Reuters despises the United States and President Bush.
The article is written with a lead from a somewhat mainstream data point. The Reuters then seeks out sources to confirm their notions of subverting the US economy. There is not indication after the first two paragraphs that HSBC is the source of the info-- yet Reuters tries to create this impression.
Who are these "economists"?
They are partisan hacks in my estimation.
See post 20. They were predicting a recession and housing bubble to burst back in July 2004. Boy, did they nail it.