“That really is the trillion-dollar question. The markets are pricing in extremely negative news and the forecasters are talking about not-so-bad but not-as-positive news. I suppose the truth lies somewhere in between.”
“The American consumer feels good, he has the money, he's not worried about losing his job and yes, the stock market has fallen, but that's way down on his list of concerns. I think that growth is going to slow a bit but it's not going to fade into the sunset.”
“It really does come down to whether the economics profession is right or whether the markets are right, and I really think the markets are building in a huge amount of unnecessary fear. From my own viewpoint, I sit here and I go through the various sectors of the economy and I try to figure out where all this alleged weakness is going to materialize -- and I really can't.”
“It certainly shows that we're outspending our income, though the fact that the negative savings rate narrowed a bit is encouraging. Consumers have been borrowing to finance their purchases, but they've been borrowing off of increases in capital gains, which is not so bad.”
