The Economic Week In Review....

Of note:

*FOMC left rates unchanged with the target funds rate at 2% and the discount rate at 2.25%

* Consumer Confidence-came in at 50.4 one of the lowest readings and some economists are surprised since, in their words, "the expansion of the economy is underway", meaning we are not in a recession. I would argue that most individuals are not feeling the positive effects of an expansion. Consider that overall real wages have remained stagnant in the last 30 years and that prices for many essential items have increased over that time, not the least of which is the price of a gallon of gasoline. Add to that the negative effects on net worth that lower real estate prices have produced and I'm not so sure things are as rosy on Main Street as the economists and Wall Street gurus would like. I'm still a believer that we have relied on consumer credit as a fix all for too many years and now we're feeling the pain when consumers can't keep up with their debt load. We'll see how all this plays out over the next few years. * New Homes Sales -512,000 units sold representing a 2.5% monthly decline and a 40% year on year decline. New Home prices were down 5.1% to an average of $231,000.

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