Tag Archives: Recession

12 Questions About the Economy

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The following are my answers to a number of questions posed in a “Market Views” forum a few weeks ago. While we have had fresh data recently, the answers to the questions have not changed. 1. The Duke-CFO Survey was … Continue reading


Hockey Stick or a Plank?

“Only” 36,000 jobs lost in February. That is relatively good news. The storyline was the following. Given all the snow, we should have lost more jobs. 36,000 was a relatively good number because if there was no snow we would … Continue reading


Cleansing and Reforming our Financial System

Why don’t we just admit that the current financial and regulatory system is dysfunctional? We face two fundamental problems. First, we need to clean the financial system — close weak banks more aggressively, encourage bankruptcies/foreclosures, and free good assets held … Continue reading


Navigating the Jobs Morass

The economy is in much more serious trouble than news reports, policy makers and pundits might lead you to believe. Continue reading


Mission Accomplished?

Don’t be misled by the 3.5% GDP growth in the third quarter. Continue reading


The Eye of the Hurricane

 Given the decrease job losses and other favorable (or less bad) news, it appears as if the economic storm is abating — or is it the calm that you feel when the eye of the hurricane passes over? There is … Continue reading


This Winter of Our Hardship

Image courtesy of flickr/Wayne MacPhail

The ‘Winter of Our Hardship’ are the words of President Obama in the inaugural address. He refers to the common dangers that we face in his somber message. The common danger is that this recession turns into a depression. In … Continue reading


Unemployment and Recessions

“The worst job numbers since 1945”, we heard from CNN this morning. Well, that is not true. Today is different from 1945 for two reasons. First, our population is much larger. Second, there was an important technical factor — WWII … Continue reading