Free Republic

A year ago Roubini was forecasting an 18-month recession with a U-shaped recovery; now, he's now expecting the downturn to last at least 24 months and possibly 36-months. He also sees rising risks of a Japanese-style L-shaped stagnation, i.e. a prolonged period with little or no economic growth.

Stock futures are pointing to a rising market Tuesday, but I still worry that the market will find a reason to go south instead. Rampant, persistent pessimism is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The disease already spread to companies and consumers. Can't anyone see the good side of bad? Take Hershey (HSY Quote - Cramer on HSY - Stock Picks), for example. The Pennsylvania chocolate maker said sales and profit rose more than 50% in the fourth quarter as it increased advertising spending on its core brands, Reese's and Hershey's. That's good news, right? But no doubt the market will interpret...

Click here for the video. A very funny and accurate view of what the Dems want to do with our money. Clarke and Dawe are a comedy team from Australila who do mock interviews.

‘Developing Asia to record healthy growth rates’ Our Bureau New Delhi, Nov. 16 Asian Development Bank (ADB) does not expect a full-blown financial crisis in India even as it forecasts a lower economic growth of between 6-7 per cent for 2009, lower than the 7.8 per cent expected this year. “We don’t expect a financial crisis (in India) because of the fundamentals. The economic side has not worsened. Developing Asia will slow down but continue to record healthy growth rates,” Mr Rajat M. Nag, Managing Director-General, ADB, said at the India Economic Summit 2008 here on Sunday. He highlighted that...

Just how bad is the economy? The housing industry is in the tank, banking institutions are getting bailouts, and companies that are traditionally very strong are feeling the negative effects! Even Disney has problems, and its employees are forced to seek secondary employment to make ends meet! NOTE: The author of this cartoon requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread. Thank you!

401(k) early casualty of downturnRecession would jeopardize match made by employers DAVID PITT Associated Press Published: November 9, 2008 6:00 a.m. DES MOINES, Iowa – Retirement accounts already battered by a steep market decline might get hit again as several companies suspend or reduce their 401(k) match to save cash. **SNIP** Matching contributions average about 11 percent of a company’s profits, according to a recent survey of more than 1,000 companies by the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America. **SNIP** “This is a recession-type of response. These employers are really up against it and they have to decide to cut somewhere...

US stocks suffer on fears for economy By Michael Mackenzie in New York and Krishna Guha in St Paul Published: September 4 2008 21:56 | Last updated: September 5 2008 01:32 US stocks fell for a fourth successive day, re-entering bear market territory, as rising jobless claims and weak retail sales figures raised fears about the health of the economy. The market retreat came only hours before John McCain was due to accept the Republican presidential nomination with a speech that focused on his record of service and called for bipartisan co-operation in Washington. In an interview with the Financial...

On Sept. 7, 2006, Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University, stood before an audience of economists at the International Monetary Fund and announced that a crisis was brewing. In the coming months and years, he warned, the United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, an oil shock, sharply declining consumer confidence and, ultimately, a deep recession. He laid out a bleak sequence of events: homeowners defaulting on mortgages, trillions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities unraveling worldwide and the global financial system shuddering to a halt. These developments, he went on, could cripple or destroy...

Though most of Europe has avoided the real estate slump, the euro zone is feeling the pinch from disparities among its member states.For most of August, business across Europe grinds to a halt as ... the Continent head[s] off for month-long vacations. This year, Europe's sun-seekers may want to savor their time away from the office a little more than usual. That's because bad economic news awaits their return to work as the euro zone moves headlong toward recession. Business activity hit a seven-year low in July, and growth in the region's gross domestic product is expected to slump to...

The dollar tumbled and stock markets were left reeling after the Federal Reserve unveiled new measures designed to prevent a meltdown in global financial markets and Bear Stearns was sold for $240m. Meeting over the weekend, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke cut the so-called discount rate at which it is prepared to lend to banks to 3.25pc and said it will lend more to the 20 big banks that make the market for US government debt. Coming a day before the Fed was scheduled to meet on interest rates, the action signals that the central bank is increasingly fearful of an...

UPDATE 2-BOJ's Fukui warns of mounting downside econ risks Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:51am EST (Adds Fukui comments) By Yuzo Saeki TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said on Wednesday downside risks to Japan's economy may heighten as global economic adjustments continue, reinforcing market views that the bank will keep rates on hold or even cut them later this year. Fears of more credit problems at financial firms pushed down Tokyo shares by more than 3 percent on Wednesday and Fukui, whose term expires next month, signalled that investors' waning risk appetite could continue to...

