Mark Zandi

The drop in home values caused by the mortgage crisis has resulted in one positive outcome: Prices have fallen so far that home affordability is back to pre-housing-boom levels, reports Moody's Analytics. But a quarter of households with a mortgage are underwater on their loan.

The tax cut compromise between Obama and the GOP is now being touted as a back-door stimulus plan, one that some economists predict will create or save 3.1 million jobs. Unfortunately, the model on which those forecasts are based makes some flawed assumptions.

Economists say the Obama administration's stimulus program actually saved the country's economy from plunging into the Great Depression 2.0. Yet that news will likely fail to sway voters who believe the current administration didn't do enough to support the economy.

Two polls released last week and one issued Monday set out to probe how investors view President Barack Obama's economic policies. But they provide contradictory readings. Which shows just how hard it is to get to the heart of such matters.

On the same day the Obama Administration floated a trial balloon to test the waters for extending TARP, the Congressional Oversight Panel heard from experts about TARP's effectiveness. While some of the experts did find aspects of TARP effective, they all testified to significant problems with TARP...

It's no secret we're poised for the Mother of All Jobless Recoveries. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke can't just spew that out, of course, but his remarks Monday -- and economists' estimates -- make the prognosis for the nation's unemployed morbidly grim. Unemployment is a lagging indicator,...