11/14/07 Economy

Can I let you in on a little secret?  I am loving the housing slump.  It is my favorite thing in the world.  I hope it just keeps falling and falling.  I, of course, am a prospective buyer.  But you, the owner, are cursing me for celebrating the loss you are experiencing in your net worth!

The differences in our attitudes explains in part why it is so hard to come to a consensus about the economy and how it is doing.  In my eyes, the economy was flying so high that someone like me, young and without much money, couldn’t really get my foot in the door and buy stocks or a house.  It was not an economy that was friendly to beginners. I felt priced out of that economy. But to someone whose foot was in the door already, the economy was perfect-great-never been better!

We’re going to talk today with people who have different ideas about what the economy we have today means.  Does the housing slump portend a recession-or is the market just correcting itself?  Are oil prices rising higher and higher because of actual supply and demand issues, or is it market manipulation? Why does the Federal Reserve seem so optimistic? And what role do hedge funds play in alll this?

Join us…with your comments and questions…or offers to sell me your house at a reduced price!

-Jessica