• Stan Liebowitz, PhD., author of Anatomy of A Train Wreck & Director for the Analysis of Property Rights and Settlement
• Richard Bitner, author of Confessions of a Subprime Lender and Associate Publisher for Housing Wire Magazine
• Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr., Senior Fellow Cato Institute
• Ira Silver, PhD., Texas Christian University, Neeley School of Business

The 2009 economy is breaking records and not necessarily the ones we’d like it to break. As we navigate the recession, McCuistion and the program panelists discuss the extremity of the problem, the effectiveness of government policies and the future.

We are in what could be described as a post war recession.  People are feeling the crunch of increased debt, and so they are working to get out of debt. This causes a strain on the housing market and other markets that rely on acquired debt in order to stay afloat.

In September 2008 the recession officially became a serious issue.  However, on a percentage basis, the 1982 recession actually resulted in a greater job loss than what the American market has experienced thus far.  And although the stock market has had its failings, the decline may not be  as bad as some may think.   In the United States the market generally goes up each  year  and 2008 was not much different.  In 2009  growth will likely drop 1-1.5% .

Housing is one critical component of the recession, because most housing markets are imbalanced from an inventory perspective.  In order for the market to improve, there  needs to be a general belief that the market has hit rock bottom. However, as public policy  pushes towards foreclosure moratoriums, it will likely be 3-4 years before this happens.

The panelists go on to explain the meltdown of the mortgage industry and what led to the 2009 economy and what it will take to move forward. Citing moral hazards, reckless lending, investing and negative interest rates that caused the boom cycle, they  reassure viewers that pessimists are usually wrong.

Also covered during this television segment are the positive and negative sides of the Fed’s decision to expand the money supply,  changing  interest rates, and each panelist’s predictions of the 2009 economy as well projections for the future state of the economy.

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02.15.09 – 1723

• Stan Liebowitz, PhD., author of Anatomy of A Train Wreck & Director for the Analysis of Property Rights and Settlement
• Richard Bitner, author of Confessions of a Subprime Lender and Associate Publisher for Housing Wire Magazine
• Robert Higgs, author of Crisis and Leviathan and Senior Fellow in Political Economy at The Independent Institute

Unemployment is rising, stocks have fallen 35%, every area of industry is challenged, credit is tight, foreclosures are on the rise, and no-one admits responsibility. This program explores the greed, fraud and incompetence in all areas of business and government. It asks if the remedies being applied by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System (Fed) are the right ones and if, in fact, those in charge have any idea what they are doing to America’s economic future.

Experts point toward the mortgage industry and Wall Street as the source of the recession we’re in today and explain how the recession actually  started. Approximately 30-40 years ago getting a loan consisted of one loan recipient going to his or her local bank and completing the entire transaction through that one bank.  With the introduction and growth of securitization, which in itself isn’t a bad thing, a new era of issues were created.

In the early 1990s in an effort to get more Americans into homes, the Fed lowered lending standards to increase home ownership.  People no longer had to have verifiable income, strong credit history, and more.  This caused the demand for houses to go up and the prices of those houses increased right along with it. The panelists further explain the types of decisions and misinformation that took place during this time that led to the mishandling of the situation.

The experts   cover the role  investment banks have played, look critically at Wall Street and rating agencies, and examine the issues surrounding  both entities  decisions and actions.

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02.08.09 – 1722