The State of the Economy: Are things Improving or Not?

A continued lack of cohesive message on the part of the White House is not playing well in the country, especially since it seems like the President and Vice President dont share the same views on how bad things are. Then, we examine the recent trends in the consumer spending, the financial system, and unemployment figures to analyze whether things are improving, or if the worst is yet to come.

Episode Segments:

The Week on Wall Street David has a review of the week's trading on Wall Street. Then, are the President and Vice President on the same economic page? A continued lack of cohesive message on the part of the White House is not playing well in the country. Colin Powell, a member of the all-important swing voters, reacts to the President's stimulus package.
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Insight into the Economy We dissect a recent interview with Ken Chenault, CEO of American Express, to get some insight into the trends in credit card purchases and consumer spending. Are we out of the woods yet? Then some of the bleakest words yet out of bond manager Bill Gross. The time frame seems to be getting farther away for economic recovery. Here, Gross reacts to recent unemployment numbers and sees a not so rosy future.
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The Economic Outlook Nassim Taleb is the author of the best selling book: Black Swans," but when he recently reflected on what it takes to de-leverage the financial system he was greeted with total disbelief. Last year's "in" message does not find a friendly audience on Wall Street. But we still think he's right. Then, Sam Stovall points to the problem of great changes in the investments sectors. He points out that the S&P Consumer Sector swung from strongly negative to strong positive on simply removing GM from the list of securities. Apples to apples, anyone? Finally a great quote from George Soros. For anyone who has tried to explain a complex concept this is a classic. You'll find his explanation of the unpredictable to be a delight.
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