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Commentaries tagged with finance

September 29, 2024	The Soft Landing MiracleThe hard part was ending inflation without also causing a recession.
August 11, 2024	Project 2025 Is a Roadmap to DisasterThe document is alarming enough that former President Trump denied knowledge of its existence.
July 14, 2024	We Are Nearing Fed Rate CutsAll the talk of a crashing, risk-filled economy where people are struggling is unsupported by actual data.
March 31, 2024	The Political Economy of InflationThe public seems to prefer high unemployment to high inflation.
December 3, 2023	The ‘Great Discordance’ of Economic Fact and FeelingThat Americans appear to prefer higher unemployment over historically mild inflation is not something any of us should be proud of.
September 17, 2023	Thoughts About Trump’s Tax PlanIn considering any tax change, first ask how it might eventually reduce the debt.
May 7, 2023	Money Illusion and InflationPrice fluctuation could cause inflation to last longer, but it didn’t cause the inflation, it simply extends the pain.
February 19, 2023	Balancing the Federal BudgetThere’s no silver bullet that will return our debt to comfortable levels.
October 2, 2022	Recession Likelihood GrowsIt is too early to predict a recession but not its effects.
August 21, 2022	Limiting Future InflationOverreacting to inflation can be worse to the economy than underreacting.
June 19, 2022	Yes, State Stimulus Checks Boost InflationTax reductions and rebates can only increase inflation.
February 18, 2022	More Thoughts on InflationLike George Bailey explained in “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the money held in his savings and loan wasn’t in the bank safe, it was in the mortgages and small business loans around the city.
October 17, 2021	Market Adjustments Aren’t InflationToday, inflation is running far less than 1.0 percentage point off trend.
September 18, 2016	The Wells Fargo Fiasco Is a Call to ActionThis is a criminal offense and should be treated as such.
January 24, 2016	The End of a Bubble, Version 2016Actions in Iran and China are affecting markets worldwide.
March 22, 2015	The Rate Hike CalculusThe Federal Reserve relies on economic models to keep markets in balance.
March 1, 2015	We Need to Study, Modify and Preserve TIFIn the coming months we must better understand the characteristics of good and bad TIFs using data, not just anecdote.
February 10, 2013	The Whys of Stock PricesThe shedding of 8 million unneeded workers boosted profits for lots of businesses.
June 4, 2012	A Fix for Financial RegulationChanges to financial regulations have largely been focused on expanding the reach of existing and new financial regulatory agencies.
June 14, 2010	Derivates and Financial Regulation Derivatives, in and of themselves, are fairly harmless and easy to understand.
May 17, 2010	Formula for Grecian DebtGreece will enter a generation of austerity in which its best and brightest young people will leave for Europe or America.
March 8, 2010	Courage Required to Curb InflationIf you have no debt, and much savings, inflation is simply a penalty on your thrift.
November 2, 2009	The Great De-LeveragingOver the past 18 months household debt has plummeted by roughly $200 billion.
December 1, 2008	Budget Realities Call for Painful ChoicesShrinking pains can be as difficult as growing pains.
October 20, 2008	In the Midst of All This Joyless Market WatchingImportant economic news for East Central Indiana has been overshadowed by financial markets.
October 13, 2008	Financial Market Mayhem Feeding RecessionRecessions, even big ones, actually have a more modest effect than most believe.
October 6, 2008	Subprime Loans Add to Wall Street ChaosFailure to reset subprime mortgages compounded the problems on Wall Street.
September 29, 2008	Financial Crisis Rooted in 9/11It isn’t the politics of the matter, but rather our response to a crisis that sowed the seeds of today’s problems.
September 22, 2008	Bad Loans Soured Lehman Brothers' SoupIgnorance rather than greed is the explanation for the current crisis.
September 15, 2008	Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Takeover Offers Chance to Get Privatization RightThe good news is that mortgage holders will be unaffected.
