Grim numbers do not bode well for economic outlook

With Wall Street indexes down for a third straight day yesterday and poor economic reports in recent weeks, the outlook for global economies does not look bright.

On Thursday, the Dow was down 58.88 points; Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down 5.86 points; and Nasdaq dropped 18.36 points. More bad news came earlier this month when filings for jobless benefits hit their highest mark in nearly six months.

Duke University economist Mike Munger helps us decipher what this means for our economic future. In Munger’s opinion, the discouraging reports can be summed up with, “Simple story: it’s 1936 again in America.”