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CBER Weekly Commentaries - 2001

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January 5, 2001 What's Behind the Fed's Bold Move "The message is clear: the U.S. economy is in greater danger of sinking into recession than policymakers have been letting on."
January 12, 2001 Higher Unemployment Rates Ahead for Indiana "The next few months are going to be difficult for the Indiana manufacturing economy, as it stands first in line to bear the brunt of the slowdown that is rapidly snowballing through the U.S. economy."
January 19, 2001 Manufacturing Economy Takes a Hit "In the changing winds blowing through the national economy, the sector of the economy with its chin stuck out the farthest is manufacturing."
January 26, 2001 The Fed Weighs in on the Issue of Tax Cuts "It is increasingly clear that the debate over tax cuts is really a fight over the size of the Federal Government."
February 2, 2001 There's Nothing Subtle About Fed Policy These Days "The irony in the Fed's dramatic action is that its immediate impact can only be on our minds, not on the economy itself."
February 9, 2001 Is the Indiana Economy of 2001 More Diversified? "we will find out in the upcoming months whether the rejuvenated Indiana economy, which outperformed the nation through much of the 1990's, can weather the pounding of an economic slowdown that is hitting the manufacturing sector with full force."
February 16, 2001 Did the Federal Reserve Act in Time? "The fog that obscures the true state of the economy from the worrisome eyes of the current Federal Reserve chairman is just as thick today as it has been for his predecessors."
February 23, 2001 An Unwelcome Surprise From the Energy Sector "The pain that started when gasoline prices shot up last summer has only gotten worse as natural gas, propane, and electricity costs followed suit later in the year."
March 2, 2001 The Indiana Economy Wound Down in 2000 "The Department of Workforce Development's preliminary statistics on Indiana job growth for year 2000 have been telling us that a substantial slowdown in the growth of the state's economy took place last year."
March 9, 2001 Are Communities Shortchanged by Development? "Questions concerning development have been the bread and butter of local politics for countless years."
March 16, 2001 Don't Write the Story on the U.S. Economy Yet "The slumping stock market, announcements of layoffs by some prominent companies, and the high price of energy are all the evidence that some people need to pronounce the economic expansion's demise."
March 23, 2001 Markets Work on the Way Up and the Way Down "he adjustments taking place on Wall Street, and to a more muted extent, in the economy at large, are evidence that the market is working exactly as it should."
March 30, 2001 Will This Be the Last Census? "A need for more up-to-date information on population has motivated one of the biggest new projects ever taken on by a Federal statistical agency, known as the American Community Survey."
April 6, 2001 Sour Notes in the March Employment Report "The past six months have not been a particularly rosy time for the U.S. economy."
April 13, 2001 A Tale of Two Economies "The Indiana legislature should be forgiven for trying to spend more money that the state has."
April 20, 2001 Assessing the Impact of Higher Natural Gas Prices "There are two ways of looking at the substantial rise in the price of natural gas that has occurred in the U.S. economy in the last nine months."
April 27, 2001 U.S. Economic Growth: A Matter of Perspective? "The Bureau of Economic Analysis surprised many analysts by announcing that the U.S. economy actually accelerated slightly in the first quarter of 2001"
May 4, 2001 Do Employment Changes Trail or Lead the U.S. Economy? "In these uncertain economic times, it seems like we can select an optimistic or a pessimistic spin on almost any piece of information we receive."
May 11, 2001 Forecasting and Politics Don't Mix "If an economic projection of the future delivers unpleasant news, its more likely to be discredited than anything else."
May 18, 2001 Manufacturing's Slide Continues "The decline in the U.S. manufacturing economy has not yet hit bottom, according to reports on April industrial activity released by the Federal Reserve."
May 25, 2001 The California Economy is Too Big to Ignore "As we wax righteously about the folly of California's energy policy, its political leadership, or even its laid-back style of business, we may want to temper our words."
June 1, 2001 Is the Labor Shortage Over? "The U.S. unemployment rate, even in the teeth of the slowdown, has risen by about half a percentage point. "
June 8, 2001 Bad News at the Bottom Line for the U.S. Economy? "Since the fall of last year, the go-go spending of U.S. businesses on plant and equipment that was at the heart of the productivity boom abruptly fell."
June 15, 2001 Indiana's Economic Growth a Matter of Perspective "We who live today in Indiana in the midst of a manufacturing-led economic downturn must ask ourselves the difficult question: are the jobs the state economy has lost in the last six months going to come back? "
June 22, 2001 Are We Doomed to Forever Repeat the Past? "Any banker worth his or her salt knows that the worst performing loans are always written just as the economy is running out of gas."
June 29, 2001 Is More Always The Answer for Social Programs? "Programs for the poor run by government at all levels -- from the Federal government all the way down to townships -- are perpetually starved for resources."
