Dr. Doom on the Fed

NYU Stern's Nouriel Roubeni takes a hard look at the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policy in a recent blog post.  Roubeni, aka Dr. Doom for calling the 2008 recession, thinks the Fed is creating another asset bubble that will end badly.  With interest rates at historic lows, investors are pumping more and more cash into risky assets: stocks, junk bonds, and emerging markets.  Of course there is a significant downside to increasing interest rates, a move that likely would decrease investment.  Roubeni thinks the Fed is likely to keep interest rates too low for too long, and we will see a repeat of the same movie we saw in 2006 and 2007 with the same sad ending. 

Not-so-cheery news from Dr. Doom

The December jobs report was encouraging.  The stock market has been doing well over the last 30 days.  Maybe the economy is finally turning the corner?

Not really, according to NYU Stern economist Nouriel Roubini, aka Dr. Doom.  He still sees consumers as being "income-challenged, wealth-challenged, and debt-constrained." On top of that, the federal fiscal stimulus is being dialed back and Europe is a ticking time bomb.