All eyes on housing

Econbrowser: All eyes on housing:

". . . statistics suggest to me that a recognition that the heady days of rapid real estate appreciation are now over had yet to sink in as of the first quarter of this year.

That troubles me, because it raises the possibility that, when the recognition does sink in, the current 'gradual cooling' could quickly turn into something more impressive."

It is a sad fact of political storms that economic discomfort is usually an underlying factor. Bush's economic policies have aimed, successfully, at bettering the lot of the very rich at the expense of everyone else. This would not normally lead to a recession, per se, but a recession in the aftermath Bush's reverse Robin Hood policies could be nasty. There is a very real possibility of even a mild downturn spiralling into a vicious cycle of economic decline and crisis.