Mark Zandi Quotes

"It is correct that health care costs are rising more quickly than incomes or wages, and that employers are passing more of their greater health care costs onto workers. But the increase in health care spending is not greater than the increase in incomes or wages."

"Ultimately, if you err on the side of being dovish it will only come with more pain from slower growth. The hit to growth would be more substantial from higher inflation than from interest rate hikes."

"Most likely the higher prices will slow growth, ... But there is the growing threat that we get a combination of slower growth and higher inflation."

"Investors are anticipating measurably slower profits growth. As a result, they're valuing companies that can produce good, solid earnings in an environment where earnings are going to be harder to come by."

"Investors are anticipating measurably slower profits growth, ... As a result, they're valuing companies that can produce good, solid earnings in an environment where earnings are going to be harder to come by."

"Gasoline, home heating prices, they are very volatile. Some months they're up, some months they're down. They depend on the vagaries of the weather ? It's warm, it's cold. The big decline I think will result in a big increase next month."

"Labor will start demanding bigger pay increases and will get them."

"Going forward it will be harder for them to maintain their spending - and their living standards."

"It would undermine the housing market, and could quickly result in credit problems that would affect the entire [US] financial system."

"The new chairman will want to show his inflation-fighting mettle. Early on, Chairman Greenspan was on the aggressive side to establish his credentials."

"I would attach a reasonably high probability that there will be a problem in the housing or finance markets that will test the next Fed chairman."

"The work force is growing not because employers are hiring a lot of new workers to staff expanding operations. The economy, in other words, is not being driven by businesses out there scouring for opportunity and revenue growth and pushing up wages as they compete to hire more workers."

"We have a sturdy job market."

"Part of the problem that all of tech is having with respect to jobs is they significantly over-hired during the boom times and to some degree the past few years has been payback for overaggressive hiring, ... But I think that process is largely over and we should see slightly better job growth in tech by this time next year."

"The consequences are more serious. Right now there is zero margin for error. Nothing can go wrong."

"If the job market doesn't kick into higher gear soon, consumers will lose confidence and rein in their spending, and the economy will in all likelihood fall back into recession unless we're very lucky."

"[At a minimum, this will hit consumers' pocketbooks—and perhaps their confidence. Before Katrina, Goldstein estimated that consumers' annual fuel bills this year would average about $250 more for gasoline and $400 more for home heating oil and natural gas than in 2004. Now he reckons those amounts will go up 30 percent to 75 percent. Costlier energy could adversely affect consumer spending, corporate profits and inflation—or all three.] We could be reaching a tipping point on consumer psychology, especially when people get their home heating bills, ... Those will be big."

"This is a significant economic event. This is much more substantial than any other natural disaster that the U.S. has experienced."

"It's almost certain that the Fed will be more upbeat about the economy."

"The economy is much improved over the past year but it's still underperforming,"