August 11, 2008	State's AAA Bond Ranking indicates Healthy EconomyMarkets for state and municipal bonds tell the story of a regions’ economy far more accurately than any advertising campaign.
July 7, 2008	Corporate Social Responsibility - Just Another Interest GroupThe CSR movement takes our eye off the regulatory role of government.
March 17, 2008	Ben Bernanke and the I Word“The combination of unanticipated risk and uncertainty has clobbered ... many in the financial services industry.”
February 18, 2008	The Risky Fed Chairman“It isn't surprising that this fiscal stimulus package passed in an election year. What is surprising is that it passed with the whole hearted backing of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke .... .”
January 28, 2008	The Sub-Prime Thriller“The case of the loan market and the economy.”
November 26, 2007	The Silver Lining on the Sub-Prime Mortgage"The biggest worry is that policy makers (primarily Congress) will over respond to the mistakes made by borrowers and lenders."
November 19, 2007	How Important is This Black Friday?"Until the magnitude of the loss is known, we should continue to be ready for a roller-coaster on Wall Street."
October 1, 2007	The Tough Road to Financing Transportation"Perhaps the biggest problem facing the state is the belief that government alone can solve the problems of transportation infrastructure and the movement of goods and people”
September 17, 2007	The "R" Word "Fortunately, being overdue for a recession is poor predictor of future recessions.”
September 10, 2007	The Ins and Outs of a Liquidity Crisis"...the problem isn't lots of foreclosures, it is simply that buyers of debt don't know how bad the problem might be.”
July 2, 2007	Interest Rates in the News Again "If it were up to the American public to supply the funds to credit markets, rates would have risen sky-high a long time ago."
June 25, 2007	What's Your Favorite Economic Indicator?"The question is, what pieces of the economy should we be paying the most attention to?"
May 28, 2007	Can a Democracy Manage Budgets? "...in the case of Indiana’s sales tax on gasoline, a move to suspend the tax would have some especially bad repercussions."
May 7, 2007	Why It Makes Sense to Worry "There is always something to worry about when it comes to the economy, particularly for policymakers who are charged with managing its growth."
April 16, 2007	The Great Society Meets Fiscal Reality "The irony is that it could be the social welfare programs that are rich and those unlucky enough to be working and hence taxed to pay for them that will be poor."
March 19, 2007	Ideas Needed for Fixing Health Care Financing "...we simply can't afford to keep doing what we are doing."
March 5, 2007	Do Wealth Fluctuations Matter? "...the possibility that fluctuations in housing values might work their way into our collective consumption patterns raises another source of volatility for those who manage the economy to worry about."
February 17, 2007	The Value of Good Habits "...in most places and on most days in America, paychecks don’t bounce, bank deposits don’t disappear, and the government doesn’t show up at your door and seize your assets."
February 17, 2007	Tough Love in the Auto Parts Industry "...the biggest actor of them all - the customer - has new options, and is making different choices than before."
October 30, 2006	Housing and the Economy: What Me Worry? "Interest rate hikes and housing price declines are a double whammy to those who were unable to resist the lure of quick profits that has given us “Flip this House” television shows ..."
September 25, 2006	Getting Realistic About Federal Deficits "Not only have CBO projections of deficits proved wildly inaccurate in the past, but in this instance they include assumptions about future spending and revenues that almost all agree are unrealistic."
September 4, 2006	A Bounce Back in Our Spending Appetites "...the list of projects and needs in search of new state dollars is a daunting one."
August 14, 2006	Democracy in Action "...there have been too many brilliant political ideas in our legislatures over the last few years, particularly at the federal level where the balanced budget mandate is absent."
August 7, 2006	Transition in Growth for the U.S. Economy "The best news for Indiana has been the surprising, sustained strength of the industrial sector."
July 17, 2006	Old Versus New in Telecommunications Reform "...many generations of Hoosiers, like others throughout the nation, have lived knowing only the world of regulated phone service, where commissions hold hearings for public comment on rate increases and the chaos of competition is far away."
