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Soaring gasoline prices have not only affected drivers, but it's have been rippling throughout the economy. What do you see happening down the road?

"We're starting to see the price of food and energy trickle down into the core inflation numbers. They've gone up consistently over the last two years and the core level has risen at an over 3 percent annualized rate. Gasoline, jet fuel, natural gas and other products are having an impact on everyone, especially the individual consumer's pocket book."

Could those higher oil prices lead to bankruptcies? Already, American Airlines has added extra baggage fees, which is becoming an industry trend to help offset costs.

"This could lead to more merger activity and to even higher prices for air travel. Ticket prices, baggage and other fees and revenues are being done because airlines are in a pinch. Most airlines have been dealing with this the last five years. The price of jet fuel is nearly an uncontrollable factor. And it's not likely to go down in the near future. … The higher rates also will depend on what demands will be made on the market. The airlines have to do this to avoid bankruptcy. It helps them, but from the perspective of passengers, service has been deteriorating, delays have been increasing and there's general dissatisfaction."

On Friday, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said the home market showed its sharpest decline in prices in 17 years. When do you see the housing market recovering?

"We had a significant housing bubble that has now burst. And that's led to a significant supply of homes on the market, and we came into this with many new homes being constructed. Couple that with a weakened consumer economy, and this shows a long-term problem. We don't see significant relief until 2009 -- and then it could be a slow recovery throughout the next year."

What do you think of the sell-off on the stock market last week?

"The sell-off continued Friday and was driven by a couple of factors. Most of the positive news driving the market over the last month has been taken into consideration. This week, the market was focused on the new highs of oil prices, weakness in housing data that was released, and some cautionary comments by Fed governors regarding the slowness in the economy. We don't believe this will cause a sustained market decline. "

What should we look for during this Memorial Day holiday week?

"Things will be a little slower with the holiday. The data coming out this week will be consumer confidence on Tuesday, and new home sales and durable goods by midweek. But one of the most important will be the gross domestic product numbers on Thursday. They've issued preliminary numbers a few weeks ago, but they adjusted them and they will show a much more realistic measure on how the economy performed during the first quarter."