Economy a Mixed bag...

This article from the Wall Street Journal notes that home inventories are shrinking across the country (even though Atlanta still has a bit over a year's worth of inventory, where 'normal' rates should be in the 6-7 month range). Yes, we've had some price increases of late and some decent sales but we're still not out of the woods yet. I know that unemployment is up across the US and in Georgia and that does not bode well for housing. Unlike the go-go subprime times of late you now actually have to have a JOB as well as INCOME to support a home purchase/loan. Most loan programs require you to have some downpayment as well so it's rough out there for the average buyer. I can also wonder aloud about people who were planning to sell some stocks to come up with their down payment but the answer lies in the continued roller coaster that won't stop until the election at the earliest. It's not all doom and gloom (and I still bet that the media will say "hey, it's not all that bad" on November 5th, regardless of the winner!) and our country (State? City?) has persevered before. I can likewise opine that our current generation(s) will not be as likely to "step up" as strongly as "The Greatest Generation" did during WWII (not that we have that type of threat today, thank God). And one other ramble-FDR's New Deal (and all the public works projects) did not get us out of the Great Depression--WWII did. I can only hope that we don't have to have something that horrible occur to jump start our country!