The US federal budget is on an unsustainable path…but not for the reasons that most people think.

First, the good news: we estimate that real GDP grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter.

We wrote last week about the soft landing that markets now seem to expect.

Not long after Friday’s Employment Report multiple analysts and commentators were calling it a “goldilocks” report, by which they meant it showed that the economy was neither “too hot” nor “too cold,” but instead, “just right.”

The housing sector was a huge and early beneficiary of the super-loose monetary policy of 2020-21.

Last week Zero Hedge achieved the impossible, they managed to make a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve go viral.

What a difference a year makes!

The Fed downshifted to smaller rate hikes but isn’t close to done.

Our position on the economy has been that the US is headed for a recession, but we’re not quite there yet.

It’s that special time of the year, and we will all hear and read a great deal about Black Friday, Thanksgiving Weekend, and Cyber Monday during the next few days. Many pundits are going to make sweeping conclusions about the economy based on these very limited reports.

We will forever believe that locking down the economy for COVID-19 was a massive mistake. There is virtually no evidence that death rates were lowered by government mandates and lockdowns.

Election day is tomorrow and will bring results for key Senate, House, and Governors races from all around the country, plus local legislative races and more.

The Federal Reserve plans to keep raising rates at future meetings, but at a slower pace than it has for the last four meetings.

After nearly three years of the economic and financial market distortion due to COVID lockdowns, money printing, and massive government borrowing, some of these distortions are subsiding

Most investors we talk to think the US is already in a recession or that a recession will start by the end of 2022. We think they’re wrong on both counts.

The Nobel Prize in Economics was recently awarded to former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as well as professors Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig, for their work on understanding the role banks play in the economy, especially during a financial crisis.

Recent economic reports further undermine the politically-motivated argument from earlier this year that the US was already in a recession.

We are not “recession deniers,” we just don’t think one has started yet.

We had been bullish on stocks all the way back to March 2009, when mark-to market accounting was fixed and the Financial Panic started to recede

The Federal Reserve once again voted unanimously to raise rates by three-quarters of a percentage point - 75 basis points (bps) - today, bringing the target for the federal funds rate to 3.00 – 3.25%, and signaled expectations for continued hikes ahead.

We know many people think we are beating a dead horse, but this horse is far from dead.

If you’re still wondering how much the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates next week, you should wonder no more: the Fed is almost certainly going to raise rates by three-quarters of a percentage point (75 basis points), just like it did back in both June and July.

The housing sector surged during COVID in large part due to loose money.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,000 points on Friday, caused apparently by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s attempt to use a brief speech to channel the ghost of Paul Volcker.

One thing we must remember when looking at economic data, is that everything is distorted.

We live in unprecedented times.

With less than three months left before the 2022 mid-term elections, it is officially silly season when it comes to interpreting economic reports.

With the Senate having passed a budget plan yesterday with only Democratic votes as well as a tie broken by Vice President Harris, it is only a matter of time before President Biden signs the first significant tax hike since the “Fiscal Cliff” tax hike in early 2013.

The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point (75 basis points) on Wednesday.

To many investors, this week’s GDP report is more important than usual.

If you follow the financial press, the conventional wisdom has come to the simple conclusion that the way to fight inflation is raising interest rates. Unfortunately, this is just not true.

How many times have you heard that the US dollar will collapse because of Fed and fiscal policy?

Some investors think the US is already in a recession. As we wrote two weeks ago and as recent data have confirmed, we don’t think that’s the case.

As we celebrate 246 years of national independence, our country is now more than two years into an economic recovery from the two-month COVID Lockdown Depression.

We've told people to watch the M2 measure of money in order to understand whether inflation will cool down or heat up.

Real GDP declined at a 1.5% annual rate in the first quarter and, as of Friday, the Atlanta Fed's "GDP Now" model projects zero growth in Q2.

We became bullish about stocks once mark-to market accounting was fixed in March 2009.

The Federal Reserve raised rates by three-quarters of a percentage point (75 basis points) today, the most at any meeting since 1994 and exactly the move Chairman Jerome Powell was dismissive about in early May after the last meeting.

Investors are worried.

All eyes will be on the results of the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday when it announces how much it's going to raise short-term rates, its new projections for the economy and short-term rates for the next few years, as well as Chairman Powell's press conference.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon caused a stir lately when he talked about a "hurricane" hitting the US economy.

We are now about five months away from the mid-term elections that will decide who controls the Senate and House of Representatives for the next two years.

At least a couple of major retailer stocks got clobbered last week as investors sold on reports that they missed earnings estimates.

The consensus among economists puts the odds of a recession starting sometime in the next year at 30%, according to Bloomberg's most recent survey.

At the end of 2021, we set out our projections for the stock market in 2022: 5,250 for the S&P 500 and 40,000 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

"Transitory" is out, "expeditious" is in.

Ultimately, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, as the late great economist Milton Friedman used to say.

No one can say that the Federal Reserve can't do the impossible.

Real GDP, in the US, grew 5.5% in 2021, the fastest growth for any calendar year since the Reagan Boom in the mid-1980s.

When interest rates go up, many analysts start to worry about recessions.