Outlook for the U.S. Economy: Distilling the Credit Crisis and Lessons from Japan Podcast

There is no shortage of culprits to go around when searching for contributors to today’s mired U.S. financial markets, including lax regulators, conflicted credit agencies, and mortgage brokers and banks smitten with the rewards of securitization. Greed, the absence of due diligence and the notion that home values would forever rise have combined to strip the U.S. financial markets of much-needed liquidity and decades of trust. Comparisons of the current U.S. crisis to Japan’s 1990s post-bubble woes abound. Like Japan, initially mild forecasts in the U.S. have now turned darker. Many economists are citing a new wave of home foreclosures on the horizon that will lead to stagnant or negative growth, with rising unemployment and inflation well into 2009. Our experts discuss the root causes of the current financial market turmoil and offer comparative analysis of and lessons learned from Japan’s “lost-decade,” as well as assessments of the future of the U.S. and global economies.

Speakers:
Richard Katz, Editor-in-Chief, The Oriental Economist Report
Christopher Mayer, Senior Vice Dean and Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate, Finance & Economics Division; Research Director, Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate, Columbia Business School
Ann Rutledge, Founding Principal, R&R Consulting

Moderator: Vincent Truglia, Managing Director of Research, NewOak Capital LLC