July 3, 2006	Paying for Roads "...rather than raise taxes to what it would take, state politicians have unsurprisingly taken the penny-wise, pound-foolish approach of skimping on infrastructure support."
June 26, 2006	Affordable Universal Health Care is Not Affordable "As a sustainable mechanism for financing the delivery of health care to seniors, Medicare as it stands today can only be called a colossal failure."
March 27, 2006	Consumer Driven Health Care is Coming"The only way you, the consumer, can be said to be truly in charge of your health care spending is to spend your own money."
January 13, 2006	Sobering Up the Drunken Sailor"Consumers are sitting on a lot of housing wealth these days, and thanks to innovations in the lending industry, they’ve got plenty of ways to tap into it."
December 9, 2005	Financing Local Government "It’s nearly impossible to overhaul the tax system in a way that makes everyone pay less, and you can expect those who might pay more to make plenty of noise. "
September 23, 2005	Paying the Price for Fiscal Irresponsibility "... if the knowledge that the national credit card is not yet maxed out reassures you, it does not do the same for me"
September 2, 2005	The Fragile Façade of Confidence "The attention of the media thus far has been focused on gasoline, but the problems go much deeper than that."
July 22, 2005	Hot Housing Markets Hard to Find Here "In the Indianapolis metropolitan area, median home prices nudged up by an almost imperceptible 0.5 percent last year."
May 27, 2005	Solutions to Problems Create Problems "We have come to expect our governments to take some of the hard edges off of market capitalism."
January 28, 2005	Fed Hits the Bull's Eye "...truth be told, it’s been luck more than skill that brought the economic throttle down so smoothly"
January 14, 2005	Understanding Public Sector Growth "... the unusual strength in government hiring just as the recession was coming on, continuing into 2002, is sharply different from the previous recession of 1991."
December 17, 2004	Saving for a Rainy Day "... from the individual consumer’s point of view, there really aren’t a lot of good reasons to save right now."
December 10, 2004	Reversing the Exodus of Corporate Headquarters "The reason why Indiana has so few headquarters today is that we aren’t planting enough seeds – in the formation of new companies – for the future."
December 3, 2004	The Devilish Details of Revenue Forecasting "... over the last eight years, the share of total income going to households and individuals has been on a virtual roller coaster ride, taking a lot of forecasters for a ride in the process."
November 12, 2004	Deficits Forever? "The foreign investors who help make our economy run – to tune of about $3 billion a day, when trade deficits are included – are increasingly less interested in holding a currency whose fiscal house is in such disorder."
October 29, 2004	A Surprisingly Good Quarter "The third quarter GDP report solidifies the view that the U.S. economy is still successfully managing the challenges of its post-recession recovery."
October 1, 2004	Is the Tide Rising Enough for Indiana’s Boat? "The Midwest, along with New England, enjoys the dubious distinction of dragging the tail on the horse riding to recovery."
August 27, 2004	Let the Next Generation Pay Our Bills "Even though the first ten months of this fiscal year have seen a 4 percent increase in revenues, signaling a clear end to the recession’s impact, the federal deficit has continued to widen."
July 30, 2004	GDP Growth Comes Down to Earth "The anemic 1.0 percent rise in consumer spending during the April – June period was the worst single quarter performance since the onset of the recession."
April 9, 2004	Understanding the Budget Plight of States "There is an imbalance between revenue growth and expenditure growth that is not related to the state of the economy, and that faster economic growth will not cure. And what will cure it is not popular."
March 5, 2004	Another Warning on Social Security "Call it tough love, or call it protecting Social Security, but something must be done now to throttle back benefit growth to get this problem down to a more manageable size."
January 9, 2004	The Mystery of Declining Savings "As late as 1984, Americans saved more than 10 cents out of every dollar they cleared after taxes."
January 2, 2004	Can We Afford Safe Food? "... the cost of actually achieving the absolute goals we so casually throw about is unacceptably high."
