The Crucially Cooler Quote is:
WITH NEW HOME SALES DOWN 10.5 percent in February, and with home prices declining for the fourth month in a row, it's high time for a sober look at the consequences of a major housing correction. The Federal Reserve, Wall Street economists, and other observers of the U.S. economy are closely watching the housing market because it has been a key driver of economic growth over the past several years.I mean WHAT!?!!! ( as in WTF!!! but with added special sauce and the correct level of Ideological Purity that can only Occur when an Actual Fiscally Conservative Looks at the NeoConClownCarCrew trying to Sober Up To the Real Politk that mere Ideology does not trump economic realism. )
Roughly a quarter of the jobs created since the 2001 recession have been in construction, real estate, and mortgage finance. Even more important, consumers have withdrawn $2.5 trillion in equity from their homes during this time, spending as much as half of it and thus making a huge contribution to the growth the U.S. economy has enjoyed in recent years (consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP).
But consumers cannot keep spending more than they make. Eventually, home prices will flatten, the flood of "cash out" refinancings will become a trickle, and consumer spending will slow, as will job creation in housing-related industries. The big question is this: Will the housing sector experience a soft landing and slow the economy or a hard landing that pushes us into recession?
[ cf The Weakly Standard: Housing Bubble Trouble
Have we been living beyond our means? ]
Are these God Haters OPENLY admitting that they are Opposed to Great Leader's Great New Economic Real Politik??? Doesn't that Amount to openly offering Aid And Comfort to the Enemy in a Time of Transfering the tax burden onto the unborn???
Oh yes, that's right, we were the ones back in 2000 that noted that Dubya's Numbers for Economics may lead to Numerology, and they were numerical in form, as they actually looked like numbers, but that they were in no way suppose to be correlated to actual Economic Realities. Gosh, just like we have been asking unpleasant questions about the rest of their Dope Smoking.
So if we are about to wake up to the economic reality that the Ideologs have Failed. Should anyone be held accountable? Should there be any change in state policy?
Or should we just keep chanting
If The Blue Dress Does Not Fit!!!and hope that this will some how restore sanity to the market, and solvency to the federal budget, so that we can avoid the usual long term problems of watching the deflation of the Currency Used as a work around for getting out of debt....
You Must Acquit!!!
AND gosh if so much of the economic 'recovery' is based upon the housing bubble, then gosh, how good are those job numbers again? And if they are not so sound, then how good are any of the other economic numbers here...
Or should we just keep on dancing, break out the booze....
