Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.

The top of today's reading list has an Yves Smith review of foreclosure settlement fiascos........ and the last article is an 18-month old debate between Global Economic Intersection contributors L. Randall Wray and James D. Hamilton about the size (cost) of the financial system bailout.

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Summary of forecaster's outlook follows.

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Current ECRI WLI Growth Index

Please read The U.S. Business Cycle in the Context of the Yo-Yo Years which is an update on ECRI's recession call. The readings improved again this week - and the current levels of the WLI are still within an improvement channel.

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by Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke, At the Housing Policy Executive Council, Washington, D.C.

Since joining the Board in 2008 amid a crisis centered on mortgage lending, I have focused much of my attention on housing and mortgage markets, issues surrounding foreclosures, and neighborhood stabilization. In March of this year, I laid out my thoughts on current conditions in the housing and mortgage markets in a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association.[1] Today I will summarize and update that information with a focus on mortgage credit conditions. Before I proceed, I should note that the views I express are my own and not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Board of Governors or the Federal Open Market Committee.

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Econintersect:  Former IMF economist Elliott Morss, who contributes to Global Economic Intersection weekly, has had a feature article published by the leading German news provider Deutsche Welle.  The article, Europe vs. the IMF:  Austerity vs growth appeared Wednesday, 08 May 2013.  The article highlights the special problems presented to the Eurozone because it's countries are individually sovereign fiscally but have each surrendered monetary sovereignty to the EU-17.

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