Posted on 06/29/2012 2:23:36 PM PDT by blam
It's Becoming Clear What Will Save The US Economy In 2012
Joe Weisenthal
Jun. 29, 2012, 2:01 PM
2012 really is shaping up a lot like 2011 did.
Both started out strong (economically and market-wise). And then both had swoons where everyone started talking about a double dip.
But the US economy has a trump card: There are huge secular trends that are mostly impervious to these medium-term swings.
Last year the big, secular uptrend was the car industry, which had a monster summer and fall.
Here's a chart of annualized monthly motor vehicle sales. You can see how they really started taking off in July 2011.
FRED
This year's big story is increasingly looking like it's going to be housing.
As we wrote about earlier this week, the latest Case-Shiller report made a convincing case that the housing bottom (at least price-wise) is in.
Other measures are up too. Pending home sales, housing starts and so forth are in big uptrends.
Here's what we wrote earlier this week after the Case-Shiller housing news....
* 19 out of 20 cities saw gains.
* 18 out of 20 cities saw an improvement in annual returns.
* There were no cities where house prices hit brand new lows.
What's more, it's not just this housing index that's showing improvement.
Other indices such as the FHFA House Price Index have shown gains as well.
Furthermore, other non-price measures of housing are looking good. New Home Sales have hit a 2-year high, for example.
Today the homebuilder stocks are having a monster day, in part because KB Homes predicted a return to profitability in Q4, and a full-year of profitability next year.
The stars are aligning and if it does than the improvement
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Also, Joe W. asks that you vote for Obama too.
A strong housing market is the result of a strong economy -- not the cause. Sheesh, I mean, you can't buy a house [and, like, actually pay for it] if you don't have a job. Yet, I continue to read these numbskulls who think housing will somehow save the economy.
I'm of the impression they don't think things through.
Stocks exploded out of the gates and they never looked back.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,880, +277.8, +2.2%
S&P 500: 1,362, +33.1, +2.4%
NASDAQ: 2,935, +85.5, +3.0%
(Snip)
Hahahahahaha! (gasp) Hahahahahaha! Housing? Step away from the bong!
Even if the economy were good, the housing market would still be in a slump. When I hear people talk about a recovery, I just ask, where are the buyers going to come from? Baby boomers are now empty nesters, they are starting to downsize, or at leat would if they aren’t underwater and could find a buyer. There aren’t enough young people to buy all the houses out there, even if they had jobs and could get a loan. Then there are tens of millions with forclosures, bankruptcies, etc. in the last few years who won’t be able to get a loan even if they have a job and can afford it. I just don’t see any way it turns around any time soon.
I wonder what places money was pulled FROM to put in those markets.
Nothing will save the economy. At the end of this year, the Bush tax cuts expire and, starting next year, Bammy starts collecting his healthcare tax in earnest.
We are headed for a financial hole so deep the newest deep-sea submarine won't be able to find any trace of our economy.
If you want to know how healthy the economy is right now, try to get a bank loan to buy a small business.
Our economy and nation is being run by a giant banking mafia or criminal conspiracy operating in the open.
Keiser Report: Ground Zero of Financial Terrorism
Listen and weep people . . .
So true. The irony is that, as part of zero's stimulus, or QE or whatever tax money giveaway he called it, the banks were given billions of dollars to specifically make loans. Instead, they either sat on the money, or they used it to either pay bonuses or buy other banks!
Talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences!! And, there is NO provision for them to EVER repay ANY of that money!!
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