America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q1 conference call transcript (pdf) dated May 17, 2011. I view Walmart’s results as particularly noteworthy given their retail prominence and focus on low prices. I have previously commented on their quarterly results. Here are various excerpts that I find most notable: comments from Mike Duke, from page 7: “Despite improvements in …
The following is from the Minutes of The Federal Open Market Committee of April 26-27, 2011, the Summary of Economic Projections. As stated: “In conjunction with the April 26-27, 2011, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the members of the Board of Governors and the presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks, all of whom participate in …
The Philadelphia Fed Second Quarter 2011 Survey of Professional Forecasters was released on May 13. This survey is somewhat unique in various regards, such as it incorporates a longer time frame for various measures. The survey shows, among many measures, the following expectations: GDP: full-year 2011 : 2.7% full-year 2012 : 3.0% full-year 2013 : 2.8% …
The May Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published May 16, 2011. The headline is “Economists in Survey Discount Inflation.” Most of the article discusses inflation expectations, although raising the debt ceiling and other topics are touched upon as well. The current average forecasts among economists polled include the following: GDP: full-year 2011 : …
On May 9 Zillow.com released a Press Release titled “First Quarter Home Value Declines Match Worst of Housing Recession; Bottom Unlikely to Appear Before 2012” with the subtitle “Home Values Show Sharpest Quarterly Decline Since 2008; Negative Equity Rises to 28.4% According to Q1 2011 Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports” (Other stories regarding this Press …
On February 14 I wrote a post titled “Milton Friedman ‘Free to Choose’ Videos – The Complete Set”. Of note, this series is from 1980. As such, many might dismiss the series as irrelevant and outdated. However, the series (and book of the same title) is highly relevant to today’s economic situation. Virtually all of …
I think it is important to reflect back upon the events preceding and during The Financial Crisis, and the actions taken during those periods, as they have had, and will have, substantial ramifications for our future economic situation. I have found comments made by former President George W. Bush to be interesting and notable, although …
As I have commented previously, as in the October 6, 2009 post, in my opinion the official methodologies used to measure the various job loss and unemployment statistics do not provide an accurate depiction; they serve to understate the severity of unemployment. However, even if one chooses to look at the official statistics, the following charts …
Starting on May 3, 2010 I have written posts concerning the notable divergence that has occurred between the S&P500 and Chinese (Shanghai Composite) stock markets. Since that May post, the divergence has grown. The chart below illustrates this divergence; it shows the S&P500 vs. the Shanghai Composite on a daily basis, LOG scale, since 2006: (click …
This post is an update to previous posts concerning food stamps. The program is officially called “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or SNAP. As stated on the SNAP website, “As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program.” The data was last updated April 29, 2011, reflecting …