I don't think we're in danger of going back to the kind of cycles of the '70s or the late '80s. I think the economy is still quite flexible.

292

I think we are looking for the trade gap to stabilize, not to decline.

205

O'Neill has been more optimistic about the economy and resistant to additional stimulus, so I suppose one could read between lines that he was losing that battle, and the administration is more likely to propose aggressive stimulus now.

183

As a policy maker, I'm only going to pay attention to the workweek if I think it's a trend. But the fact is that since July of 2004, we've been at either 33.7 or 33.8 hours on the aggregate workweek. My feeling is that the workweek declined in February in part because of a decline in construction but that in general, it's probably going to bounce back to 33.8 next month.

120

The overall affordability of a home is still ample.

117

I think the bond market is stuck in a reasonable tight range based on a long bond of 5.5 percent, and I think the Fed is going to do nothing.

114

[When major disasters strike,] the typical things that happen is that you reduce employment, production, income and spending in the areas that are affected, principally because everybody's holed up in their shelter or in a basement waiting for it to pass, ... Obviously money is not made or spending is not done as it normally would be.

79