Got Wood? A Housing Recovery Built On Faith

Those hoping for a sustainable housing recovery haven't learned a damned thing about hot money chasing bubbles.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-28/got-wood-housing-recovery-built-faith

(Non) Recovery Hopes Surge On Record (Low) New Home Sales

We no longer have markets.  We have absurd theater.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/recovery-hopes-surge-record-home-sales

Foreclosure flaws delay recover

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-27/foreclosure-flaws-may-delay-u-s-recovery-by-slowing-drop-in-home-prices.html

Freddie and Fannie need billions more in aid

Both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lost billions more last quarter and will need billions more in aid from the federal government. Gee--what a shock.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i61IvzXZ9v93-0lhav_WRztb1aIgD9HG0A0G1

Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac is asking for $1.8 billion in additional federal aid after posting a larger loss in the second quarter.

Freddie Mac said Monday it lost $6 billion, or $1.85 per share, in the April-to-June period.

The government rescued McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae from the brink of failure nearly two years ago. The new request means they have needed $148.2 billion to stay afloat, about $63.1 billion of which is being used by Freddie Mac.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both lost tens of billions of dollars during the past two years and both are asking the government to prop them up. Last week, Fannie Mae requested $1.5 billion after posting a loss of $3.13 billion, or 55 cents per share, in the second quarter.

"We recognize that high unemployment and other factors still pose very real challenges for the housing market," CEO Charles Haldeman said in a statement.

Ya think?

"With that in mind, we continue to focus on the quality of the new business we are adding to our book to be responsible stewards of taxpayer funds."

Ha-ha, that's a good one...

New home sales plunge 33% in May

How's that recovery in the housing industry going?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-home-sales-plunge-33-to-record-low-in-may-2010-06-23

Not only have May new home sales dropped to a record low since statistics have been recorded, but March and April figures have been revised lower also.

This is consistent with my thesis that this "jobless" recovery is not a recovery at all. Watch how government economists and the financial media try to spin this latest data.

Debt problems concern Greenspan

Now that Alan Greenspan is no longer Fed Chairman, he's speaking out on the huge debt burden.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a77tZkPI2DT4

Higher yields reflect investor concerns over “this huge overhang of federal debt which we have never seen before,” Greenspan said in an interview today on Bloomberg Television.

“I’m very much concerned about the fiscal situation,” said Greenspan, 84, who headed the central bank from 1987 to 2006. An increase in long-term interest rates “will make the housing recovery very difficult to implement and put a dampening on capital investment as well.”

“I don’t like American politics and what’s happening,” Greenspan said.

Historically, there has been “a large buffer between the level of our federal debt and our capacity to borrow,” he said. “That’s narrowing. And I’m finding it very difficult to look into the future and not worry about that.”