Finance Geek

Jobs: The employment report for October wasn’t much to write home about. But it did show the economy has added 1.5 million to private payrolls this year, all without any big-spending federal “jobs” program. Go figure.
In France during the G-20 meeting Friday, Obama blasted Republicans for their failure to pass another round of stimulus spending - this time dubbed a “jobs bill.”
“The American people,” he said in a statement, “deserve an explanation as to why Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what’s necessary to create jobs and grow…

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Despite some modest improvements in the jobs picture with the release of today’s Labor Department report, I would guard against any irrational overexuberance that problems with employment or the economy are being solved.
A smaller-than-expected 80,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls was bolstered by upward revisions in the prior two months, amounting to 102,000 additional jobs. So over the past three months the establishment survey has averaged 114,000. It’s really nothing to write home about.
A 2 percent economy is simply way too slow to generate the kind of 300,000 per month job gains…

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If you’ve been hoping to stream live episodes of major network TV to your Apple TV anytime soon, don’t hold your breath.?In an earnings call on Thursday, CBS CEO Les Moonves said that CBS declined a deal with Apple to stream content to its set top box, Apple TV.

When asked about teaming up with streaming …

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Ever since Amazon unveiled its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet in September, a lingering phrase has been attached to the low-cost, high-profile device: “the iPad’s first true Android competitor.” Unlike all the Android tablets that offer 10-inch screens, roomier storage capacities, built-in cameras and 3G support, the Fire will ship with modest hardware specs. In fact, the Amazon tablet would seem ill-prepared to take on the iPad, if not for a trio of Apple-slaying features. The Fire will be insanely inexpensive at $200. It will hook into Amazon Prime, the company’s two-day package shipping and instant movie rental service, for just $79 a year. And the tablet will be supported by the all brand I.D. and operating efficiencies of an digital storefront that people already use daily to buy everything from physical goods to digital downloads. In total, the Fire has the potential to be the first Android-based tablet to give Apple the chills. Amazon’s digital storefront alone should provoke concern. But, no, Apple isn’t fazed. Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes recently met with Apple’s Tim Cook (CEO) and Peter Oppenheimer (CFO), both of whom have a more pessimistic view of the Amazon Fire’s future

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Provided by The Business Insider’s Karlee Weinmann and Aimee Groth It’s a microcosm of the nation Companies that can afford to test regionally often seek out cities with populations that are reflective of the greater U.S., or whose consumer habits match the broader market. “There’s a reason Middle America is called ‘Middle America,’” Wendy’s spokesman [...]

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With the passing of Steve Jobs last month, there have been countless tributes to the man who created the company that changed the world. But along side all the amazingly beautiful, functional and revolutionary products Jobs created, there is a slighter darker side to Apple, which rarely makes headlines. Mike Daisey, storyteller extraordinaire and lifelong [...]

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This is getting repetitive. The October jobs report, out Friday morning, is very similar to the reports of recent months. Some 80,000 new payroll jobs were created, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 9.0 percent. It highlights a trend of an employment market that’s recovering very slowly, with workers eking out meager gains. A [...]

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