Free Republic

NEVADA, Iowa: The ethanol boom of recent years — which spurred a frenzy of distillery construction, record corn prices, rising food prices and hopes of a new future for rural America — may be fading. Only last year, farmers here spoke of a biofuel gold rush, and they rejoiced as prices for ethanol and the corn used to produce it set records. But companies and farm cooperatives have built so many distilleries so quickly that the ethanol market is suddenly plagued by a glut, in part because the means to distribute it have not kept pace. The average national ethanol...

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...

The credit bubble is just starting to unwind, a credit-derivative insider says. And while U.S. borrowers are being blamed for the mess, they were really just pawns in a global game. Jon Markman Satyajit Das is laughing. It appears I have said something very funny, but I have no idea what it was. My only clue is that the laugh sounds somewhat pitying. One of the world's leading experts on credit derivatives (financial instruments that transfer credit risk from one party to another), Das is the author of a 4,200-page reference work on the subject, among a half-dozen other tomes....

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Retail sales saw a smaller-than-expected increase in August while retail sales excluding auto purchases fell in the month, the government reported Friday. The numbers are likely to fuel worries that American consumers are beginning to feel the pressure of the housing and credit market crunch. The Commerce Department reported that overall retail sales last month rose 0.3 percent. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a retail sales increase of 0.5 percent. However, July retail sales were revised higher to a 0.5 percent gain versus an initial reported gain of 0.3 percent. Stripping out volatile auto sales,...