When you can't change public opinion any other way, you buy it. That is the message from Huffington Post today in Economists Opposing Fed Audit Have Undisclosed Fed Ties . As the debate over an audit of the Federal Reserve intensifies in the House, one camp is trotting out eight academics that ... Read more

Typically, one of the best thing Congress ever does is nothing. And so it is again with the Cap-And-Trade energy bill. Thankfully, Senate Climate Bill Delay Raises Doubt on Chance for U.S. Law . The U.S. Senate won’t try to pass a bill limiting U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions for months, clouding ... Read more

It's time to make some phone calls. It will take less than 10 minutes. Here are the Democrats who support the auditing of the fed. Rep. John Adler, NJ: (202) 225-4765 Rep. Travis Childers, MS: (202) 225-4306 Rep. Steve Driehaus, OH: (202) 225-2216 Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, TX: (202) 225-2531 Rep. ... Read more

After optimists talked up rising housing starts for several months as green shoots, improving conditions, etc., reality came knocking in full force with the New Residential Construction Report For October 2009 . BUILDING PERMITS Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in Oc ... Read more

In what should be no surprise, banks are cutting back on small business loans. Please consider Small business loans: $10 billion evaporates . Eight months after President Obama began prodding the nation's banks to increase their small business lending, the loan numbers continue to move in the oppos ... Read more

Fitch is warning Insurers Face $23 Billion Loss on Commercial Property . U.S. life insurers, a group led by MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc., may lose as much as $22.6 billion on investments in commercial real estate through 2011, Fitch Ratings said. Losses on investments in apartment ... Read more

Economist Brad DeLong, Department of Economics, U.C. Berkeley, is getting increasingly pessimistic. DeLong says: Chance of Great Depression Now 5%... For 2 1/4 years now I have been saying that there is no chance of a repeat of the Great Depression or anything like it--that we know what to do and ... Read more

Yesterday Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher threw a little cold water on the V-shaped recovery madness everyone seems to be buying into these days. Please consider Fed's Fisher: GDP Growth In Third Quarter Likely Lower Than Reported .Speaking at a conference in Tyler, Texas, Fisher ... Read more

Japan is off and running or so they say (for the nth time in 20 years). Yet inquiring minds will be quick to note Japan Deflation Concern Rises Even as Growth Quickens . The acceleration of Japan’s economy to the fastest growth pace in more than two years masked a slide in prices of goods and s ... Read more

GE, the financial company masquerading as a manufacturer, has its eyes on the Pot of Government Stimulus Gold . The financial crisis hasn't been kind to General Electric Co. Its stock has lost almost half its value, the government has stepped in to prop up its enormous financial arm, and sales ha ... Read more