Category: US Economy
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
U.S. Mortgage Refinancing: Stimulative or Redistributive? / Economics / US Economy
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
This "etude" has nothing to do with today's economic or market events. Rather, it is a little "acorn" for you to bury today and dig up in the future when some partial-equilibrium yahoo on CNBC says that total spending in the economy will get a boost as households refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. Yes, the folks doing the refinancing will now have more income left over after making their monthly mortgage payment to spend on other things.
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Did Bernanke Prevent Another Great Depression? / Politics / US Economy
By: Frank_Shostak
In a lecture given at George Washington University on March 27, 2012, the chairman of the Fed said that the US central bank's aggressive response to the 2007–2009 financial crisis and recession helped prevent a worldwide catastrophe. Various economic indicators were showing ominous signs at the time. After closing at 3.1 percent in September 2007, the yearly rate of growth of industrial production fell to minus 14.8 percent by June 2009. The yearly rate of growth of housing starts fell from 20.5 percent in January 2005 to minus 54.8 percent in January 2009.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Why Has the American Economic System Failed? / Economics / US Economy
By: Jesse
"We always want to keep in mind what the function, the purpose, of the economy is. The purpose of an economy is not producing GDP. It is increasing the welfare of citizens, and it is increasing the welfare of most citizens. And the American economic system has failed, and failed very badly. Most Americans today are worse off, most American households have lower real income adjusted for inflation than they had fifteen years ago."
Friday, April 13, 2012
U.S. Jobless Claims, Wholesale Prices, and Trade Gap – Mixed Economic Message / Economics / US Economy
By: Asha_Bangalore
Initial jobless claims rose 13,000 to 380,000 during the week ended April 7, putting the four-week moving average back at 368,500 after posting readings below this level in the past two weeks. Continuing claims, which lag initial jobless by one week, fell 98,000 to 3.251 million. The soft payroll gains in March and the currently weekly gain in claims support the view that labor market conditions are improving only gradually.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Economic Recovery - Who are We Kidding? / Economics / US Economy
By: Axel_Merk
The global economy is healing, so we are told. Yet, the moment the Federal Reserve (Fed) indicates just that - and thus implying no additional stimulus may be warranted - the markets appear to throw a tantrum. In the process, the U.S. dollar has enjoyed what may be a temporary lift. To make sense of the recent turmoil, let's look at the drivers of this "recovery" and potential implications for the U.S. dollar, gold, bonds and the stock market.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Obama's Pretzel Logic / Politics / US Economy
By: Peter_Schiff
As this fall's presidential election takes shape as a contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the rhetoric out of both camps is becoming sharper and more ideological. Looking to exploit Governor Romney's increasingly close association with Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan (who has been mentioned as a potential vice presidential nominee), the President dedicated a lengthy address earlier this week to specifically heap scorn on Ryan's budget plan (Ryan is the chairman of the House Budget Committee). The attack lines used by the President not only reveal a preview of the fall campaign but also offer a glimpse of Obama's skewed views of the social and economic history of the United States.
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Sunday, April 01, 2012
Plunge In U.S. Savings Rate Highlights Economic Risk / Economics / US Economy
By: Tony_Pallotta
I can't resist mentioning the irony of talking about personal income "growth" on April Fool's Day. You can't make this stuff up. The headlines read "US consumer Spending Rose 0.8% In February, Best Gain In 7 Months; Income Lagged"
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Higher U.S. Gas Prices and the Illusion of Economic Recovery / Economics / US Economy
By: Bob_Chapman
The housing recovery seems to have been a temporary affair. Preliminary data frames March as weak as last October. It looks like lower interest rates boasted sales. Those rates are up from 4.72% to 5.02%.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Fed's "Operation Twist". Europe and America. Grim Economic Prospects / Politics / US Economy
By: Bob_Chapman
Seven months after the official announcement on 9/21/11 of “Operation Twist” not much progress has been made at the long end of the market to reduce yields. The yield on the 10-year T-note has gone from 1.88% to 2.3% and the 30-year bond went from 3.03% to 3.41%. The episode has been marred by hedge fund and sovereign selling, which has left the short end a little higher, but the long end much higher. The question now is how much did this cost the Fed for such disappointing results?
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Money Is Starting to Burn a Hole in Households’ Pockets / Economics / US Economy
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
February personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 0.8% month-to-month in nominal terms and 0.5% in real terms. In real terms, the February PCE increase was the strongest since last September. From some of the naysayers out there (David), we keep hearing that the economic “green shoots” that have emerged this past winter were due to the unusually mild temperatures. Really? One area of consumer expenditures that has not been boosted by the mild temperatures is electricity and natural gas.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
US Economy Hits Another Roubini Road-Hump: Is This The End? / Interest-Rates / US Economy
By: Andrew_Butter
Nouriel Roubini made his name out of a paper he co-authored in 2003 with someone whose name I forget, and everyone else did too. His thesis then was that the U.S. Current Account deficit (basically a long word for the trade deficit in Goods and Services) was unsustainable, so there would be a meltdown.
