by Calculated Risk on 9/15/2010 02:47:00 PM

From cartoonist Eric G. Lewis:

by Calculated Risk on 10/31/2009 11:59:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis www.EricGLewis.com (site coming soon)

by Calculated Risk on 10/30/2009 09:48:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis www.EricGLewis.com (site coming soon)

Actually the recession is not "officially" over until the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) determines the end of the recession.

It took the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Business Cycle Dating Committee over a year and half after the 2001 recession ended to call the trough of the cycle. And it took 21 months after the 1990-1991 recession ended for NBER to date the end of the recession.

The previous NBER announcements make it clear that NBER will not date the trough of the recession until certain economic indicators - like real GDP - are above the pre-recession levels. Any downturn before economic activity reaches pre-recession levels will probably be considered a continuation of the recession that started in December 2007.

Here is the NBER dating procedure.

by Calculated Risk on 10/12/2009 04:45:00 PM

From Larry Gonick's The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part 2, on page 248 ... (ht TDM)

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window.

Posted with permission from Larry Gonick. Thanks!

For more on Tanta, see the menu bar above ...

by Calculated Risk on 6/28/2009 02:34:00 PM

ht ShortCourage

by Calculated Risk on 6/13/2009 08:31:00 PM

Earlier I posted that Fitch expects "home prices will fall an additional 12.5% nationally and 36% in California" from Q1 2009.

Here is Eric's take ...

From cartoonist Eric G. Lewis. Click on cartoon for larger image in new window.

by Calculated Risk on 6/06/2009 06:36:00 PM

Earlier I posted a graph on unemployment by education level (and a table from the BLS on compensation by education level), see: Unemployment Rate and Level of Education

Education clearly matters, but does it pay? I think it does, but it depends on the cost of education and opportunity costs. Eric sent me this cartoon that captures the reaction of many graduates ...

From cartoonist Eric G. Lewis. Click on cartoon for larger image in new window.

by Calculated Risk on 3/07/2009 10:44:00 PM

Click on cartoon for full cartoon in new window.

From Dilbert.com

Best to all (ht Ilya).

by Calculated Risk on 1/05/2009 11:03:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis www.EricGLewis.com (site coming soon)

by Calculated Risk on 12/31/2008 02:30:00 PM

This cartoon is from 1992 ...

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis www.EricGLewis.com (site coming soon)

by Calculated Risk on 12/31/2008 11:30:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis www.EricGLewis.com (site coming soon)

I'll be home tomorrow! Happy New Year to All!

by Calculated Risk on 12/26/2008 01:05:00 PM

A late Christmas present ... Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Stu Rees Stu Rees Cartoons

by Calculated Risk on 12/23/2008 12:19:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis www.EricGLewis.com (site coming soon)

by Calculated Risk on 12/21/2008 05:56:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis

This works for mini-me too.

by Calculated Risk on 12/15/2008 06:15:00 PM

First another great cartoon! Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis

From Bloomberg: AIG Sells Mortgage-Backed Securities to Fed Vehicle

American International Group Inc. ... sold residential mortgage-backed securities with a face value of $39.3 billion to a facility funded by the Federal Reserve.

AIG will receive about $19.8 billion for the assets ...

Without some details, it is impossible to know if half off is a good price for the Fed.

Also, check out Eric's earlier cartoon on Bernanke and quantitative easing.

by Calculated Risk on 12/15/2008 10:06:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis

Eric says he was inspired by my post yesterday: What if they had a Fed Meeting ...

by Calculated Risk on 12/12/2008 10:20:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis

by Calculated Risk on 12/09/2008 09:01:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Cartoon from Eric G. Lewis

by Calculated Risk on 11/17/2008 12:43:00 AM

Click on cartoon for larger image in new window. Another great cartoon from Eric G. Lewis, a freelance cartoonist living in Orange County, CA.

For anyone who missed it, on Saturday I posted the following graph of non-business bankruptcies by quarter (see NY Times: The Debt Trap)

This graph shows the non-business bankruptcy filings per quarter since the beginning of 1996 through Q2 2008 (Source: USCourts.gov).

The spike in 2005 was because of people filing in advance of changes to the bankruptcy law.

According to the NY Times article "Downturn Drags More People Into Bankruptcy", filings were over 100 thousand in Oct 2008 and will probably be well over 300 thousand for Q4 2008 - so the graph is still trending up sharply.

Hence the smiling BK attorney ...

by Calculated Risk on 9/03/2008 11:00:00 PM

Here is another cartoon from Eric G. Lewis, a freelance cartoonist living in Orange County, CA. This one is a little different:


Click on cartoon for larger image in new window.