These days it’s hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on a news program without encountering stern warnings about the federal budget deficit. The deficit threatens economic recovery, we’re told; it puts American economic stability at risk; it will…
Our outstanding Q2 results exceeded our expectations and we believe they provide a clear indication that we are entering the second phase of the economic recovery. During the quarter we saw dramatic across the board acceleration and sequential improvement in…
From the looks of the latest GDP and ISM Manufacturing reports, you’d be a fool not to believe the economy is in a V-shaped recovery. On Friday, The Commerce Department reported that 4th quarter advanced real GDP grew at a 5.7%…
It’s the poster child for the entire housing bubble. There’ll be some other spectacular blowups, but this will be at the top of the pecking order. – Daniel Alpert, Managing Partner, Westwood Capital The fact that they have given the…
These technical arguments are important, but one should not lose sight of the forest through the trees. You do not have to rely on the Taylor rule to see that monetary policy was too loose. The real interest rate during…
This past Sunday, at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered up a lengthy, professorial defense of U.S. monetary policy over the last decade, focusing on its role in the financial crisis…
The real lesson from Europe is actually the opposite of what conservatives claim: Europe is an economic success, and that success shows that social democracy works. ….. So why do we get such a different picture from many pundits? Because…
Behind his white beard, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has a wry sense of humour. On reading his recent speech to the American Economic Association, in which he defended the Fed’s actions during the housing bubble, I initially suspected it was…
James Picerno has weighed in with two posts on Bernanke’s recent “Monetary Policy and the Housing Bubble” speech. Here are some excerpts: What’s troubling is arguing that the Fed played no role in stoking the fires of the former real…