asset-based economy

We got the data on consumption, savings and income from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). What we saw should definitely bolster the view that recovery has taken hold but at the expense of saving. The BEA…

With stocks now up significantly from March 2009 lows, a mild correction has been underway for the past two weeks.  Even if it risks becoming a major correction, we will still be well above levels just 6 months ago.  But that has…

CNBC's Diana Olick has the breaking story on alleged fraud in the mortgage industry. She has been writing about this for a few days now.  See Big Banks Accused of Short Sale Fraud - Realty Check with Diana Olick at CNBC’s website.…

Back in June I asked you all “When will the U.S. economy recover?.” The response was basically either “there will be no recovery to speak of” or “recovery is a long way off.” The poll results are embedded below. I asked a similar…

China has been very successful in maintaining GDP growth in the midst of one of the worst global downturns on record.  In 2009, the concern was how an export collapse would trigger slow growth and unemployment. But as 2010 begins, for…

About three months ago, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman took a stab at explaining why economists didn’t anticipate the worst financial crisis in three-quarters of a century. His was a long piece, taking up eight pages and 6,000…

For the period leading up to the panic last year, I had been warning of a rather severe recession. My view at the time was that what was needed was a realignment of America’s industrial organization away from finance and housing where…

This is a post I just wrote over at Yves Smith’s site Naked Capitalism in response to a reader request. Marshall Auerback has already written a reply as well and I will post this later today. A reader at Naked Capitalism asked us to…

I pick up Bill Gross where I left him on Friday.  He said in his monthly newsletter that the Fed is going to keep interest rates at zero percent through 2010. But, he is not willing to stick his neck out in a liquidity seeking return…

In today’s morning with Dave article, Gluskin Sheff’s Chief Economist and Strategist says the macro environment makes it look like 2007 all over again – as if the crisis never happened. It’s like 2008 and early 2009 never happened. Hong…