Hunt Easter Eggs?

When I (Scott) signed up to attend an EO event featuring an economist as the guest speaker on the above topic, I thought, why did I do that?

But I was pleasantly surprised to hear what Roger Arnold, chief economist for ALM Advisors, Inc., a Pasadena, Calif.-based institutional money management firm specializing in income portfolios, had to say.

There was the discouraging report about the failing economic markets around the world, including Japan, Europe and what lies ahead for the U.S. And the impact politics has on economics. And his discussion about the energy markets and their stranglehold on economics, which did lead to some, encouraging news.

Arnold said China’s current growth rate is unsustainable, and as transportation costs continue to increase, manufacturing will come back to the U.S. as “next generation manufacturing.”

He pointed out the ABC’s of macro economics:

1. As goes housing, so goes the U.S. economy
2. As goes the U.S. economy, so goes the world economy
3. What’s good for the U.S. is good for the world

And I think what I liked best about what he had to say was this: “Our current economic conditions are like an Easter egg hunt in the middle of a rattlesnake round-up. There are some treasures to be found, but you have to know there is risk.”

Indeed there is.