In her successful attempt to appeal to working class primary voters, Senator Hillary Clinton has been catching heat from Wall Street. The Sun notes that yesterday, her camp dawdled for 24 hours before correcting reports that she had asked an audience in Indiana: “Why don’t we hold these Wall Street money-grubbers responsible for their role in this recession?” The quote angered some in the financial industry; after all they're not money-grubbers, they're money-hoarders. Clinton's team......

Mayor Bloomberg presented a $59.1 billion budget for the 2009 fiscal year, with spending essentially remaining flat (the increase is just 0.1%). While he said the faltering economy means we should all "pray Wall Street does well" given the "scary" reality, Bloomberg did say the city could afford a property tax rebate and property tax rate cut. The new budget would, as the NY Times puts it, "virtually halt the growth in city spending for......

Unnamed sources are telling the Jersey Star-Ledger that Bruce Ratner, principal owner of the New Jersey Nets, has secretly met with the owners of the New Jersey Devils and Newark mayor Cory Booker to discuss selling the Nets and moving them to Newark. If true, it would signal the end of Ratner’s troubled bid to relocate the Nets to downtown Brooklyn, where he is trying to build a controversial $4 billion stadium, residential, office and......

Photograph of traders and specialists on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor by David Karp/AP The Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 2%, giving this explanation:Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Household and business spending has been subdued and labor markets have softened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic......

Photograph of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (left) testifying before the Senate Banking Committee by Susan Walsh/AP New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geither told lawmakers today, "What we were observing in U.S. and global financial markets was similar to the classic pattern in financial crises," as Federal Reserve officials defended why they helped JP Morgan rescue Bear Stearns from collapse. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee, "Given the exceptional......

The Manhattan real estate market was more expensive than ever during the first quarter according to reports from real estate brokerages. There were "record" highs for Manhattan, in sharp contrast to what the rest of the nation's housing market is going through. However, there are some mitigating factors: Though the median prices of apartments has risen to $917,000 from $840,000, that's because three times as many apartments over $10 million sold during this first quarter,......

Photograph of Bear Stearns' headquarters (center) and JP Morgan (right) by Mark Lennihan/AP With JP Morgan now offering $1.2 billion for troubled Bear Stearns, it's expected the deal will close on April 8. JP Morgan needed 50% of Bear Stearns shareholder approval, and the new $10/share price would give them 45% yes votes (5% is expected from bondholders); an analyst told USA Today the revised deal "virtually guarantees a yes vote at $10 per......

Photograph of Bear Stearns by Mark Lennihan/AP The NY Times reports "JPMorgan Chase was in talks on Sunday night for a deal that would quintuple its offer for Bear Stearns...in an effort to pacify angry Bear shareholders." Over a week ago, JP Morgan had agreed to pay $2/share for Bear Stearns stock, for a total payout of $236 million, but the new talks would raise the price to $10/share, making it a billion-dollar deal.......

Two bombshell articles in the Times today may mark a turning point for Bruce Ratner’s plans to build a Nets arena at the Atlantic Yards. Now that Ratner is backpedaling from his initial plans to build 8 million square feet of office space and apartments – some of it for low-income residents – community activists are worried that Ratner will sell off the rest of the site to other developers, replacing Frank Gehry’s comprehensive design......

Photograph, above, from Triborough on Flickr; graphic, below, from the NY Times Developer Bruce Ratner has turned gloomy about his $4 billion project to turn the MTA Atlantic rail yards in downtown Brooklyn into a sports arena, office and residential complex designed by Frank Gehry. In an exclusive interview with the Times, he expressed confidence that construction on the Barclays arena would start by the end of the year. But the "centerpiece" office tower......

Although the stock markets didn't tank yesterday (the Dow was up 21 points), it was a volatile day as Wall Street reacted to the bargain basement sale of Bear Stearns to JP Morgan. Naturally, this means the first lawsuit has been filed on behalf of shareholders who claim the investment bank "made false statement about the firm's financial condition." The employees are feeling the brunt of the pain: Besides their Bear Stearns stock plummeting in......

Photograph of newspaper distributor in London by Sang Tan/AP This is going to be a tough morning on Wall Street. World financial markets fell and are falling after yesterday's news that JP Morgan had purchased Bear Stearns for $2 a share, a grand price of $236 million for a company valued at $3.54 billion on Friday. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 3.7%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 5.25%. Currnetly, London's FTSE 100 has......

Photograph of Bush speaking to the Economic Club of New York by Mary Altaffer/AP Update: President Bush gave his speech at the Ecomonic Club - here's his opening:First of all, in a free market, there's going to be good times and bad times. That's how markets work. There will be ups and downs. And after 52 consecutive months of job growth, which is a record, our economy obviously is going through a tough time.......

Mayor Bloomberg let his feelings about H.R. 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which was signed into legislation by President Bush on Wednesday, be known. Mayor Bloomberg said the government "is spending money it doesn't have," and "I suppose it won't hurt the economy, but it's in many senses like giving a drink to an alcoholic." But don't worry, Americans - singles with incomes of under $75,000 and couples with combined incomes of under......

In her State of the City address, City Council Speaker Quinn said that the Council would do its own belt-tightening given expectations the economy will slow. Still, she mentioned, per the Sun, "tax cuts, improved transportation, more pay for teachers, and affordable housing," saying, "Getting leaner does not have to mean getting meaner." Some of the proposals: suspending the city sales tax for one week; offering $300 rebate to renters; offering "bonuses of up to......

