cstauffer

The Reason to Ignore Most Economists

One thing that I agree with in this article is that most brokerage house and bank economists publish outlooks that should be largely taken with a huge grain of salt. These economists, just like their counterparts, the Market Strategists, are not paid to publish their objective opinions, but they are generally public cheerleaders. Their are several economists who buck that trend, one is Northern Trust's Paul Kasriel.

The problem with the author and many other "experts" who argue that this financial and economic disruption that has resulted from over leveraged consumers, banks and brokers, is that these people pick and choose the data that they want to use to support their opinions. Can you say "weapons of mass destruction intelligence"? Today's GDP numbers are a prime example. Even though unemployment has risen over a full percentage over the last year or so, foreclosurers and personal bankruptcies have reached multi-decade highs, bank failures are on the rise, retail sales are contracting, and real wages have fallen for over seven years straight, GDP has not gone negative, therefore the economy is strong.