economy Archives - Breakpoint Book

In Line With Jeff Stibel’s Prediction, Unemployment is Nearing Five Percent

September 9, 2015 By Jenny Crawford

In his new LinkedIn post, Jeff Stibel explains how thanks to small business hiring, the U.S. unemployment rate is approaching 5 percent, as he predicted a year ago that it would. In addition, according to recent survey findings from the Pepperdine Private Capital Access Index from Dun & Bradstreet and Pepperdine University, 63 percent of businesses surveyed nationwide are planning to hire in the next six months. Read more of Stibel’s thoughts on small business hiring and the unemployment rate on LinkedIn.

The World’s Report Card: Is B The New A? – by Jeff Stibel

November 19, 2013 By Lennon Cole

On Friday we found out that Standard & Poor’s downgraded France’s credit rating. “Debt grade cut from AA+ to AA due to weak economic growth, high unemployment and government spending constraints,” the Telegraph reported. These issues are all too familiar to American readers, many of whom still recall the sting of having our own credit rating downgraded from AAA to AA+.

While the United States has always fancied itself in a league above any individual European country, this news should serve as a reminder that we’re not doing so badly on a relative basis. In fact, compared to the rest of the world’s economies, the United States ranks…

Read the full article on LinkedIn where it originally appeared.

How Credit-Worthy Is America, Inc.? – Excerpt from Harvard Business Review

November 19, 2013 By Lennon Cole

Last month, the government was partially shut down for 16 days at a cost of $24 billion and we came within two days of running out of money to meet our debt obligations. The current government funding will run out in January. The American people and the wider world are skeptical that the US will be able to get its fiscal house in order.

But setting aside political brinkmanship, can we objectively analyze how the country is doing financially? Rather than looking at debt figures or dollars spent in a vacuum, we need to also judge the US economy on a relative basis. After all, businesses sit in markets, which means…

Read the full article on Hbr.org where it originally appeared.