An ongoing snapshot of the national and world ecomony. Designed for the busy professional who requires more than soundbites and taglines, but does not have time to read it all.
"For those who like visual representation, like me, this graphic from the Washington Post may help you understand the architecture of the stimulus bill (Click here for the full graphic)."
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Home resales in the U.S. dropped in October and prices fell by the most on record, signaling a deepening housing recession going into 2009.
Purchases of existing homes slid to an annual rate of 4.98 million, lower than forecast, a National Association of Realtors report showed in Washington. The median price fell 11.3 percent from a year earlier, the most since the group began collecting data in 1968.
Today’s figures indicate a renewed downturn in an industry that showed signs of stabilizing this year, hurt by the credit squeeze and record mortgage foreclosures. That may raise pressure on President-elect Barack Obama to aid homeowners and potential buyers as he assembles a record stimulus package.
“Home sales will continue to fall over the next few months because of tightening credit conditions,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, which had the closest estimate for the sales level among 67 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. “Underlying demand appears very weak” because “many sales are coming from cheap prices on foreclosed properties,” he added."
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeWhat we can do now, ....said the Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein, co-author of “The Broken Branch,” is “ask President Bush to appoint Tim Geithner, Barack Obama’s proposed Treasury secretary, immediately.” Make him a Bush appointment and let him take over next week. This is not a knock on Hank Paulson. It’s simply that we can’t afford two months of transition where the markets don’t know who is in charge or where we’re going. At the same time, Congress should remain in permanent session to pass any needed legislation.
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Image by Getty Images via DaylifeWhat we can do now, ....said the Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein, co-author of “The Broken Branch,” is “ask President Bush to appoint Tim Geithner, Barack Obama’s proposed Treasury secretary, immediately.” Make him a Bush appointment and let him take over next week. This is not a knock on Hank Paulson. It’s simply that we can’t afford two months of transition where the markets don’t know who is in charge or where we’re going. At the same time, Congress should remain in permanent session to pass any needed legislation.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vWcFmwrwihNnj-Rn0838LiRqA_5ZWYccumWawMu9tBlL1fpHDde1DBzbgcPJRT4OnWVkwjoQ3z2O5sigdSYJ2xaVLsPtnN4gWFnx30yo06yoP_GKy14ARzffyhqWs68eGOP5jIzxHfS2Kjf7aaU5Zz=s0-d)
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