Janet Yellen vs. Jerome Powell, a Recession Looms and Millennials Messed Up Everything

Recession chatter has returned on Wall Street as markets deal with the blow of several bank failures and the potential economic aftermath. The likelihood of a U.S. recession is back on the rise for the first time since November 2022, according to the latest Bank of America fund manager survey released on Tuesday. About 42% of fund managers surveyed see a recession happening within the next 12 months, up from 24% in February. While fund managers aren't in universal agreement on a recession, they are almost in unison on the economy being stagnant over the next 12 months.

In this episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied examine this news and determine the effect it will have on the economy as a whole.

They discuss data released by the Census Bureau, stating that housing starts, a measure of new home construction, rose by 9.8% in February from January, though that’s still down 18.4% from a year ago. Starts in January rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.450 million, up from the revised January estimate of 1.321 million.

Chris and Saied look at news that the Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled fraud and unregistered securities charges against crypto founder and Grenadian diplomat Justin Sun, alongside separate violations against the celebrity backers of his Tronix and BitTorrent crypto assets, which included Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan and Soulja Boy.

They also offer some thoughts on a review by Bloomberg News indicating that, in terms of layoffs, 2023 had the the worst start to a year since 2009, with nearly 52,000 jobs lost in one week in January alone. Since Oct. 1, executives across sectors have sacked almost half a million employees around the world.

Join Chris and Saied for this fascinating and informative conversation.

Enjoy!

What You’ll Learn in this Show:

Why small regional banks really help small to midsize businesses.
The importance of understanding that the FOMC’s economic projections are not linear.
The difference between the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Agency.
The importance of getting permits before you apply for a construction loan.
And so much more...

Resources:

"Yellen: U.S. Could Intervene Again to Protect Banking System" (video from The Wall Street Journal)

"Home Prices Fell in February for First Time in 11 Years" (article from The Wall Street Journal)

"Global layoffs stretch far beyond big tech" (Bloomberg Business via Instagram)

"‘Already past the point of no return’: JPMorgan says the U.S. is probably headed for a recession as economic ‘engines are about to turn off’" (article from Fortune)

"Gen Z is racking up credit card debt faster than any other generation" (Businessweek via Instagram)

"BofA: 'Recession fears are up in March'" (article from Yahoo! Finance)

"Goldman boosts US recession odds after slashing GDP forecast" (article from Yahoo! Finance)

"U.S. SEC threatens to sue Coinbase over some crypto products" (article from Reuters)

"Fed Raises Rates but Nods to Greater Uncertainty After Banking Stress" (article from The Wall Street Journal)

"Home sales spike 14.5% in February as the median price drops for the first time in over a decade" (article from CNBC)

"US home building surged in February" (article from CNN)