What This Economy Needs is...

...Jobs and it Begins with Housing! But wait...

Unemployment dropped sharply last week to 8.6%! Watch this number. The biggest component of the drop is the 100s of thousands who gave up their search, either for the holidays or until the economy makes job search a bit better. I haven't heard any Administration officials touting this number yet and I hope I don't. People have been scared away and discouraged.

The jobs created at 120,000 reported last week is still not enough to even break even with the number of workers coming of age outpacing those turning standard retirement age. And that doesn't take into account that so many are now working much later in life than they used to.

So Unemployment improved but jobs are still not keeping up. We need
1- More-reasonable credit standards in home lending;
2- Significantly lower Federal deficits (currently >$120 B per month!); and
3- Less fear of tax hikes and regulatory crush on the businesses that create jobs.