He was actually wrong for the right reasons; his idea was that the demand for U.S. Treasuries by foreigners was not enough to finance the Trade/Current Account Deficit, that part was right.
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Friday, March 23, 2012
U.S. Economy Dead Man Walking, The Crash of 2012 / Economics / US Economy
By: Casey_Research
Doug Casey, Casey Research writes: In an interview with Louis James, the inimitable Doug Casey throws cold water on those celebrating the economic recovery.
[Skype rings: It's Doug Casey, calling from Cafayate, Argentina. He sounds tired, but pleased with himself.]
Doug: Lobo, get out your mower; it's time to cut down some green shoots again, and debunk a bit of the so-called recovery.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Is the U.S. Economy Really Healing? / Economics / US Economy
By: Michael_Pento
Please don’t believe the hype that the American economy is healing. While it is true that some data is showing improvement, the true fundamentals of the economy continue to erode.America’s trade deficit hit $52.6 billion in January. That’s the highest level since October of 2008 and is clear evidence that we have fully reverted back to our under production, under saving and overconsumption habits with alacrity.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012
U.S. Trade Deficit Rains on the Jobs Parade / Politics / US Economy
By: Peter_Schiff
Earlier this month the Labor Department reported that 227,000 new jobs were added to the economy in February, marking the third consecutive month of positive jobs growth. Many observers took the news as evidence that the recovery has taken hold in earnest, helping send the S&P 500 index to the highest level in nearly five years. However the very same day the Commerce Department reported that, after surging for much of the last year, the U.S. trade deficit increased to $52.6 billion for January, the largest monthly trade gap since October 2008. This second data set should dampen enthusiasm for the first.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
FOMC Meeting March 13, Fed Expected Stand Pat as U.S. Economic Recovery Remains Stable / Economics / US Economy
By: Asha_Bangalore
It is widely expected that the Fed will stand pat at the March 13 FOMC meeting. Nevertheless, the Fed’s view about the economy should reflect nuanced modifications, which will offer hints about the next policy step.
The key question is if there is a need for additional policy action to support economic growth. Incoming economic data present a mixed picture. The ISM factory survey shows continued growth but at a slower pace compared with readings of recent months. The composite index moved down to 52.4 from 54.1 and the index measuring new orders stood at 54.9 from 57.6 in January (see Chart 1). Factory production data for February are scheduled for publication on March 16.
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Monday, March 12, 2012
U.S. Economy Rotting From Beneath / Economics / US Economy
By: EWI
Dear Investor,
Are you shocked that even with a 24-hour news cycle, crucial bits of economic news still fall through the cracks?
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Friday, March 09, 2012
Mohamed El-Erian, U.S. Economy is 'Muddling Along' / Economics / US Economy
By: Bloomberg
Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer at PIMCO, spoke about the February U.S. jobs report and the European debt crisis on Bloomberg Television this morning. El-Erian said the economy is "muddling through" and that "one-off factors" have contributed to a recent stock market rally.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Facts on the Horrific U.S. Long-Term Economic Decline / Politics / US Economy
By: LewRockwell
End of the American Dream writes: Most Americans know that things used to be much better in the United States, but they don't have the facts and the figures to back that belief up. Well, after reading the shocking statistics in this article nobody should be left with any doubt that things have gotten worse in America. There are less jobs, incomes are down, home values have plummeted, poverty is up, consumer debt is way up, dependence of the government has skyrocketed and government debt is totally out of control. Sadly, it hasn't really mattered which political party has had control over the White House. Things have gotten worse under Obama, they got worse under Bush, and they got worse under Clinton. We are in the midst of a horrific long-term economic decline and the American people desperately need to wake up.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Did U.S. Q4 GDP Data Pull In Future Economic Growth / Economics / US Economy
By: Tony_Pallotta
No economics degree is required nor any complex analysis to understand how vulnerable the US economy is right now. In Q4 the economy expanded by 3% fueled by a 1.9% increase in inventory. By comparison Q3 inventory contracted (1.4%). In other words if the two year inventory trajectory did not suddenly reverse Q4 GDP quite possibly would have been flat to negative.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
U.S. Economy, Is This As Good As It Gets For Now? / Economics / US Economy
By: Sy_Harding
In Europe, the euro-zone debt crisis has pretty much faded from headlines. The arrangements that will bail out Greece - at least for now - have been pretty much finalized. The European Central Bank has made two huge rounds of low cost 3-year loans available to European banks, and that seems to be working to assure that the eurozone financial system will be okay for several years.Read full article... Read full article...