consumers

James Montier has a very good piece out via John Mauldin ([email protected]) on the need for real economy stimulus over financial sector stimulus. The quote I find most memorable goes to the heart of our debate about the…

I believe we may be seeing the bottom here. Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman does as well. Here is what he has to say: Our baseline expectation is that the pace of contraction of the US economy probably peaked in the horrific…

Paul Kasriel thinks the Fed announcement that it is monetizing the U.S. Federal Government's deficit is very important. He ends his article at Northern Trust with these words: In the coming months, the federal government is going to be…

Predictions that the savings rate would increase as the Depression in America took hold are coming true. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the savings rate in the U.S. hit 5%.

U.S. consumer spending contracted more than anticipated in December 2008, declining by 1.0%. However, this number is a look into the past and does little to help predict how spending will trend going forward.

I have been out the entire morning and haven't been able to read any news reports on the GDP numbers. However, I have just now had a chance to look at the data and wanted to share my thoughts with you, unfiltered by the media reports. I…

A few months ago, the Germans were very resistant to the notion that Germany would also suffer greatly in this global downturn. Yet, as the months have past, it has become increasingly apparent that exports from Germany and retail spending…

Peter Schiff is that market wizard people were laughing at just a year ago because of his extreme views. Well, things have turned out much as he has indicated they would. So, now he has a captive audience. And what is he saying?…

On Wednesday morning the U.S. Department of Labor released the latest report on claims for unemployment insurance. The week to December 20th saw 586,000 new claims for unemployment insurance on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which is a…

My very first post on this blog was in March and it was titled "The Economy Is Definitely In Recession." Back then, this seemed like a stretch for a lot of people, but today the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which makes the…