On 8/9/07, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > WHAT DID CONSUMERS BUY WITH THEIR HOME-EQUITY? > > By Reuters | 08 Aug 2007 | 01:04 PM ET > ........................ > Not everyone on Wall Street agrees. Bear Stearns economist David > Malpass wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial this week that houses > "are not the be-all and end-all of the economy. Jobs matter more." > > In a sign of how fiercely this debate rages, Malpass immediately drew > fire from Barry Ritholtz, market analyst at Ritholtz Research and > Analytics, who called the piece "idiotically child-like in its bad > facts and poor arguments."
All these analyses seem so transparently self-serving that it is hard to take any of them seriously. Bernanke, obviously wants everyone to think that things are not so bad because of course the one thing he is terrified about is a panic. The Bear Stearns guy predictably says that housing is not so important. I bet this Ritholtz firm has some housing-related short positions. Strangely Alan Greenspan may the one person who has some credibility on this because he has no longer has reason to hide or spin anything. -raghu.
