Author: John Mason

One piece of economic information that I have focused on over the past 18 months has been the Federal Reserve’s figures on capacity utilization of the industrial sector of the United States. The story that can be read from this...

For over nine months I have been expressing my view about the problems being faced by many of the small domestically chartered banks in the United States. Very little has been forthcoming from public officials about the problems...

Commercial bank profits are OK. Commercial bank lending is practically nil.The prognosis for the future? If commercial bank lending does not pick up, commercial bank profits will fall.When will commercial bank lending pick up?...

“Bernanke calls the outlook ‘unusually uncertain” and notes the central bank is prepared to take additional action if needed. His economic outlook sees lower than expected inflation and at best a slow pace of falling...

I have been concerned for some time about the changing nature of the United States economy and the structure of the United States labor market. There seems to be a tremendous mis-match between the two and this portends an...

The commercial banking industry was still contracting through June. Year-over-year, that is from June 2009 to June 2010, total assets in the United States banking sector dropped by a little more than 1.5%, with the assets of...

When I was studying economics, the idea that an economy might face a “liquidity trap” seemed absurd. Basically, the concept of the liquidity trap was that the monetary authorities could not “push on a string”. In other words,...

Well, the final nail is being hammered into the coffin. The Savings and Loan industry is going to be “legacy”…and, rightfully so.The New York Times writes the obituary: “Financial Bill to Close Regulator of Fading Industry,”...