Articles

Selected category: US Govt and Economy

Robert Schiller just published an interesting article in the NY Timers on why human beings, and especially top economists miss diagnosing a market bubble until it is too late. The answer shouldn't surprise anyone.

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The latest numbers show that personal income eeked out a slight gain in September, while spending continued to decline. The difference marks an increase in the nation's savings rate. This looks okay to me. People are still earning money, they just aren't spending all of it now.

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US Household Debt Makes Any Bailout and Recovery Tough

The Paulson economic plan is designed to get banks lending again. The question is, to whom? Consumers are already saddled with record household debt and need time to work it down. And businesses are already sitting on records amount of... Read →

Fast Money's talking heads showed how little they know about everything when they tried to present themselves as experts on China this evening.

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Bloomberg reports that house prices have climbed in Cleveland for the first time in several years. That's the good news. The bad news: prices had to fall to 2000 levels before buyers returned to the market.

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Oil and gold continue their fall, providing even more breathing space for the Fed. Will it continue?

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The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Gary Stern gave a speech saying that the current economy is similar to the US economy in the early 1990s. He believes some parallels can be drawn. There are similarities, but also differences.

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With recessionary forces fighting against inflationary forces, central bankers in the US and Europe don't know what to do, so they aren't doing anything.

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Markets were gearing up for some type of interest rate hike later in the year in response to inflation pressure. The latest financial sector problems may have put those hikes on hold.

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Economists are split on what is the bigger danger, inflation or a weak economy. This sentiment is also reflected in Fed policy, which is to keep rates steady at 2% until it becomes clearer which is the bigger problem. "Of 53... Read →

Ivan Sramko to Join European Central Bank and How this Impacts US

When Slovakia becomes the newest entrant into the Euro-zone, Ivan Sramko, the countries central banker will join the ECB. Mr Sramko is an inflation hawk and will add his voice to a policy that already favors raising rates. How will this impact the US? Read on.

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I've been often criticized for my views on the economy and been accused of not being a big name or a reputable writer. But I also sometimes get it right. So, here I am tooting my horn a bit.

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The abandoned resort town of McAllister ranch is emblematic of the problems facing Lehman Bros as it struggles to survive and remain independent.

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The business media is screaming about fresh lows in consumer confidence. But are things really that bad? Unemployment is relatively low, the stock market is down but hasn't crashed, and Bush will be out of office in less than a year.

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In my experience, professors are actually pretty good at seeing the big picture and figuring out what is going. This interview of Jeremy Siegel and Witold Henisz is illuminating regarding the increase in oil prices and what's causing it.

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