July 6, 2001 Challenge for Economy in Second Quarter "If you put the pieces of the U.S. economic data together, they would seem to spell a recession in the second quarter of the year."
July 13, 2001 Taking the Longer View on Economic Growth "Where will the central Indiana economy be in the year 2011? On its face, that's an almost impossible question to answer."
July 20, 2001 In Search of Silver Linings "Whether you are a person who sees the glass half full or half empty, it has been difficult to do anything but tremble as the once-roaring engines of factories across the nation sputter and stall before our eyes."
July 27, 2001 U.S. Economy Still Growing, but Barely "Thanks to the American consumer, the U.S. economic expansion remains alive through the first half of the year."
August 3, 2001 The Indiana Economy at Mid-Year "Those of us who live and breathe economic data are usually one to two months behind the rest of the world."
August 10, 2001 In Search of Good Indicators "What indicators are available for Indiana that are more reliable?"
August 17, 2001 History Offers Old Lessons for the New Economy "History has shown that it takes anywhere from six to twelve months for changes in Fed policy to show up in the performance of the economy."
August 24, 2001 Who Deserves the Credit for Economic Growth? "What passes for a market economy on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and in the state of Indiana as well, contains a stronger dose of governmental planning, coordination, and regulation than we sometimes admit."
August 31, 2001 Painful Adjustments Ahead for U.S. Economy "There are now only two scenarios for the future: a resumption of growth, or a recession."
September 7, 2001 U.S. Unemployment Rate Rises Significantly "The news of the 0.4 percentage point jump in the national jobless rate will be seen by many as the first real sign that the slowdown that has gripped the U.S. economy since last fall is real."
September 14, 2001 Rewriting the Script for the U.S. Economy "As the country tries to sort through the confusion of a disaster without precedent, economists and policymakers have their own worries when it comes to the near-term future for the U.S. economy."
September 21, 2001 Data Belie The Myth of the Instant Economy "It is said that the U.S. economy lost more than a trillion dollars of wealth in the last five days, owing to the steep declines in stock markets in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington."
September 28, 2001 Sorting Through Census 2000 "Communities everywhere are competing with each other for jobs, investment, and residents."
October 5, 2001 The Other Side of the Property Tax Debate "Empathizing with Hoosiers over the evils of taxes, and in particular property taxes, has been a sure-fire applause line around the state for years."
October 12, 2001 What Caused the 2001 Recession? "Low levels of business spending, poor earnings reports and the stagnation of the stock market suggested a continued slide into recession."
October 19, 2001 Ignorance Isn't Bliss When It Comes to Gas Prices "Given the sensitivity of our motorized population to upticks in gasoline prices, the public anger provoked by stories of five dollars per gallon prices charged by a few individual gas stations was not surprising."
October 26, 2001 Economic Pothole Dead Ahead "As the national economy slips into what hopefully will prove to be a brief recession, it’s clear we’re still not up to the challenge of avoiding economic downturns altogether."
November 2, 2001 A Chorus of Bad News for the Economy "As small streams and creeks join forces to create a river, the cutbacks and slowdowns across every sector of the economy combined in October to produce the worst U.S. labor market performance in more than two decades."
November 9, 2001 Indiana's Fiscal Crisis Was Predictable "State governments across the United States are in trouble. Some have seen as much as a 17 percent drop in tax revenues as a result of the economic downturn that has snowballed into what appears now to be a full blown recession."
November 16, 2001 Changes Afoot in the Auto Industry "The motor vehicle industry, so vital to countless communities around Indiana, is steering into a fierce cross wind these days."
November 23, 2001 Indiana's Still a Production-Oriented State "Indiana has fewer people with college degrees than any other Great Lakes state."
November 30, 2001 Where's the Smoking Gun in the U.S. Economic Decline? "Now that the economy is heading south, all eyes are on those who purport to know when things will turn around."
December 7, 2001 Another Grim Employment Report "Job cuts pushed the overall employment decline beyond the 1.2 million job mark since the recession officially began in March."
December 14, 2001 Indiana's Recession Experiences Are a Mixed Bag "Now that the hype of a recession-proof, "new" economy has been put to rest by the downturn that began last fall, its time to take a cold, hard look at exactly how this recession might unfold for businesses and workers in Indiana."
December 21, 2001 Keeping Score on Indiana Tax Reform "Even though Indiana's fiscal crisis has pushed it off of center stage, some excellent points have been raised in the debate over the O'Bannon/Kernan tax reform proposal since it was unveiled in October. "
December 28, 2001 Inflation: The Non-Story of the Year "The strong dollar, overproduction and sluggish demand, coupled with plummeting energy prices, has fostered an environment where raising prices is simply not a feasible option."

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