President Obama and the Federal Aviation Administration blamed recent flight delays on sequestration. Now the Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee is blaming sequestration for the poor performance of the…
Fingers Crossed In Economic Promise
Like most promises made before an election, the promise of an economic recovery is beginning to look like a false promise. Last fall, the housing market was showing signs of…
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
“In your life expect some trouble But when you worry You make it double Don’t worry, be happy…” …
Flow Reversal
In another reversal of fortune, equity funds reported an outflow of more than $4 billion this week, the largest this year. Commodity funds, meanwhile, saw an outflow of $3.2 billion,…
Another Clunker
It’s like “Cash for Clunkers,” only for consumers. You may remember that brilliant piece of Congressional economic planning, where an effort was made to boost auto sales by creating an…
Follow The Fed At Your Own Risk
If you think Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has a firm grasp of the economy, you may change your mind after listening to Bain Capital co-founder Coleman Andrews quoting Chairman Bernanke…
Sequestration: The Crisis Du Jour
It’s crisis time again in Washington, D.C. Having just barely avoided a swan dive off the fiscal cliff, the leaders of our country are now locked in battle over the…
The Incredible Shrinking Economy
Only in today’s America would a shrinking economy cause the stock market to rise. The federal government reported this week that the U.S. economy contracted by -0.1% in the last…
Fiscal Cliff Turns Into Fiscal Bluff
“What’s a five letter word for ‘cliff’?“ an editorial page cartoon asked. The answer: “Bluff.” To bluff is to mislead and that’s an appropriate summary of the fiscal cliff agreement,…
Housing Recovery Continues … Sort Of
For the economy to recover, the housing market must recover. When consumers can barely pay their mortgages, they’re unlikely to spend money on other things – and when consumers don’t…