Bush’s Depression

Purchases of new homes in the U.S. plunged more than forecast in March to the lowest level in almost 17 years as stricter loan rules and falling prices caused buyers to dry up.

Sales dropped another 8.5 percent in the latest month to an annual pace of 526,000, the fewest since October 1991, from a 575,000 rate the prior month, the Commerce Department announced today in Washington. From December 2002, until December 2006, sales of new homes exceeded one million per year, peaking at the rate of slightly more than 1.3 million annual new home sales in July of 2005.

The chart from the U.S. Census Department can be found here.

I was particularly impressed with this bit of wisdom as reported in a Bloomberg news story, “The threat of a prolonged recession is growing as lower home values constrain consumer spending and persistent declines in homebuilding subtract from economic growth.”

Gee, do you really think so?

We’ve gone from a rate of 1.3 million new homes sold per year in 2005 down to just over 526 thousand per year as of 3 years later. Housing accounts for almost a quarter of the economy. It is a huge portion of our economy. And the new housing industry has shrunk by 60% in a 3 year period. The official news media views those figures as indicating a risk of prolonged recession. Those numbers are absolutely horrible. Home builders are going under by the thousands. Work has dried up for tens of thousands of tradesmen. And it is described as merely a risk of recession?

Don’t rely on the geniuses in the financial news to warn you of the real truth, that we are headed for an economic depression. I would rate their hindsight at 20/60.  I would rate their foresight at 0/0.

The economy is crashing. Derivatives abuse by Wall Street has raped the financial system. The dollar will be diluted continually with each passing month as the Wall Street fat cats get bailout money in “small” chunks of $50 to $75 billion at a time. And as a result everything will cost more.

Get prepared while you can, the worst is yet to come.

This blog is part of a bigger site. Here in the blog I check in nearly every day to provide a brief update on current economic news. This site was started in April of 2008, and the news continues to deteriorate. However, the financial info that is reaching the public by traditional, mainstream news sources barely scratches the surface of how dire the economic situation in the USA really is. Thus, the need for this site. Americans are not going to be told what is coming. The true size and nature of the problems are kept from public view.

As of the inception of this website, the US is not currently in an officially-recognized recession, let alone a depression. Time will tell.

In fairness, the root of the problem starts long before our current prez took office. However, he could have changed courses. But rather than face economic reality and do something about the dire economic path that the United States was traveling along, he choose to steer the ship of state squarely along the road that leads to its ultimate downfall.

It is not my desire to place blame on any one person, group or political party. Far too many are responsible for the financial mess to do that. Nor do I want the current administration to be associated with the tag of depression. But when putting all the pieces of the economic puzzle together, I conclude that the coming depression will be linked to the present adminstration.

Please remember one thing if you choose to read any further. I am just reporting on the financial mess, I certainly didn’t create it. So please don’t shoot the messenger!