One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? What do the 2010 home buyer tax credits have to do with today’s stock market? After producing a huge spike — actually two, due to the initial credit being extended and expanded — the housing market resumed its swoon. With a vengance: the second half of 2010 and well into...Read More
“We” Minus the “Us”; or,More Pronoun Confusion The bailout and stimulus that we have administered to ourselves have left us without much cushion. There may be room, and even necessity, for a little more stimulus. But we have to get this moment right.” –Thomas Friedman, “Got to Get This Right“; The New York Times (11/27/2010)...Read More
The Fed, Commodity Prices & Economic Recovery Twelve hundred miles (give or take) from Wall Street, me thinks that a not-so virtuous cycle has emerged regarding the government’s various and sundry efforts to nurse the economy back to health. The dynamic goes something like this: Step 1: the Federal Reserve and Treasury essentially borrow and/or...Read More
