Mark Vitner
Mark Vitner
building business consumer driven economy home shifting spending
We're shifting from an economy driven by consumer spending and home building to one driven by business investment.
activity baton birmingham dallas houston lots orleans taking
Lots of the activity that had been taking place in New Orleans is now taking place in Houston or Dallas or Atlanta, Birmingham or Baton Rouge,
bring changes force line pension system work
Many of these changes are long overdue and will bring the pension system in line with today's work force.
continue fed inflation interest paid prices raise running
The prices paid is still way up there, inflation is still running a little hot, enough that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates.
afford clearly cuts debate helped lead recovery sustained tax whether
The debate about tax cuts shouldn't be whether they helped or not -- they clearly helped taxpayers. The debate should be whether we can afford them and whether they can lead to a sustained recovery in economy.
deficit domestic exports gross improvement percent quarter shave third trade virtually
Exports are off in virtually every category. I don't see much near-term improvement for the trade deficit. The trade deficit will probably shave about 0.5 percent off of third quarter Gross Domestic Product.
accounting company markets pension surprising
But pension accounting is awfully complicated and it's an awfully big company, so it's not surprising the markets would get a little spooked by it.
believe continue deflation fairly goods odds outright pricing producers remain
While goods producers continue to have little to no pricing power, we still believe the odds of outright deflation remain fairly low.
combined employee growth health inability job prices raise reason selling single
When combined with the run-up in employee health-care costs, ... the inability to raise selling prices is the single most important reason that job growth has been lagging so much during this recovery.
add combined difficult employer existing forces gains health next work year
When combined with the anticipated double-digit gains in employer health-care costs, manufacturers may find it very difficult to add to their payrolls next year and may opt to work their existing work forces longer.
beer cars consumers core dollars fewer gasoline helping higher left money move net order prices result seems spent
While it seems counterintuitive, higher gasoline prices are actually helping restrain core inflation, ... With more money being spent for gasoline, consumers have fewer dollars left for discretionary purchases. The net result is that firms are slashing prices on everything from cars to beer in order to move product.
april folks interest pulled rates sales
With so many folks sensing that interest rates were rising, we probably had some sales pulled from April into March,
budget deficit federal government increases interest means rates tax
When the federal government increases the budget deficit it increases interest rates on everybody, so it is like a tax increase on borrowing. What that means is that mortgages will be more expensive.
across low places quite time
Unemployment is low in places that were and were not impacted by hurricanes. It has been low for quite some time all across the state.