You could easily extend the list to 50 or 100, but for the zombies among us who like a cargo cult believe the economy is recovering, here are 25 questions to ask from the theeconomiccollapseblog. I chalk some of it up to apathy as a self-defense mechanism, but apathy is going to claim a lot of victims if things continue to move sideways at the current pace.
Denial and anger also play their roles, and have been crystal clear in the opening act of the ecological catastrophe in the Gulf that will at a minimum have the the environmental, social and economic fallout equivalent to several nucs going off in the southeast. Have you considered what a massive evacuation from the Gulf of Mexico region might look like? The dynamic is one of a junkie who gets upset with the pusher after an overdose, and not one of responsible adults and stewards.
#1) In what universe is an economy with 39.68 million Americans on food stamps considered to be a healthy, recovering economy? In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that enrollment in the food stamp program will exceed 43 million Americans in 2011. Is a rapidly increasing number of Americans on food stamps a good sign or a bad sign for the economy?
#2) According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in the month of March. This was an increase of almost 19 percent from February, and it was the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report back in January 2005. So can you please explain again how the U.S. real estate market is getting better?
#3) The Mortgage Bankers Association just announced that more than 10 percent of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage had missed at least one payment in the January-March period. That was a record highand up from 9.1 percent a year ago. Do you think that is an indication that the U.S. housing market is recovering?
#4) How can the U.S. real estate market be considered healthy when, for the first time in modern history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United Statesthan all individual Americans put together? (Read Full Article)
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