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The White House on Monday downplayed the weeks long stock market sell-off, insisting that recent moves by business leaders suggest a brighter outlook for the U.S. economy. “We’re seeing a strong divergence between animal spirits of the stock market and what we’re actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders,” a White House official told reporters Monday afternoon. “The latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what’s in store for the economy in the medium to long term,” said the official, who was granted anonymity. In economics, the term “animal spirits” is used to describe situations where human...

We're $12.3 Trillion Poorer Than We Were Three Years Ago Calculated Risk Sep. 18, 2010, 6:19 PM The Federal Reserve released the Q2 2010 Flow of Funds report yesterday: Flow of Funds. According to the Fed, household net worth is now off $12.3 Trillion from the peak in 2007, but up $4.7 trillion from the trough in Q1 2009. This is the Households and Nonprofit net worth as a percent of GDP. This includes real estate and financial assets (stocks, bonds, pension reserves, deposits, etc) net of liabilities (mostly mortgages). Note that this does NOT include public debt obligations. Note...