Between 1994 and 2006, subprime lending grew from $35 billion to $600 billion a year in the United States, amounting to 23% of all mortgage dollars lent. The ensuing subprime mortgage market crash led to severe disruptions in the global financial markets. By the third quarter of 2007, about 25% of subprime loans were either delinquent or in foreclosure.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the disparity in per capita income between the richest and poorest nations has increased many times over, and the economic leaders of the prior agricultural era did not necessarily become powerhouses in the next chapter in global development. What caused this great transformation of the world income distribution?
While companies’ charitable activities often get favorable publicity, studies on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance haven’t allowed broad conclusions to be drawn.
Many people don’t read business news, and for good reason. There’s nothing more boring than a story that uses a bunch of numbers in the lead without explaining what’s actually going on. But business news writing doesn’t have to be boring, or laden with numbers.
The economic situation in the country during the past three years means that many companies, and many consumers, have struggled financially. And when these businesses and individuals can no longer pay their bills, they head to the closest location of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
A lot of business journalism is devoted to large, publicly traded companies — perhaps 60%, and the percentage may be higher. And that’s wrong. Business news should focus more on private and small companies.
With thousands of publicly traded companies in the United States filing documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission — and thousands more private companies doing the same due to bond issues and a large number of shareholders — knowing how to read an SEC filing is an important tool for anyone looking to report about companies.
