U.S. Housing Recovery Delayed to 2010 as Market Wanes

A recovery in U.S. housing will have to wait at least until next year.

The outlook for the home market dimmed this week as residential construction and mortgage applications fell and loan delinquencies reached a record.

“I don’t think the housing crisis is over,” Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com, said in a telephone interview. “I think we’re going to see another leg down.”

New home sales may begin to pick up by the start of the so-called spring selling season, said Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder. Existing house sales may take longer. Residential construction and property sales led the way out of the previous seven recessions going back to 1960, said David Berson, chief economist of PMI Group, the mortgage insurer in Walnut Creek, California. (more)

The Truth Behind China's Currency Peg

During President Obama's high profile visit to China this week, the most frequently discussed, yet least understood, topic was how currency valuations are affecting the economic relationship between the United States and China. The focal problem is the Chinese government's policy of fixing the value of the renminbi against the U.S. dollar. While many correctly perceive that this 'peg' has contributed greatly to the current global imbalances, few fully comprehend the ramifications should that peg be discarded. (more)

The "Double Dip Economic Depression"

When I was a kid, a “double dip” was an ice cream cone with two scoops. Yummy,

Today, the same expression is being used to warn us that the recession we are still struggling with could, and is supposedly posed for recovery could fall even deeper into another dip. That d word seems to be a substitute for another—a depression.

What’s going wrong? Isn’t the stock market sailing high? Hasn’t GM managed to cut its losses to only a billion? Isn’t Goldman Sachs setting aside “ a half a billion dollars to help small business and show how sorry it is for its role in the financial meltdown? (That pay out is over ten years—just 2.6% of its bonus pile, but who’s counting. A half a billion still sounds like real money. (more)

Economy Collapse - Peter Schiff on Glenn Beck

Red Alert: The Second Wave of The Financial Tsunami

Many of my friends who have been receiving my e-mail alerts over the last two years have lamented that in recent weeks I have not commented on the state of the global economy. I appreciate their anxiety but they forget that I am not a stock market analyst who is paid to write articles to lure investors back into the market. My website is free and I do not sell a financial newsletter so there is no need for me to churn out daily forecasts or analysis.

However, when the data is compelling and supports an inevitable trend, it is time for another review. This Red Alert is to enable visitors to my website to take appropriate actions to safeguard their wealth and welfare of their families in the coming months. (more)

The Fed Copies Weimar Hyperinflation

Bob Toll Predicts New Housing Crisis

Luxury builder Robert Toll says the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a train wreck waiting to happen.

If he’s right, that’s bad news, because the FHA has played a huge role in buoying the housing market in recent months.

The agency insured lenders against mortgage defaults on 20 percent of homes bought in the last year.

The problem is that it requires down payments of as little as 3.5 percent.

“Yesterday’s subprime is today’s FHA,” Toll Brothers CEO Robert Toll said at a recent conference. (more)