Ken Mayland Quotations

We're grinding out some good increases here. We're producing more than we ever did and our capacity to produce industrial goods has increased.

If anything, this is a pause. My impression is that manufacturing is doing better than the flat reading suggests.

There is a great deal of fear and uncertainty out there. On the one hand it's sad to see peoples' lives disrupted and destroyed. On the other hand, people are worrying about how they are going to pay their gasoline bills and their home heating bills this winter. It makes for a pretty bleak view of the future.

I think we can take heart in the fact that even with all the worries -- about energy prices, higher interest rates and a slowing housing market -- confidence moved higher.

I think any number below 350,000 is associated with good job growth. I think we are definitely getting back on track for fundamentally good job generation.

It is inevitable that we will see a 1% or 1.5% decline in retail sales in an upcoming month as consumers become sated with new vehicles. ... This will not be an indication of any particular vulnerability.

We are not there yet. I think anything north of 83 percent, we could see price pressures.

We are definitely in the neighborhood of a neutral fed funds rate.

What the Commerce Department calls savings is something different from what ordinary people call savings. Commerce calls savings basically current income not spent, whereas individuals call their savings really their wealth, their accumulation of all past savings.

Fed members are worried about inflation. To raise the fears of inflation is in effect telling us they are going to continue to raise interest rates. Probably not just once more but repeatedly.

These results cast more cold water on the notion that if nondiscretionary spending on energy swells, it must crimp discretionary spending. It hasn't,

These results cast more cold water on the notion that if non-discretionary spending on energy swells, it must crimp discretionary spending. It hasn't.

Any long-term plan without an education component isn't a complete plan. We are seeing a brain drain.

Auto sales at these monstrous levels, these gargantuan levels, cannot be sustained. They will come back to normal levels.

This employment report neither screams tighten further nor shouts stop here. More information from other indicators is needed to determine the proper course of policy.

There will be a lot of rebuilding that is going to need to occur. These things do spur GDP growth.

As we get into the month of July, it is always a difficult and very volatile period for initial claims.

The most encouraging signs in the December report was that inventories declined in an absolute sense and at a faster rate. That implies a need for future restocking and that should be a good sign for January, February and March.

It's not just that the sales level was down but look at the difference between single-family and condos.

It's largely reflecting the time constraints on the part of shoppers. Doing all the test-driving and research at auto dealers means that they are not at malls and department stores and restaurants.

It's going to take more that a one-month decrease in consumer prices to knock the Fed off it rate-rise bandwagon.

Does the Fed stop raising rates after March? No. If these figures stay hot, they are going to keep raising.

Consumer spending in the fourth quarter is going to be low, and capital spending and inventory rebuilding is what takes up the slack. There are also increases in government purchases, a lot of that going for Gulf reconstruction.

Consumers are still willing to spend, even with the high energy prices, and capital investment is booming. By the second half of the year, we'll see the cumulative effect of interest- rate increases begin to bite and the economy slow.

Considering everything, I think the picture is a little bit brighter for the second quarter and some of our fears on the economy in context of this soft patch scare are at least slightly alleviated.

The consumer is still in there slugging away. There is no reason to think the consumer is going to pull back into some shell and go away.

I fully expect the economy to bounce back strongly in the first quarter. Auto sales will be stronger and inventories are still very lean, which points to a better first quarter.

If you liked October, you are going to love November, ... because you can anticipate some further softness in these core items like new cars. G.M. has already announced the next incentive program.

Holy Katrina! The economy weathered two major hurricanes and in spite of that showed accelerated growth. I think what this shows is that fundamentally the economy was and is in really good shape.