The newest issue of The Economist has a special report on the U.S. economy. It has several components (checkout the links on the right-hand side of the page under "Related Items"). They are all very interesting, and each is fairly short. They touch on a variety of issues discussed in this and many other blogs over the past year or so: savings, institutional issues, international trade, and productivity, just to name a few.
Each article, in addition to laying out solid information, also raises some questions. For example, in both "The End of the Binge" and "Look after the Cents", I was struck by the fact that both authors seemed to overlook the fact that the baby-boomers were among the most-indulged generation in our history. To expect them to switch from spend-thrift to super-saver without a near catastrophe, in hind-sight, was perhaps optimistic - logical, but still optimistic.
Nevertheless, as many of you are preparing for spring break next week, these articles may be worth adding to your "to do" list.
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I'm not sure if I completely agree with the comment that the Baby Boomers were one of the most indulged generations. Even though I do understand that they lived through a golden age of economy in their youth, I can't help but think about the people who raised them. The baby boomers parents were Great Depression and World War Survivors, who had the mentality to save. If this is what the baby boomer generation was brought up seeing, I think many of them learned the same habits. But no matter what generation we're in, there will always be a majority of people who don't know how to save, so maybe dips in the economy are good life lessons for peoples wallets.
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