Mortgage & Loan: Focused Like A Lazear

White House economic shill advisor Edward Lazear spoke before the Senate Budget Committee today on the current state of the economy. A recap is available at MarketWatch,and you can read his full testimony here.

The upshot? I'll quote it in its entirety:

A soft spot in the economy is the housing market. We are now experiencing an
anticipated slowdown in residential construction and in the pace of housing price increases, and
it appears that the housing slowdown will be a significant drag on third quarter growth. It is
important to note, however, that the weakness in the housing sector does not seem to be
spreading to other sectors of the economy, that other areas of the economy that have not shown
much vibrancy, such as non-residential construction are now picking up, and that recent
consumer surveys indicate improving expectations.

So this, then, would explain the continually gloomy outlook that's affecting our entire GDP? Or that mortgage rates are dropping faster and faster to compensate?

Calculated Risk has a great set of charts and graphs illustrating the likelihood of a recession and the potential job losses that could result. It really IS the economy, stupid, and tools like Lazear need to pay attention, lest they be blinded by the light.

Posted at September 28, 2006 06:03 PM

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White House economic shill advisor Edward Lazear spoke before the Senate Budget Committee today on the current state of the economy. A recap is available at MarketWatch,and you can read his full testimony here. The upshot? I'll quote it in its entirety: A soft spot in the economy is the housing market. We are now experiencing an anticipated slowdown in residential construction and in the pace of housing price increases, and it appears that the housing slowdown will be a significant drag on third quarter growth. It is important to note, however, that the weakness in the housing sector does not seem to be spreading to other sectors of the economy, that other areas of the economy that have not shown much vibrancy, such as non-residential construction are now picking up, and that recent consumer surveys indicate improving expectations. So this, then, would explain the continually gloomy outlook that's affecting our entire GDP? Or that mortgage rates are dropping faster and faster to compensate? Calculated Risk has a great set of charts and graphs illustrating the likelihood of a recession and the potential job losses that could result. It really IS the economy, stupid, and tools like Lazear need to pay attention, lest they be blinded by the light.