Free Republic

Cash for Appliances likely to draw crowds to stores in California By Mark Glover mglover@sacbee.com Published: Saturday, Apr. 24, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1B California's Cash for Appliances program appears to be off to a strong start, but the first big test for retailers is likely to occur today when weekend buyers are expected to hit stores in big numbers. By early next week, consumers and appliance sellers will get their first clue on just how long California's rebate money is going to hold up. "Anecdotally, retailers are experiencing more sales than they've seen in a long time,"...

Wobble betrays fragile confidence By Krishna Guha in Washington Published: May 22 2009 19:40 | Last updated: May 23 2009 00:22 For a brief moment this week, it looked as if confidence in the two pillars of the US fightback against the crisis – the creditworthiness of the government and the Federal Reserve’s ability to exploit its position as the monetary authority of the world’s reserve currency – was starting to wobble. A synchronised fall in US bonds, stocks and currency on Thursday was a reminder that the nation relies on the tolerance of global investors to sustain its aggressive...