By Robert Romano International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Christine Lagarde has called on Congress to “repeal the sequester” because she says “the effect of the sequester and deficit reduction more generally are already affecting the economy.” Lagarde claimed that the budget cuts would “shave 1.25 to 1.75 percentage points of growth.” She left out the most important part, however. The reason is […]

By Bill Wilson A recent piece by Bruce Bartlett brings together numerous useful academic studies that suggest “financialization” — the expansion of the credit sector as a percent of the economy — can be beneficial to economic growth to a certain point.  But beyond that level, it becomes corrosive. Towards the end of […]

By Bill Wilson It is no mystery that the U.S. is a consumer-based economy. Approximately 71 percent of the $16 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is personal consumption. So, when consumption expenditures decline — as they did in April — by $20.5 billion, or 0.2 percent as […]

By Rick Manning America has been breathlessly awaiting the calamity that was predicted to befall the Washington D.C. area due to the “draconian” budget cuts known as the sequester. Now, the April data is in from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics detailing how the D.C. area is doing as it copes […]

On May 23, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1911 , legislation that purports to avert student loan interest rates doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. The truth, as usual, in Washington, D.C., is always slightly more nuanced. The hike in interest rates does not […]

By Robert Romano Is a housing recovery finally at hand, or are we just witnessing a new bubble fueled by unlimited government finance? Or is it none of the above? Average prices for new homes reached a new all-time high of $330,800 in April , a 15.4 percent increase in a single month, and 34.9 percent off its Jan. 2009 low […]

By Bill Wilson In a recent eye-opening piece by Zerohedge.com, “Thanks to QE Bernanke has injected foreign banks with $1 trillion in cash for the first time ever,” the highly trafficked financial blog notes that as quantitative easing has increased, so have foreign bank cash assets. In fact, since 2009, as the Fed has loaded up on U.S. treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, foreign bank cash […]

By Robert Romano The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported some good news for a change — the federal budget deficit will fall to $642 billion in 2013 . The primary reasons for the drop are because of the expiration of the $120 billion a year payroll tax holiday and the $85 billion budget sequester going into effect. Plus, […]

By Robert Romano Absolutely no connection whatsoever. That is what one must conclude from a recent Americans for Limited Government (ALG) study asking the questions: Does increased government spending spur private sector growth, and do spending cuts cause private sector recessions? The study, based on data compiled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis from 1945 […]

By Willie Deutsch Forbes released its annual study of wealthiest counties in the nation .  A quick glance at the list makes one thing abundantly clear, at a time when taxes are going up, and regulations are driving businesses out of existence, more and more people are profiting off of government.  Six of […]