First the credit crisis, now the fashion crisis By Jonathan Guthrie Published: February 13 2008 18:18 | Last updated: February 13 2008 18:18 Wouldn’t you know it? You get invited to the first must-attend economic slowdown in ages and you simply haven’t a thing to wear. But it’s tough knowing what clothes to buy. The palette, naturally, should be subdued. Ash grey, maybe? And as for fabric, why not channel that new eco-friendly vibe? Something in organic sackcloth, perhaps? Fashion businesses are feeling the pinch, judging from a visit I made to London Fashion Week that coincided with the release...

After perusing the blizzard of U.S. economic data that we've gotten this week, you could easily—and quite plausibly—draw this megaconclusion: The Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again, inflation is under control, and while the economy is weakening, it won't slip into recession. Here is the evidence: 1) Yes, the housing market is still dreadful. New-home sales in August hit their lowest point in seven years and are down 21 percent from a year ago. But don't forget that housing is less than 5 percent of the total economy. It's not the whole ballgame. 2) Employment remains amazingly resilient. Initial...

Japan's economy shrinks, adding to global concerns by Daniel Rook Mon Sep 10, 4:46 AM ET Japan's economy contracted in the second quarter of 2007 as firms cut spending on new factories and equipment, the government said Monday, adding to jitters over the global economic climate. The setback to Japan's economic recovery, which comes just as the US economy shows signs of faltering, further reduced expectations of the Bank of Japan raising its super-low interest rates again any time soon. Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.3 percent in the three months to June from the previous quarter and...

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2007 – Violence is down in Iraq and Iraqis “are starting to see this growth and gaining new confidence,” a coalition spokesman in Baghdad said today. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters at a news conference that the decrease in violence has created an opportunity for new progress. Combined efforts between coalition forces and Iraqi fighting forces have brought down the level of violence in the Iraqi capital, Caldwell said. “Iraqi forces are getting better each day, and are demonstrating the commitment needed to defend the government and the people,” he added. He cited two...

The bad news never seems to end for Intel. Soft financials, management cutbacks, and a shake-up of senior executives are just the latest developments amid sliding sales and market share. The world's largest maker of microprocessors wants to change the conversation from the mistakes of the past to the promise of the future. Step one: an overhaul of its processor lines. Intel last week introduced five new versions of its high-end Itanium 2 chips. This week, it formally introduces its mass-market Core 2 Duo platforms for desktops and notebooks. The company will introduce quad-core versions of its processors for servers...

The word "reinvent" is a dumb term, having an overtone of redundancy. After all, when you have invented something, it exists. You can revise it or change it, but you can't "reinvent" it after you have already invented it. I never heard the term when I first entered the workforce. But somewhere in the 1970s or so, corporate executives-began using the word, and using it a lot. Then as now, the nation had its usual economic ups and downs, but suddenly after one downturn, our nation was heavily laden with companies that had reinvented themselves. What happened is that after...

<p>With the state budget hemorrhaging red ink, Gov. Gray Davis in January floated a controversial plan to raise taxes by more than $8 billion to help balance the books.</p> <p>But while Davis' plan would raise heaps of cash, it fails to address many of the weaknesses in California's tax structure that helped trigger fiscal disaster in the first place.</p>

No more Grand Slams for FReeper Registered After 22 years, restaurant closes its doorsDenny's Restaurant, a virtual institution among late-night diners, abruptly closed its doors for good Monday afternoon, citing lagging business.The Norton shores restaurant, which opened in 1980, closed at 3 pm Monday. The restaurant was hurt financially by safety and security concerns that forced the corporation to stop making it a 24-hour eatery-a "trademark" of Denny's restaurants, a corporate spokeswoman said.Customers (Like Me) and workers were not given advance warning the restaurant would be closing, said Melanie Mathews of Muskegon, a (darn good) server at the restaurant. Employees,...

<p>Bangkok, July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Greetings from Thailand, where accounting standards are more rigorous than those found in the U.S.</p> <p>A bold pronouncement for sure, yet that's exactly what Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission is saying these days. In the wake of scandals at Enron Corp., Global Crossing Ltd., WorldCom Inc. and elsewhere, Thai regulators are calling on investors to be careful about putting money into the world's biggest economies.</p>