Working for Westat

Release of U.S. consumer and producer price data, housing starts and leading economic indicators are among the economic highlights for the week of Nov. 17. Former Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Miskin and Wachovia Corp. senior economist Mark Vitner discuss inflation, while Harvard University's Martin Feldstein and the Peterson Institute's Fred Bergsten comment on the U.S. economy and the global financial crisis. The Federal Housing Finance Agency's James Lockhart and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steven Preston talk about the housing market. Bloomberg's Jerry Laird reports.

Release of U.S. consumer and producer price data, housing starts and leading economic indicators are among the economic highlights for the week of Nov. 17. Former Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Miskin and Wachovia Corp. senior economist Mark Vitner discuss inflation, while Harvard University's Martin Feldstein and the Peterson Institute's Fred Bergsten comment on the U.S. economy and the global financial crisis. The Federal Housing Finance Agency's James Lockhart and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steven Preston talk about the housing market. Bloomberg's Jerry Laird reports.

Ellen Zentner, a senior U.S. economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., talks with Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker and Kathleen Hays in New York about October U.S. retail sales data released today, and outlook for the economy, inflation and consumer spending. Retail sales fell 2.8 percent, the fourth consecutive drop and the biggest since records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said.

Linda Barrington, a labor economist at the Conference Board, and Ben Lichtenstein, president of Tradersaudio.com, talk with Bloomberg's Deidre Bolton about the U.S. initial jobless claims data released today, market reaction to the report and outlook for the labor market. First-time claims for unemployment insurance rose last week by 32,000 to a larger-than-forecast 516,000, the highest level since September 2001, when the economy was last in a recession.

Clay Lowery, the U.S. Treasury's assistant secretary for international affairs, talks with Bloomberg's Deirdre Bolton from Washington about free-market capitalism and the need for "more effective" regulation.

Bloomberg's Hamish Risk reports on the mounting job losses in the banking industry since the start of the credit crisis. Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, plans to eliminate more jobs at the securities unit and is considering a sale or a joint venture for part of its asset management division as financial markets worsen, three people familiar with the matter said.

Governors Charlie Crist of Florida and Mark Sanford of South Carolina talk with Bloomberg's Al Hunt about the future of the Republican Party. Bloomberg's Rich Miller and Doron Levin discuss the automobile industry and Margaret Carlson and Republican strategist Vin Weber offer their political views on the GOP and the career of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Roger Kubarych, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Global Research Inc., talks with Bloomberg's Charles Stein about the U.S. financial crisis, the government's efforts to help the economy and markets, and the outlook for the U.S. economy.