No one should expect the value of their house to appreciate quickly - counting on your home to be a significant part of your retirement saving isn't a winning strategy - but it is reasonable to expect that prices generally will rise with at least the rate of inflation for some time to come.

There is a banking adage that if it's growing like a weed, it's a good chance that it's a weed.

They called me the sexiest economist in America, and that was years ago, when I had hair and body mass and my teeth were shiny.

Too-easy credit and millions of bad loans made during the U.S. housing bubble paved the way for the financial calamity and Great Recession that followed. Today, by contrast, credit is too tight. Mortgage loans are particularly hard to get, creating a problem for the housing market and the broader economy.

We need to get rid of the debt ceiling law. It's anachronistic and it's a problem.

I'm a registered Democrat.

Predicting recessions is indeed a dark art, but I think we are several years away from the next one.