America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
The June 14-June 21 2010 Bloomberg BusinessWeek had a cover story titled “Time to Slip Into Something Less Comfortable?” The subtitle reads: “The bearish forecasters who rose to fame in the market crash of 2008 have, for the most part, not surrendered their pessimism. Their moment could be coming back around.” While I don’t necessarily …
I found Ben Bernanke’s comments on the economic outlook, given last Wednesday (June 9), to be interesting. Here are some excerpts, as published in this Wall Street Journal article of June 10: “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered guarded reassurances about the economy in testimony to the House Budget Committee Wednesday, saying a new recession …
I found The June Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was interesting on a couple of fronts. First, as stated in the article, “The economists in the survey put the odds of a double-dip recession at 19%.” Second, as seen in the detail of this survey, the survey now includes more forecast information for December …
On June 8 The Wall Street Journal had an article titled “Bond-Fund Managers See Signs of a Bubble.” While most people wouldn’t think of the bond market as having bubble characteristics, nonetheless such a bubble has developed. The article mentions several vulnerabilities the bond bubble faces. I would add that a major vulnerability is a …
On June 1 The Wall Street Journal had an article titled “Analysts Cheer For Recovery.” From the article: “Current estimates put the S&P 500 on track for earnings per share of $85.26 this year, according to Thomson Reuters, a return to 2007 levels. Analysts’ $96.61 forecast for 2011 earnings would mark a record that surpasses …
As a continuation of the last post, here are three other charts that I find disturbing in nature. These charts raise a lot of questions. Many of these questions I have discussed in the blog, as I believe they are very significant in nature. Additionally, these charts should highlight the “atypical” nature of our economic …
In the next two posts, I am going to display various charts that I find disturbing. These charts would be disturbing at any point in the economic cycle; that they depict such a tenuous situation now – nearly a year into what most believe is an economic recovery – is especially notable. Many more such …
On May 18 The Wall Street Journal had an article on a new lead-paint law titled “New Lead-Paint Law Heavy on Budgets.” This law serves as a good example of an important issue I wrote of in my May 2009 article “America’s Economic Future – ‘Greenfield’ or ‘Brownfield’?” In that article I wrote of the …
The Wall Street Journal of June 2 had an article titled “Chronic Joblessness Takes Toll.” I have written extensively about the unemployment situation for a number of reasons. Perhaps chief among these reasons is that I believe the situation is far worse than generally acknowledged. While it is easy to dismiss the unemployment problem with …
McKinsey Quarterly had an interesting May 2010 article on cost cutting. I have many thoughts on the issue of cost cutting. The issue is complex and particularly challenging as detailed data and analyses on the subject seem to be lacking, despite cost cutting’s widespread popularity over many years. While prudent management of costs is of …