United States

Credit markets continue to return to less extreme levels. While we are nowhere near where we were before the onset of the Lehman-induced panic, we are well off the panic levels of the worst of the crisis.The Times of London is reporting…

I caught a story in the Wall Street Journal today about Paul Volcker's impact on the Obama campaign that bears passing on (hat tip Barry Ritholtz). One reason people have become more comfortable with Obama over time is because his economic…

The United States had been living beyond its means for a very long time before the credit crisis finally hit. The truth of the matter is that U.S. monetary and fiscal policy rewarded risk-taking and leverage at the expense of prudence and…

The U.S. industrial production numbers for September came out at 9:15ET this morning and they were very weak. However, it should be noted that the numbers were very distorted by lost production due to two hurricanes. Nevertheless,…

As we move beyond the market panic, we can zero in on the data that define the economy. Employment is one of four key areas that define the economy -- the others being production, earnings growth and consumer spending.So, jobless claims…

Just moments ago Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech in which he said the following about Lehman Brother: "there was not enough collateral to support the lending." This was Bernanke's response to a question about whether…

Yesterday, I laid out some of my general thinking on the business cycle and the economy. Obviously, understanding the business cycle is important to economic forecasting and is, therefore, central to personal financial planning, general…

Yesterday, I said that investors would begin to focus on the real economy now that the financial crisis has eased somewhat due to massive government intervention. Today, retail sales figures for September 2008 were released by the United…

As the economy has faltered, George W. Bush's approval numbers have plummeted. All of this has occurred despite Americans' belief that the strategy in Iraq is bearing fruit. And last year, Iraq was a central issue for most voting…

This amazing chart is interactive at the NYTimes: