17 Feb 2017

Posted at 13:35h in The Friday Brief by
Amidst all the political hysteria, gamesmanship, claims of chaos, in-fighting, and media counter-punching, Mr. Trump would be wise take to heart James Carville's 1992 winning campaign slogan for Bill Clinton's presidential run to defeat President George H. W. Bush - "it's the economy, stupid." Rather than insult, the phrase is intended to be an admonition not to underestimate the importance of the economy in every policy and political decision a president makes.

04 Nov 2016

Posted at 12:46h in The Friday Brief by

As the election draws near, stock and bond markets have been divided as to the significance of the outcome. A Trump victory injects policy uncertainty -  something markets generally dislike. And a Clinton presidency provides more policy certainty, but with recent revelations from the FBI,...

04 Nov 2011

Posted at 12:08h in The Friday Brief by
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee met this week and held to the major tenets of its monetary policy. Rates will remain unchanged at near zero; Operation Twist will continue to extend purchases of longer-term Treasuries; language that rates will remain exceptionally low through mid-2013; and principal payments from its holdings of agency debt will be reinvested in agency mortgage-backed securities. The Committee anticipates “a moderate pace of economic growth over coming quarters and consequently anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually.” The statement also said that the FOMC “anticipates that inflation will settle, over coming quarters, at levels at or below those consistent with the Committee's dual mandate (inflation and employment) as the effects of past energy and other commodity price increases dissipate further.” 

23 May 2003

Posted at 15:22h in The Friday Brief by
Today, assuming the Senate does as expected and passes the $350 billion tax cut bill, the campaign for theU.S.presidency in 2004 unofficially begins today.  The health of this economy will make or break Mr. Bush’s re-election bid for the presidency.  His father learned just how fast his huge popularity after the Gulf War dissipated when voters were made to feel that their pocketbooks were threatened by a weakening economy.