Recent economic reports present a mixture of disregard, denial, and disinterest. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported GDP growth of 1.8%. The Economist wrote about how debt problems are constantly explained away and asked on its April 28, 2011 cover, “What’s wrong with America’s economy?” The Chairman of the Federal Reserve held a first-ever press conference that one writer tagged as “the message was the medium.”
Unemployment levels have apparently bottomed out, as have suburban home prices, and the markets are doing well. One boutique retailer we visited the week of April 25 reports an “awesome” spring, while a home remodeler we visited the same week sees 2011 so far as its worst start ever, largely a result the weather. A manufacturer we know had its bank loan called after missing a payment of some $2,500 by a day, likely a casualty of being on the wrong side of the transaction when successor banks take on the customers of failed banks.
A Long, Slow Recovery
The rate of recovery is agonizingly slow and highly unpredictable, noted Professor Martin Eichenbaum, Ethel and John Lindgren Professor of Economics at Northwestern University READ MORE>>