The Radford Free Press – Page 426 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / banking, deflation, Federal Reserve Board, inflation, interest rates, inventories, Keynes, Minsky, monetary policy, recovery, stimulus /

The Fed Stands Pat

January 6, 2010

There is an unusual conformity about most of the commentary surrounding the immediate economic outlook: we are in for a slow and possibly long slog out of the hole we dug for ourselves. Today’s release of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting minutes confirms that their view sits plumb in the middle of the […]

Economics / home prices, real estate, stimulus /

Housing Hits a Wall

January 5, 2010

Usually I don’t bother commenting on the monthly report of pending home sales, but today’s news that the index of activity maintained by the National Association of Realtors dropped by 16% in November is noteworthy. This is simply due to the fact that such a dramatic one month drop reveals to us all the distortion […]

Economics / banking, construction, deflation, GDP, ISM Business Conditions Index, manufacturing, Paul Krugman /

Thoughts on a Mixed Bag: Manufacturing and Construction

January 4, 2010

A brief update on today’s data: Manufacturing. The Institute for Supply Management released its monthly survey of manufacturers today. Its index of activity now stands at 55.9% up from 53.6% the prior month. Be aware that this data is a little old – the latest month reported is November – but clearly the industrial sector […]