The Recession is Over

This was the headline in the business section today. It is over? GREAT, but it doesn't feel over. Sure the Dow is over 9,000. Sure housing prices seem to have leveled off. Sure auto dealers are reporting more traffic. Does this mean the recession is over?

It is very interesting to me to watch the news media spin bad news into good news. Just 6 months ago they were spinning not so bad news into doomsday reports. This fall the world was ending, people were wondering if we would survive as a nation.

As for housing prices, what I see playing out in my neighborhood, is that people WON'T sell their homes for less. They are telling people to f-off if the offer is too low. They would rather wait and get what they think is a fair price for their home. This said, your house is worth what someone will pay for it.

Another word on housing sales, they are still at levels below last year. I would like to remind everyone what a banner year for housing sales last year was. When the news media talks about sales they do month over month change. DUH it is better, it is summer, which is the high volume period for housing sales.

I imagine the media is correct the recession is almost over. Of course employment usually lags the "end" of the recession. So all this "good" news probably won't help us much. The "good" news I like is that we got a call from a company with a job, that recruiters are saying things seem to be picking up, that there seems to be more job postings to apply for.... that is some good news I can get my hands around. Maybe our recession will end soon?