Anirban Basu Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc
Maryland Gained Momentum Late Last Year
For much of last year, Maryland’s economic performance was among the worst in the nation. For instance, year-over-year job growth in the state was in negative territory or close to zero for most of the summer. But like the balance of the nation, economic performance began to materially improve toward the tail end of the year. For the 12 months ending in November 2011, employment in the Free S...
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Focus Shifts from Growth to Inflation
Economy Now Enjoys Self-Sustaining Momentum
Coming into 2011, economists remained largely fixated on the inadequacy of demand for labor, housing, commercial real estate and other aspects of economic life. Economists have been busily pouring over reams of data regarding senior bank loan officer attitudes, consumer credit availability and other indicia of credit market thawing. The conventional wisdom has been that until banks begin lending more aggressively...
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Equity Markets and Economy Have Turned for the Better
Why Economic Activity may not Accelerate as Dramatically as Expected this Year
A combination of ongoing stimulus and recent economic momentum has induced many economists to ratchet up their 2011 forecasts and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Consumer spending has been rising, with retail and food services sales up 7.7 percent between November 2009 and November 2010. Auto sales have also been edging higher, including a...
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