Economic slowdown persists

The U.S. economy is in a full blown recession. Even the most optimists economists who believed that the U.S. economy would have a period of slow growth, but not a recession have changed their tunes. The news on the economy continues to bring out reports that are leaving the most optimists economists with the expectation that the economy is likely to struggle well into 2009. The jobs market reported another round of declines as over 160,000 people were removed from the market in the month of September. Unemployment is continuing to grow and the housing and credit markets remain challenged.

The credit markets could benefit from the recent passage of the seven hundred billion dollar bailout package that the government finally passed last week. There is little optimism that this will have any direct impact on the housing market as there is no direct correlation to stopping the foreclosure crisis. As home values continue to decline, the overall economy will continue to strugle. The improvement in the credit markets may help with lending but this is going to take months if not years to trickle through to the average consumer through employment opportunities, demand for housing, or tax breaks.