Tick Tock. Tick Tock.

Anyone who know me, knows I'm pretty bearish about the prospects for the U.S. economy in particular, and the world economy as a whole. I've been fairly convinced that economic growth in the US over the past 3-4 years has been pretty illusory, that it was only a matter of time before we saw a pretty serious correction. It's beginning to look as though the markets are taking the same view. See this article in the Times on the continued weakness of the US dollar. Or this article in the Journal [subscription req.]. The key takeaway is this:

"...the American economy will continue to weaken as economies in Europe and Asia grow stronger."

Next week we will get a pretty good picture [WSJ subscription req.] of where the American economy stands as a number of important reports dealing with housing, consumer spending, and inflation all come out. According to the article it's unlikely that all the reports point in the same direction, but who really knows.