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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Oct. 19, 2007 / 7 Mar-Cheshvan 5768

The yellow-light economy

By Mort Zuckerman

Mort Zuckerman
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Who could have imagined that the stock market would hit record highs so soon after the credit crunch and the housing collapse? Or that the credit markets would already have begun opening up again, albeit with a much greater spread than in June between interest on private debt and interest on treasuries?


So where are we in the tug of war between bulls and bears?


The August panic seems like ancient history. It originated in the contagious fear that the pyramid of securities based on subprime mortgages of unknowable worth was wobbly and might collapse. The Federal Reserve came to the rescue by pumping more money into the banking system and lowering interest rates. They judged that the risk of an economic slowdown and a full-blown credit crisis was greater than the risk of inflation. This was the right assessment. The price index for personal consumption expenditures, or PCE — the inflation gauge the Federal Reserve Board watches most closely — rose a mere 1.8 percent in August when compared with a year earlier, well within the 2 percent comfort zone that the Fed looks for and the lowest PCE inflation rate since 2004. Prospects for restraining inflation are good because housing costs, which include rent and make up the biggest component of the inflation index, continue to decline.


The bears, looking at the glass half empty, see corporate America concerned by a still-real risk of contraction. The credit squeeze is eased, but not yet over. In the next 60 days, nearly $1 trillion of commercial paper will have to be rolled over, and nobody is quite sure where the money to refinance it will come from. If business can't access working capital for its daily needs, firms will have to shrink their operations. The business concern over the economy has also slowed payroll growth.


Consumer woes. Households, too, face a series of challenges: Adjustable mortgage rates are likely to cost more over the next 12 months, accelerating the rate of foreclosures; the job market will soften; consumer confidence is in for a decline, particularly as people confront diminished equity in their homes. The number of existing homes for sale at the beginning of October — more than 4.5 million — is twice as many as 2½ years ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. This means owners will have to ask for lower prices before the slump can end, entailing some reduction in all home values. House sales and prices will clearly have a few more quarters of sharp contraction.


The bulls, seeing a glass half full, focus on impressive growth in other sectors: high business profits; growing nonresidential construction; expanding business fixed investments; and soaring exports benefiting from the lower dollar. Inventories are low, and balance sheets are strong. The companies in the S&P 500 alone have $2.8 trillion in cash balances, and returns on equity are still running in the high teens. The corporate world is not coming to an end.


Neither is the consumer, but he's got a lot less in his pocket. The National Retail Federation is predicting the lowest growth in five years in retail store spending in November and December. Still, that's a rise of 4 percent. The bullish point is that in the past five years, household net worth rose $18.5 trillion. Some 80 percent of that came directly from stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance policies. The stock market is reaching new highs, so we can expect more spending by the top 20 percent of American earners who own most of the stock. They have a disproportionate influence on the direction of the economy: They spend more in a given year than the bottom three quintiles combined.


So the bears and the bulls are in rough balance. Most accept that the likeliest best outcome is that we will have a couple of quarters of subdued growth and then see a gradual strengthening next year, especially if the housing correction has worked through and doesn't unduly depress consumer spending.


The big unknown — the fulcrum, maybe — is that there is perhaps $500 trillion in outstanding derivatives contracts, some of them in instruments so complex that investor after investor has admitted to not being able to know the value of those newfangled assets. In other words, it will be several more months before the bear-bull tug of war can be resolved.


The Fed was right to be pre-emptive in showing that it will take powerful steps to maintain our economic momentum. The fear that replaced greed in the financial markets has in turn been replaced by caution. But anxiety about recession still lurks. The Fed must be on its toes, ready to move decisively again should the trend lines turn down and signal a broader weakening in output and employment.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief and publisher of U.S. News and World Report. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

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