I'm glad you answered that question. Just asking it probably got me put on a special FBI watchlist.

Seriously though these are frustrating times.

Interesting graph HappySqurriel. If I'm reading it right by the end of 2010 there will be an additional $700 billion in losses. The banks can't survive that without a new capital injection (which was known anyway, since the banks are capitalized assuming 8-9% unemployment, I forget the exact number).

By the way, that graph doesn't include the commercial property loans, right?

That is correct, the graph is strictly focused on losses from mortgages and doesn't include things like credit cards, car loans, and other forms of debt.

yeah, like i'm gonna trust jim cramer.

Before saying the worst is over...Why don't we actually look for a single sign that the economy, not the stock market, is improving?

That would be great, because so far all I've seen is people saying "the rate at which it's getting worse is decreasing".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8157072.stm - well, there's a single sign.

Samuel that looks a bit weird (partly because it's low on details). Was the housing situation particularly bad one year ago?

There are quite a few questions that one has to wonder about from the "Upturn Signs" in the housing market ...

60% of home-builders have seen an increase in sales from the previous year but there is no discussion on how much of an increase in sales this represents, whether their increase could be at the 40% of home builders who didn't see an increase, or whether enough home builders have gone out of business that their sales have shifted elsewhere.

Beyond that, bouncing off of the low may be a sign that people are not acting on panic as much and are buying homes with a 10 year outlook on their purchase ... after 10 years of mortgage payments and inflation it is unlikely that house prices will fall enough to make someone lose money after house prices have fallen so far

Heh, I didn't read the article!

I just saw that "show one sign", and found the quickest article I could.