September 5, 2003	Wanted: Solution to State Government Finance " Nearly every state in the country -- including Indiana -- is confronted with a budget-busting situation every time the economy takes a dip."
August 29, 2003	Understanding Indiana 's Housing Markets " ... lower priced housing is not quite the feather in our cap that some make it out to be."
May 23, 2003	The Dollar's Fall: Blessing or Curse? "Given the low average savings rates by Americans, the prospect of diminished levels of foreign investment cannot be taken lightly. "
April 11, 2003	Let's Be Realistic About Tobacco and Gambling Revenue "With lawyers' war chests fattened immeasurably, and the facade of tobacco's legal invincibility forever gone, even money says that tobacco companies will soon be joining asbestos producers on the list of extinct industries."
November 15, 2002	Time for Forecasters to Show Us Their Cards "...it’s a good idea to occasionally close your office door and calmly examine the main drivers for your business"
November 1, 2002	Watch What Consumers Do, Not What They Say "The Bureau of Economic Analysis's report on the third quarter economy paints a picture of heavy consumer spending."
October 11, 2002	The Long Arm of Wall Street "The bear market, now more than two years old, has produced plenty of collateral damage, some through mechanisms we're just beginning to understand."
October 4, 2002	Meeting Business Halfway on Ethics "... we should recognize that what is said to be ethical, and what is encouraged by the law, are often two very different things."
September 13, 2002	Indiana's State Budget: Calm Before the Storm? "The option of raising tax rates to finance spending growth is something that few elected officials want to talk about."
September 6, 2002	Right Policies for the Wrong Reasons "Rarely do the turbulent waters of partisan politics part and allow meaningful changes to the cumbersome institutions and habits of our governments."
August 9, 2002	Rewriting Economic History "Much of what we produce in our economy, like entertainment, legal advice, or health care, can't be measured and weighed like the widgets of old economic textbooks."
August 2, 2002	U.S. Economic Growth: Speed Bump or Course Change? "The latest news on the economy puts the once-robust recovery in serious doubt."
June 21, 2002	Is the Stock Market Swoon the Cure for What Ails Us? "The wobbling of stock prices, the decline of the U.S. dollar, and the increase in the price of gold are all telling us that the global love affair with the American economy is coming to an end."
June 7, 2002	Elevating the Indiana Budget Debate "The state's dire fiscal straits make it almost certain that some unpleasant changes to taxes and expenditures will soon be forced upon us."
April 26, 2002	U.S. Economy Jumps Off the Sick Bed "The news that the national economy expanded at a robust 5.8 percent rate puts the final nail in the coffin of the short-lived 2001 recession."
March 15, 2002	The Down Side of Government for Profit "The FCC of 2002 doesn't act much like a government agency anymore, and among Washington bureaucracies, it's not alone."
March 1, 2002	Towards a Deeper Understanding of State Budget Crises "When governments, and in particular state governments, run out of tax revenues to cover their expenses, our level of scrutiny ratchets up quickly."
February 8, 2002	Recipe for Low Price Inflation "What do you get when you mix a strong dollar, a recession, and an unexpected surplus of crude oil production? In the national economy, the result is all around us: very low rates of price inflation."
February 1, 2002	Consumers Open Their Wallets "Just a few months of zero percent financing for new cars and trucks here in America has been enough to trigger a spending spree of unprecedented size."
January 25, 2002	Is the Well of Consumer Spending Going Dry? "Spending by consumers translates into income for businesses and workers, which those with empty order books and unused capacity desperately need."
November 23, 2001	Indiana's Still a Production-Oriented State "Indiana has fewer people with college degrees than any other Great Lakes state."
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."
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 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."
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."
August 10, 2001	In Search of Good Indicators "What indicators are available for Indiana that are more reliable?"
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."
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."
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."
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 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."
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."
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"
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 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."
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."
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."

Center for Business and Economic Research - Ball State University

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Commentaries tagged with finance