Free Republic

It's not stagflation, but what is it? Rising inflation, rising unemployment and slowing growth in the 1970s created stagflation, a phenomenon that led to double-digit interest rates in the early 1980s as the U.S. Federal Reserve tried to fix the damage made by loose monetary policies in the previous decade. Then as now, there was unrest in the Middle East and an oil shock that drove energy prices sharply higher. There were also steep U.S. budget deficits. The dollar was falling and commodity prices were rising. But economists say it is unlikely that the economy will slump into the painful...

Contrary to popular belief, the housing market hasn't cooled off that much. In fact, residential real estate prices continue to soar in a number of key metropolitan areas, according to a new study released this week. That's a good thing, right? Actually, no–because the froth building in housing prices raises the distinct possibility of significant corrections to come in many of those regions. In the first quarter, home prices nationwide rose an additional 7.3 percent, according to a joint study by the financial services firm National City Corp. and the research firm Global Insight. As a result, there are now...

Herb Weisbaum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • Profile • E-mail There’s no denying it any longer. In most parts of the country, the sizzling house market has cooled. The latest numbers tell the story: Sales of existing homes are expected to drop 6.8 percent this year. The people who make their living selling homes prefer to put a more positive spin on these numbers. They say the marketplace is just going back to normal. “It’s not normal to have 15 offers on a property,” says Jim Warkentin, a Realtor in McLean, Va. “That’s just crazy.” For the most part, those crazy days are...

“It feels like a solution in search of a problem,” says Pete Bonnikson, vice president of mortgage operations for E-LOAN, describing the latest product to hit the home mortgage market: The 50-year mortgage. Reportedly the problem this hyperextended loan addresses is affordability for homebuyers in high-cost areas. By stretching the repayment calculation over 50 years, so the argument goes, monthly payments fall by enough that borrowers unable to qualify for any of the other dozens of mortgage options can get a loan. For certified financial planners like Nancy Flint-Budde in Salem, N.Y., it is a tossup as to whether helping...