Edward Leamer Quotations

I think it's a very good thing. I never understood why (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan was encouraging people to go into short-term mortgages, because of the risk they entailed.

People moan and groan, but they still go to the pump and fill up their big SUVs.

Some jobs in manufacturing might well disappear as a result of weakness in housing, but this may be offset by jobs brought home or not lost to foreign competition.

We actually think that we're being somewhat optimistic in saying we don't see it spreading beyond that. There will be weakness in retail, for sure, and in manufacturing. But not widespread losses.

We expect housing to start slowing the economy this quarter or the next.

Currently we have construction job levels reaching toward the ceiling but manufacturing jobs are virtually at the floor. With hardly any room to fall further, it doesn't seem likely that problems in housing and in construction will spread to manufacturing this time.

If you factor in a slowing economy the number would be larger. The ultimate decider of whether you can make your mortgage payment or not is your job.