Credit Crunch

This presentation was part of the World Economic Roundtable.  A summary of the Roundtable session can be read here.

This presentation was part of the World Economic Roundtable.  A summary of the Roundtable session can be read here.

At the last World Economic Roundtable, Michael Kumhof, Deputy Division Chief of the Modeling Division of the International Monetary Fund, and Raymond Torres, Director of the International Institute for Labour Studies of the International Labour Organization, came to discuss the relationship between inequality and financial crises. 

-- This is a guest post by Jay Pelosky, Principal, J2Z Advisory, LLC.  It was originally posted on the Huffington Post. --

Notwithstanding repeated attempts at monetary and fiscal stimulus since 2009, the United States remains mired in what is by far its worst economic slump since that of the 1930s.¹  More than 25 million working-age Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, the employment-to-population ratio lingers at an historic low of 58.3 percent,² business investment continues at historically weak levels, and consumption expenditure remains weighed down by massive private sector debt overhang left by the bursting of the housing and credit bubble a bit over three years ago.

Mark your calendars! Suffolk University’s Law School and the National Consumer Law Center are convening a Research Symposium on Credit Scoring and Credit Reporting in Boston, MA on June 6-7, 2012. The symposium will be invite-only and authors are invited to submit papers for consideration until November 15, 2011. See the attached pdf on the right under "Related Files" for more details about the submission process, possible topics, and formatting.

The House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing today on the availability of consumer credit. Their website either isn't cooperating or they aren't interested in actually webcasting this event, but I'm sure a video will be available before too long. In the meantime I'd highlight the presence of two of our close colleagues on the second panel, Melissa Koide from CFSI and Ida Rademacher from CFED are both testifying.

In putting forth his jobs program, President Obama faced a difficult dilemma: propose a program that could gain Republican support or a more ambitious program that would actually get the economy back on a path of recovery and job creation.

In today's Huffington Post, Bruce Jentleson, a policy wonk, and Jay Pelosky, a seasoned global investor, argue that the public and private sectors in the United States must cooperate if the country is to "revitalize domestically and compete globally."

The economic environment in America today is more dire than most of us have ever known. We are in the midst of an unemployment emergency, in essence a jobless recovery: notwithstanding recent marginal upticks in official U.S. jobs numbers, there will be no fundamental improvement in the unemployment picture unless major new national economic strategy initiatives are taken. Who will step up to drive them forward?