July 2011 Macro Pulse -- Signs and Blunders

Earlier this spring, religious broadcaster Harold Camping very publicly predicted that Jesus Christ would return for the faithful on May 21. Five months of fire, brimstone and plagues would follow that event, with millions of people dying each day, before the world ended on October 21. “I can tell you very candidly,” said Camping on May 23, “that when May 21 came and went, it was a very difficult time for me, a very difficult time.”

Forecasting, like prophecy, is a notoriously difficult endeavor, and Camping is hardly alone in making an embarrassing call. Quite a number of economic forecasts have been put forward in recent days, some ending up almost as wide of the mark as Camping’s. One of the most obvious involved….

Click here to read the entire July 2011 Macro Pulse recap.

The Macro Pulse blog is a commentary about recent economic developments that affect the forest products industry. That commentary provides context for our 24-month forecast, which is contained in the monthly Economic Outlook newsletter available through Forest2Market. The monthly Macro Pulse newsletter summarizes the previous 30 days of commentary available on this website.