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By Kevin Chambers

Part three of our series, exploring our world since the 2008 crisis, we look at the landscape of debt in the US. After 2008, the amount of debt held by consumers in the US fell dramatically. Surprisingly, it has also stayed low.  Total debt has started to rise again, mostly as people start to take on mortgages again after the crisis.

household debt

By Kevin Chambers

The second chapter of this blog series, exploring our world since the 2008 crisis, focuses on the US economy. Financial markets have been gangbusters, but the stock market isn’t always reflective of the overall health of the economy.

By Kevin Chambers

By Kevin Chambers

September 15^th, 2008, was the day that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. It is still the largest bankruptcy filing in US History. This event was one of the triggers that pushed the US stock market into collapse. Now, 10 years out, we thought it would help to look back at how things have gone since then.

By Kevin Chambers

I’ve been traveling around the state this year giving talks on Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies. At a recent talk with the City Club of McMinnville, an audience member questioned: “Could Yamhill County have their own cryptocurrency?”

Kevin explores if the rise in housing prices indicates a growing bubble in the housing market. What lead to the crash in 2008, and what is different this time around? Click here to read the complete paper.

By Kevin Chambers

Anyone else think of the 1982 song “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by the Clash? Although the traditional American Dream is to own a home, sometimes it makes more financial sense to keep your landlord and stay in a rental. But how do you know?

It's that time again.

By Kevin Chambers

Recently the financial news has been dominated by Elon Musk and Tesla. One of Musk’s biggest gripes about his company is the number of investors who are shorting it. Tesla is the most shorted stock in the history of the US Stock Exchange. So, I thought it would be a good time to remind all of us what a short sale is and how it works.

By Kevin Chambers

In Part One of Why Economists Hate Tariffs, we explained how the economic theory of comparative advantage skews an economist's opinion of tariffs simply because tariffs make international trade more expensive for all countries. Today, let's explore why economists believe that tariffs have a larger impact on international trade in today's global economy.