Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Will the Fed cut interest rates again at its December 11 FOMC meeting next week? There’s plenty of chatter suggesting the answer will be “yes” and Fed funds futures are in agreement.
The January ‘08 contract is priced, as we write this morning, for Fed funds at just under 4.14%, which is […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Some analysts think so.
I’ve gone through some earlier forecasts to see what they’ve indicated about market views of the dollar’s trajectory.

Figure 1: Log nominal broad trade-weighted value of the dollar (blue), and implied forecasts for dollar value for July (red triangles), September (green circles), October (purple squares) and November (teal diamonds). Source: Fed, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

RECORD: $528,000 Net Worth Per Household

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The net wealth of U.S. households rose to $58.60 trillion in the third quarter as financial asset gains outpaced slowing real estate values, a Federal Reserve report on Thursday showed (see chart above).
In the July-September period household net worth grew for the 20th consecutive […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
The attention-getting headline for today’s article is true, but misleading. It parallels the monthly assault on the BLS Birth/Death model from Barry Ritholtz and others. In the most recent article, Barry incorrectly writes that the BLS has substituted modeling for measurement.
In fact, before the BLS adopted the birth/death […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Jeff has had a busy month. He sent this post in from the road.
~ Renae
Market timing is always a challenge. Even after a well timed exit, the trader has the question of when to get back in. Many do this by feel, also known […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

This year, for the first time, the average earnings of the 120 major-college football coaches hit $1 million, a USA TODAY analysis finds. That’s not counting the benefits, perks and myriad bonuses in their contracts.
Four coaches — Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Florida’s Urban Meyer and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz — already […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

I have several problems with handicapped parking:
1. Too many people get handicapped parking permits who probably shouldn’t qualify. Notice in the sign above, it shows a picture of a WHEELCHAIR. How many people do you see parking in handicapped parking spaces who actually get out of their vehicle in a wheelchair? Almost […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Milton Friedman deals with a difficult questioner in this Q&A at Cornell University in 1978. Somebody on YouTube labeled this video “Dumb Hippie vs. Jedi Master.” Here is Part 1 of the interchange.
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

According to today’s report from the BLS, hourly compensation increased 5.9% from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2007, the largest four-quarter gain since an increase of 6.7% from the fourth quarter of 1999 to the fourth quarter of 2000. On an inflation-adjusted basis, real hourly compensation in […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
I’ll start with what’s good about the idea, but quickly roll into the bad news. What’s good: smart lenders often work with borrowers who are in difficulty. This is not called generosity; it’s called being greedy while recognizing how much the borrower can pay. The mortgage industry created […]

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