The Commerce Department reported yesterday [article link] that new home sales dropped 11.2% in January. This is a record low since records were started over half a century ago. Winter storms were said to have contributed (???) to this descent of home sales. Economists expressed surprise at the record low. This data is another hint that home sales will continue to lag in 2010. Housing supports, such as the $8K incentive for first time home buyers, will expire as the year continues. The worry about new home sales is that this is a leading indicator about a recession.

I could have sworn President Obama told us in January that the worst of the recession was behind us. New home sales are dropping to historic lows, unemployment continues hovering around 10%. Consumer confidence dropped again last month, meaning that due to high unemployment, people are going to hold onto their money. And it is tougher to get credit now thanks to the banking disaster. So, where and how does the economy start to pickup? We were told the $787 billion stimulus package would halt unemployment at or under 8%. Instead, more jobs have been lost since that bill passed. Sure, Dear Leader and his lemmings like to say 1-2 million jobs were saved. Apparently the CBO agrees. But, what the CBO didn't state is where are those jobs. What kind of jobs were they? More federal jobs were created since last February than private sector jobs. So, where are the private sector jobs that were "created or saved" that the CBO, the "nonpartisan government agency," and President Obama bragged about? About 10% of Americans, along with another 7-10% who are under employed, want to know.

Oh...and the obligatory "it's all the fault of George W. Bush" that we are in this mess.