Existing Home Sales Rise 2.9% Jan-Feb

[PaceAdvantage]

Since off-topic is dominated by the far-left and those that take great pains to post all the bad news, I thought I'd post this positive number that came out this week.

For some reason, the guys that like to post the negative housing market numbers tend to forget to post any of the positive numbers that happen to come out...

I'm sure this post will be met with a barrage of negative posts about the economy and the housing market, but that's ok.

[jballscalls]

are you gonna post the phrase "since this board is dominated by the far left" with every post now??

Good news about the housing market. I know for me, as a homeowner in Cincinnati, the population for the city rose for the first time in over a decade, and home sales are up in downtown where i live, so i'm happy.

is the real estate selling slower in the higher priced markets?? i would guess so just because this is probably where more people had the creative financing with adjustable rates, thus more foreclosures, thus more houses on market etc.

i talked to an agent friend of mine, who was pretty confident things would get back on track in 2008.

[ddog]

This stuff isn't negative or positive, it just is.
To ascribe qualities to this stuff can cloud the reason.

Would have expected better from investors and certainly horse players as we all know how the stats are earned are as important as the NBR.

http://www.reuters.com/article/busin...e=businessNews



Gary Shilling, president of the investment advisory firm A. Gary Shilling & Co., said the normal dearth of sales at this time of year meant the adjustments made to the data to account for seasonal variations could have distorted the picture.

"The real number of importance is the price," he said. "Prices are declining and that's wiping out the equity of many people. People are literally under water on their houses and are walking away."


And , of course , for someone else that very same wiping can be a good thing someday.

So, is it a neg or a pos now , in your world?

You see, Pa, it is a neg and a pos at the same time!

[Seabiscuit@AR]

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4158.html

[hcap]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us...ss&oref=slogin

"As Jobs Vanish, Food Stamp Use Is at Record Pace


By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 31, 2008

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s."

[Grits]

Originally Posted by hcap

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us...ss&oref=slogin

"As Jobs Vanish, Food Stamp Use Is at Record Pace


By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 31, 2008

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s."

From a report aired on ABC's evening news last night, this is freightening stuff. When one sees food cost escalating at this rate, knowing all goods that we buy are going up as well, its quite unsettling.

This is, indeed, a real discussion. And it has nothing to do with left or right, democrat or republican.

I've not ever bought out-of-date foods, I hope I do not have to start.
************************************************** ********

From the ABC news segment, "Kitchen Table." (Full article at the site)

Some of the hardest-hit foods are breakfast staples -- including milk, which costs about 20 percent more than it did a year ago; eggs, up 19 percent; coffee, 16 percent; and bread, 11 percent. The cost of wheat to make bread is at an all time high.

"It's definitely a serious problem," says Michael Santoli, senior editor for Barron's, the Dow Jones business and financial weekly. "It's coming at a time when the job market is softening up and the overall economic outlook isn't so great."

The cost of food is rising at the fastest rate in nearly two decades, caught in a perfect storm of inflationary pressures.

"Crop prices are at record levels," Santoli says. "Wheat, soybean, that is what's used to feed cattle, hogs obviously, it pushes higher prices through the entire system."

Wheat prices are at an all-time high because many farmers have stopped planting it, so they can grow more corn. Corn prices are soaring because it's used to make ethanol, an alternative for expensive oil.

Those record oil prices mean it's more expensive to transport food to market. And finally, food prices are driven up by increased demand from the growing middle class in places like India, China, and Latin America.

Until it does end, companies are becoming creative, trying to make their food packages smaller so they don't have to raise the price.

Consumers are also turning to innovative tactics, like increasingly shopping at surplus stores for groceries that are discounted because they're either damaged or past their expiration date.

[Marshall Bennett]

Originally Posted by hcap

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us...ss&oref=slogin

"As Jobs Vanish, Food Stamp Use Is at Record Pace


By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 31, 2008

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s."

Another reason not to elect a democrat , they'd press that number regardless of the economy , another reason to raise taxes as well , which I'm sure they'd do .

[skate]

Oh oh OOOOOOOOHHH;

It just seems so so sooooooooo funny (dont forget to laugh) that this here problomatic Is f..in Fed.(as in Uncles Problem)..

excusey me, but how comes the average price of a home in Detroit is bout $23,000 while the average price (?) in Calif. is closer to $600,000.
Last nite they (calif. people) waited in line for days, to buy a LITTLE Condo for $700,000. Wow Wee, somebody gots to be hurting.

Local= State

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by skate

Oh oh OOOOOOOOHHH;

It just seems so so sooooooooo funny (dont forget to laugh) that this here problomatic Is f..in Fed.(as in Uncles Problem)..

excusey me, but how comes the average price of a home in Detroit is bout $23,000 while the average price (?) in Calif. is closer to $600,000.
Last nite they (calif. people) waited in line for days, to buy a LITTLE Condo for $700,000. Wow Wee, somebody gots to be hurting.

Local= State

you know, I am sure there is something worth understanding in some of your posts. You have got to be writing like this on purpose. How in the hell anybody gets anything out of what you write, I don't know. Damn shame.........are you doing this on purpose?

[skate]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

you know, I am sure there is something worth understanding in some of your posts. You have got to be writing like this on purpose. How in the hell anybody gets anything out of what you write, I don't know. Damn shame.........are you doing this on purpose?

Well, yes, it's on purpose. But i'll admit, i'm only looking for "the few".
you see, i couldn't stand to have everyone (or even most everyone) understand.

I may have come full circle, like, 1,000 times. So, to tell someone " i have purpose" while they do not, is repulsive.

For a good example, i view your posted C-130 movie (?) and i find myself saying "what the f...", you see to me it said Nothing. but i understand, and to keep me from senseless riddle, i've come to treatment, for myself, because you do not need help.

[skate]

JustlyRalph;

i think what i was trying to say was that the House Market should be viewed as local.

Detroit homes average $23,000, while Calif. homes sell for $600,000.

To me, that says the problem is at the very least somewhat local, no?

But yeh i get ... whatever, yeh...

[wonatthewire1]

calling for the end to the economic good times - right after a scottrade commerical

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/play...26720&src=news

[hcap]

Originally Posted by skate

Well, yes, it's on purpose. But i'll admit, i'm only looking for "the few".
you see, i couldn't stand to have everyone (or even most everyone) understand.

So you are like the "Marine Corp" of posters.

Originally Posted by skate

I may have come full circle, like, 1,000 times. So, to tell someone " i have purpose" while they do not, is repulsive.

Repulsive sums it up quite nicely. And this surely explains the dizzy spells most of us get reading your stuff.

[skate]

dizzy is as dizzy does.

Kind of like trying to ignore A-Ralphy or A-Hiccup.


So, does it?
Or don't it does it?

[hcap]

Originally Posted by skate

dizzy is as dizzy does.

Kind of like trying to ignore A-Ralphy or A-Hiccup.


So, does it?
Or don't it does it?

Originally Posted by skate
Well, yes, it's on purpose. But i'll admit, i'm only looking for "the few".
you see, i couldn't stand to have everyone (or even most everyone) understand.

You have succeeded admirably. The few that do understand is about 2-if you count yourself and Harvey the rabbitt