting a chilly reception locally. “Some years, it’s chickens and some years it’s feathers,” said Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association. “As for the climate change thing, there’s […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Forecast sees slow economic growth in New England
BOSTON (AP) — Sluggish economic growth will continue in New England, with much of the region not seeing a return to pre-recession employment levels until 2015 at the earliest, according to a forecast released Wednesday. The four-year forecast developed by the New England Economic Partnership suggests that Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont will fare best […]
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, sj-web
Maine delegation asks Five Guys Hamburgers to use Maine potatoes
AUGUSTA — Members of Maine’s congressional delegation are asking a fast-food chain to use Maine-grown potatoes for their french fries in two locations in the state. U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud have written to the owners of Five Guys hamburger franchises in New England and urged them to use […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Big disconnect as ‘fiscal cliff’ clock ticks
WASHINGTON — Republicans’ newfound willingness to consider tax increases to avert the “fiscal cliff” comes with a significant caveat: larger cuts than Democrats seem willing to consider to benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the president’s health care overhaul. The disconnect on benefit programs, coupled with an impasse between Republicans and the White House over […]
Posted inBusiness
Portland dominates Maine’s economy
The economic shift to Maine’s south has become so pronounced during the last decade that the greater Portland region now generates more than half the state’s economic output and one-third of its jobs, as the economies of other Maine cities have been relatively flat and rural regions decline. While conceding Portland’s geographic advantage, economists say […]
Posted inOpinion, sj-web
National budget plan must inspire confidence
In one way, the so-called fiscal cliff threatening the U.S. economy is less dangerous than widely supposed. In another, it’s more. First, as many have said, the cliff is really a slope. At year’s end, the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 automatically expire, and a deliberately brainless process of sequestration starts to cut […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Bernanke warns Congress: Find deal, avoid ‘fiscal cliff’
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday urged Congress and the Obama administration to strike a budget deal to avert tax increases and spending cuts that could trigger a recession next year. Without a deal, the measures known as the “fiscal cliff” will take effect in January. Bernanke also said Congress must raise […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Five economic trends to be thankful for
There is a dirty little secret about economics writing. The thing that offers the surest path to glory to front page play for a story, to lots of Web traffic, to a pat on the back from editors is doom and gloom. When we can point out something that is awful, whether it is a […]