[lateStarter]

From the TimesOnLine:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he ominous assessments of the likely economic fate of the United States this year were led by Nouriel Roubini, the influential economic consultant.

“It’s not whether we have a soft landing or a hard landing in the US, but rather how hard a landing it is going to be,” he said.

“The recession is going to be deeper and lasting ... at least four quarters … It’s going to be a severe recession.”

Professor Roubini said that the Fed’s steep rate cut this week was “too little, too late” to stop a consumer-led slump in the US economy because American consumers were “shopped out”, laden down with heavy debts, and the financial system was under “severe stress”.

He said: “The Fed cannot prevent this recession from occurring.”

His bleak prognosis was echoed by Stephen Roach, the former chief economist at Morgan Stanley and now the investment bank’s chairman in Asia.

He agreed that with American households under financial pressure from debt burdens that were at record highs and the housing market slump, the US economy faced a sharp retreat by shoppers from the country’s Main Street shops and malls.

Mr Roach highlighted how Americans have been spending the equivalent each year of 72 per cent of US national income, far above the 67 per cent average over recent decades.

He gave warning that if spending patterns now fell back to historic levels in a year “it would be the mother of all recessions”.

It was likely that consumer spending would fall back in this way, although over several years, and this was a necessary adjustment from behaviour that had been unsustainable, he said:

“We have used the overvalued home like an ATM [cash] machine, and in doing that we have taken debt loads up to record highs," he said.

"None of that is sustainable. So we have got to take the excess out of consumption.”

He added that the problem was that Americans were saying, “We do not want to stop excessive consumption”, while the rest of the world was saying, “We want you to keep consuming to excess so that we can sell you things you do not need.”

“What kind of a world is this?” he asked.

[lateStarter]

Just found another one. How nauseating...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n the keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos delivered against a backdrop of financial turmoil, Rice made a rare foray into world economics and urged her audience of business leaders to have confidence in the U.S. economy.

"The U.S. economy is resilient, its structure is sound, and its long-term economic fundamentals are healthy.

The United States continues to welcome foreign investment and free trade," she said.

U.S. President George W. Bush had announced an outline of a "meaningful" fiscal growth package that boosted consumer spending and would support business investment this year, Rice said.

"My colleague, (Treasury Secretary) Hank Paulson, is leading our administration's efforts and working closely with the leaders of both parties in Congress to agree on a stimulus package that is swift, robust, broad-based, and temporary."

[FreakOil]

If the U.S. economy is so sound, then why the 75bp rate cut and stimulus package? Are these people capable of honesty? What does Condi mean by "resilient"?

"Listen folks, we went a little overboard with printing cash and handing it out, but we're still blueribbon consumers and we can out-shop all y'all muthafuckaz!"

[lateStarter]

More nonsense.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ASDAQ president Bob Greifeld expressed a rare note of optimism at the World Economic Forum, predicting a swift rally as the double effects of the monetary and fiscal boost lift spirits.

"I think the stimulus package that's been proposed by the President, to the extent that this is passed in rapid fashion by Congress, has the ability to forestall a recession," he said.

"At the moment, our business is doing better than it ever has because the volumes have been incredibly high. So, it's been very good for us," he said.