Econ 101: New lingo for our new economy
Mar 10th, 2009 by nancyzimmerman
Words to know. Words to know.
Deleveraging: Cutting back on amounts borrowed. For you and me, it means we pay off our visas. For banks, it means paying off short-term debt or converting it into long-term debt (roughly like we’d pay off our visas with our mortgage lines of credit. Roughly). What this means for you and me: Banks have less (borrowed) money to lend out to us. What this means when we do it: I suppose we slow down the economy because we’re not buying as much.
Disinflation: inflation (ie. rising prices) slows down. What this means for you and me: We won’t need as much of a raise to keep our purchasing power the same next year (shh! don’t explain this word to your boss!)
Bottom: The lowest point of an economic cycle. (But you knew that). We keep thinking we’ve hit the bottom, like in Nov. when the S&P hit 752, only to discover the economy can go further down, like this past Friday, when the S&P hit 666. (yes, six-six-six). Naturally, we all now hope this time we really have hit the bottom.
Billion: Snopes confirmed this explanation of “Billion” remains fairly accurate:
- A billion seconds ago, it was 1977
- A billion minutes ago, Jesus was still alive
- A billion hours ago, we were in the Stone Age
Or, 1/3 of the number of photos on flickr last November.
Photo Credit: Will Lion
