Re: America, a Civilization in Decline

On Fri, 16 May 2008 22:26:17 -0700, retrogrouch@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:

>On Sat, 17 May 2008 02:45:06 GMT, nospam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Straydog)
>wrote:
>
>>
>>Tourism is up in the USA, and ex****ts are still increasing, and our
>>trade deficit is going down. Even the real estate market is
>>stabilizing.
>
>
>LOL. The trade deficit is going down because we're buying less oil at
>these prices and the recession is biting im****ts.

The articles say that the cause of the trade deficit going down is
largely due to the exchange rate making purchases of US goods/services
less expensive. I think this is correct. Energy use in the US is down
slightly and the articles say that this is partly due to oil/gas price
and some ****ft from SUV purchase to purchase of cars with better gas
milage. 

> The notion the real
>estate market is stabilizing is a joke. You're seeign seasonal
>variation, (more house starts and slaes in Aprl than January) not year
>over year. Compare April 07 to April 08 (and for good measure match
>both of htose to 06.
>http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm
>Click on the entries for tables.

I really don't have time to spend most of my day chasing every source
of data and information. 

>Housing starts are down about 30% year over year. and 60% over 06.

I appreciate that the articles discuss the housing sector in terms of
a large number of factors besides "starts".