It's a refrain that already sounds familiar and will no doubt be repeated many times more: Officials expect real estate revenues to fall, causing lots of number crunching in budgets. The NY Sun reports that the city forecasts "a 39% decline in sales volume for all commercial transactions through 2009, and the median price of those transactions is expected to decline by 32%." Since the city charges 2.6% tax of the sale price, while the......

Mayor Bloomberg presented the preliminary 2008-2009 fiscal year budget which inclued cuts to almost every city agency, saying, "Everyone is going to have to tighten their belts." One big reason is the slowing economy and its effects on the city; for instance, the city had previously thought Wall Street profits would be $16.8 billion last year but they are more likely to be $2.8 billion. The Daily Politics noticed the presentation had three pages......

Though there's a "tentative deal" for President Bush's proposed economic stimulus plan in D.C., Mayor Bloomberg thinks it's a bad idea. During a speech last night (accepting an award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors), he outlined why the package was a problem. From the NY Sun:The $145 billion proposal being negotiated centers around the idea of providing several hundred dollars in tax rebates to individuals and families in a bid to spur the economy......

The Federal Reserve's interest rate cut helped the stave off a huge drop the stock market yesterday. Though the Dow Jones did fall 465 points at one point, it ended 128 points down. Another feature of the rate cut: Home loan applications jumped. The global markets had tumbled on Monday (during the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday) because of U.S. recession fears, but Asian markets gained a little today after news of the......

Photograph of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pausing during testimony last week by Dennis Cook/AP After an ugly Monday in global financial markets while the U.S. markets were closed and Asian stock markets plunging today, the Federal Reserve lowered the interest rate by 0.75% in an "emergency move for the first time since 2001." From the Fed's press release:The Committee took this action in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing......

The U.S. financial markets may have been closed due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, but stock markets around the world tumbled as worries over the U.S. economy took hold. Johan Stein, who manages about $14 billion at an asset management firm in Stockholm told Bloomberg, "It's the worst I've ever seen. The financial system is in terrible shape, and no one knows where this will end.'' Many investors are doubtful that President......

Some of the really reassuring quotes about today's bad Thursday on Wall Street: "The problems seem to be intensifying. I can't remember a worse start to a year. We're in for some rough months.'' - John Carey, who helps oversee about $13 billion at Pioneer Investment Management in Boston, to Bloomberg “Basically every day now, you have more and more investors leaning toward the camp that yes, this is going to be a recession, and......

New York City's Department of Finance is projecting that real estate values in the city will remain nearly flat this fiscal (ending September) year. More precisely, it expects only a 1.4% increase in property values, versus an 18% climb this past year. It will be the slowest increment of growth since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002, during a real estate boom that enabled budget surpluses, tax cuts, and astounding growth in city spending. The......

U.S. stock markets have not fared well in just the first dozen days of 2008, as indices are being dragged down by worries about the continuing subprime loan meltdown and the after-effects that a tightening in capital lending could have on the economy. According to The New York Times, Friday was just the worst of a bad stretch across the boards: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 246 points, or 1.9%, and is down 5%......

Stores were packed with post-Christmas shoppers, as retailers marked down their products in hopes of boosting holidays sales. So far, holiday period sales are up 3.6%, which is the "lower end" of expectations according to MasterCard Advisors. The question is, will marking down a part of $1,380 shoes to $150 or $1,500 Gucci purses to $750 at Saks Fifth Avenue help? Well, given that people were waiting for doors to open and "not walking......

Hey, did you get your year end bonus yet? The bros at Goldman Sachs sure did, to the tune of $600K per employee, on average. Yep, $600,000 dollars, a number that stands out in a year when most Wall Street bonuses, though still obscene, are either diminished or staying even with previous years. In fact, 600K is double the average bonus paid at other firms, according to Reuters. Other banks may be wilting under fourth......

Thousands of commercial office workers, such as janitors and doormen, voted to strike on January 1 if building owners do not agree to give them raises. The workers, part of Service Employees International Union's Local 32BJ union, believe that building owners can afford to give them "significant raises" because owners have been benefiting from high rents. However, the owners says the economy is too shaky to give them raises. Members of the union marched from......

Two sidewalk Christmas tree salesman are accusing the "company" they worked for last year of leaving them out in the cold on Christmas Eve, waiting for thousands of dollars in wages that never appeared. The yuletide stiffing apparently was in retribution for either 1) skimming sales revenue, or 2) talking publicly about the shadowy figure who allegedly is the kingpin of sidewalk Christmas trees. Last year, an experienced tree-seller and longtime employee of Kevin......

Senator Barack Obama might be back in Iowa on the campaign trail, but New Yorkers are still buzzing over his coffee - and bacon and eggs and toast - klatsch with Mayor Bloomberg on Friday morning. The meeting was supposedly caught Senator Hillary Clinton off guard - and not just because it was two blocks away from her midtown offices. Bloomberg's press secretary Stu Loeser said Bloomberg wanted to talk national policy with Obama,......

Metro-North has announced a partnership with Enterprise that will likely appeal to anyone who's been gouged by New York City rental car companies. The New York Sun reports that Enterprise will soon have rental cars at 23 Metro North stations in five upstate counties: Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, and Putnam. The program has the potential to encourage more budget-conscious New Yorkers to explore points north beyond the Metro North lines. It's not really much of......