Executive Summary Understanding residential real estate values vary by location, nationally home prices have begun to decrease. On a real, inflation-adjusted basis, values are down close to 10% from their 2022 peak (first graph below). Many have stated home values have not decreased along with the rise [...]

Executive Summary In 1971 President Nixon took the U.S. off of the gold standard. Since then, the U.S., like most countries, has operated with an “unbacked” or “fiat” currency. Then, the U.S. deficits began to explode (see first graph). In a perfect world, surplus years would be [...]

Executive Summary Consumers drive our economy, and the Consumer Sentiment Index is a measure of how consumers are feeling. The April 2025 reading of 50.8 is the second lowest level on record (see first graph). As shown, that is lower than during the Technology Bubble burst and [...]

Executive Summary With last week’s drastic market decline, many have heard financial pundits proclaim the stock market is “oversold.” Briefly, oversold is the term used by technical analysts to describe a sell-off too far and too fast, based on various technical indicators, and thus likely to bounce. [...]

Executive Summary Estimates of growth for the first quarter of 2025 range from 0.3% to -2.8%. Consumer spending drives about 70% of economic growth, and consumers are covered in debt. The first graph shows that nominal total household debt has reached a high of $18 trillion, which [...]