Rosenberg says the 25-year consumer credit expansion has come to an end and expect more frugality and don’t expect any quick rebound of American consumption, which accounts for 70% of the US economy and 17% of the world economy.

Interview of Hans Rosling, one of the founders of gapminder.org, on the rise of China. And he asks people not to ignore the speed and the magnitude of China’s unprecedented rising.

(sidenote: the interview should’ve taken at a better place)

There has been a lot of talk that the rebound of the commodities signal the coming economic recovery. But I was intrigued by this Bloomberg report that China may have been strategically piling up a lot of commodities at very cheap price as a result of the collapse of the commodities across the board. 

If that is the case, or assuming majority of these commodity imports are just for hoarding purpose, is the world economic recovery just a mirage?  An interesting question worth more research.

Read the report here.

Interview of William Poole and Brandeis’ Catherine Mann on why a 6% inflation, as advocated by some economists, will do more harm than good.

Adding to the discussion, I think moving to a higher inflation ‘target’ may also destroy the Fed’s hard-won reputation against inflation in Volcker era.

Monetizing debt looks seductive, but I hope the Fed will not go there.

Following my previous posts (here and here), here is another good discussion on how Class of 2009 cope with the toughest job market in years, from my favorite On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

Graduates at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement ceremonies in Philadelphia on Monday, May 18, 2009. (AP)

Click on the graph for the interactive map.

(source: AP)

Is the stimulus plan by Chinese government sustainable? Two sides of the story.

A nice discussion on American consumers and the implication of their changing behaviors on the economy.