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UPDATED We think that China is an indestructible economic juggernaut but its economy is very fragile and it is sitting on a property bubble which will burst. What China does in response has major implications for their economy and the rest of the world. This is the third part of a three-part series on this topic Inflation [...] We think that China is an indestructible economic juggernaut but its economy is very fragile and it is sitting on a property bubble which will burst. What China does in response has major implications for their economy and the rest of the world. This is the second part of a three-part series on this topic. China’s [...] Somehow Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan didn’t get the message from Team Obama about encouraging consumers to spend. As you know the Administration’s economic advisers see vigorous consumer spending as the solution for overcoming our recession. Consumer spending formerly represented 70% of the economy. Apparently the consumers are getting the message without Mr. Dugan’s help since personal savings [...] This was a big day for economic reports and the Case Shiller Q4 report, the Consumer Confidence Index, and the FDIC Q4 report came out with not-so-surprising results. Since I am occasionally accused of cherry-picking negative data, I wish to point out that the following is a report and analysis of the data as it [...] I predicted that we would have a Q4 09 “bump.” But so did everyone else. I think we’ll have a positive Q1 10 also. The latest report from Goldman Sachs reveals that they have upped their Q4 estimate to 5.8%: We have boosted our estimate for fourth quarter growth to 5.8% from 4.0% (annual rate). However, [...] Comments on President Obama’s State of the Union Speech
I will say that President Obama is pretty good at this speech stuff. Remember last year when Professor Obama said that the adults are now in charge and we’re going to clean up the mess the kids made? This year had a much different tone. At [...] This news came out last Friday that Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was considering eliminating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: “The remedy here is…as I believe this committee will be recommending, abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing [...] More from Cato’s Dan Mitchell on Keynesian stimulus. It is an excellent recap of the promises and failures of the current economy. I disagree with his conclusion that we are almost certain to recover in 2010. I have previously written about the phenomenon that regardless of what the Obama Administration does, economies tend to repair themselves. Evidence [...] The theme of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland this year is “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild.” It starts today. As you know, this annual meeting is where governments and businesses meet to “exchange ideas” and issue puffy statements about the world, pledge international cooperation and solidarity, and then [...] President Obama used his bully pulpit on Thursday to chastise banks and bankers while announcing a punitive tax on them to assuage an angry populace. Is his rage against the big paydays justified? Not for the reasons he [...] This has been a phenomenal year for the economy. There have been major, fundamental changes that will affect our lives for many years to come. I don’t see these changes as a good thing for the short or long term. These changes are generational in that they don’t occur often and they will radically impact the [...] By Jeff Harding.
I’ve been thinking a lot about gold lately. Especially now that Nouriel Roubini has come out and trashed the noble metal (see Tyler Durden’s article). Anyone who tells you they know what’s going to happen with gold is guessing. Roubini is guessing. Roubini also makes some fundamental errors in his analysis, and [...] By Jeff Harding. Bank failures are shown on a map, month by month from 2008 to 2009. Like the unemployment map I posted. I “borrowed” this from Mish. From Visualizing Bank Failures (2008-2009) By Jeff Harding. The new jobs bill negotiations are apparently getting under the skin of our politicians. As reported in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, the Republicans and Democrats were rather testy with each other during a meeting with the President. Here’s part of their exchange: Republicans pushed Mr. Obama to freeze federal spending, a plea the [...] By Jeff Harding. As my readers know, every so often I get fed up with what comes out of Washington (Our Nation’s Capital) and feel the need to vent. My recent irritation is a letter Christina Romer, the president of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, published in the Wall Street Journal. The letter is an apologia for the economic policies [...] By Jeff Harding. Since the biggest financial collapse in world history was built on credit related to housing, it is pretty obvious that we should be paying very close attention to that market. The reasons are complex, but a recovery must be based on the liquidation of bad debt. The sooner that happens the quicker a recovery [...] By Jeff Harding. I have all this vitriol stored up from not being able to publish for two weeks and it needs to be spewed. I just read Foreign Policy magazine’s “The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers,” and it is worthy of my bile. Of all the crap I have to read every day to get [...] |
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