HOME SALES: LOWEST IN HISTORY!

Sales of used homes plummeted 27.2% in July to its lowest level since they started keeping track over a decade ago. Fewer housing purchases translates to fewer purchases of housing-related consumer products and means that consumers might spend less overall, even if their income rises. The report is a strong indicator that the economy is again faltering and the fact that sales have reach a historical low, coupled with other recent downward trends in other sectors of the economy is ominous.

COMMENTS:

Hold on to your girdles and jockstraps; things are about to get even tougher than they were last year. This is not the time to be buying anything that you do not absolutely require.

TODAY’S QUERIES & ANSWERS:

Q. I hear Dell is getting into the phone cellphone business? (Alvin ~ Mound House, NV)
A. Maybe they’ll make it easier to contact their customer service department with complaints about their lousy tech support?

Q. I get so much email in the form of advertisements and other garbage that it takes me all day to read my email! How can I stop this? (Raven ~ Compton, CA)
A. You need a minimum of four email addresses: (1) one for merchants that you normal like to do business with, (2) for businesses and others you never really want to do business with again, but that demand an email address when you are ordering something, (3) for personal family and very close friends, and (4) for all others. I have nine email addresses. Every once in a while I’ll quit using one until the spam dies down. One merchant was obnoxious and simply refused to remove my email address; I finally changed it to barack@whitehouse.gov and I’ve never heard from him since.

Q. Why no news about that Sherrod woman who worked for the U.S.D.A. and got forced to resign? (Ilene ~ Blythe, CA)
A. You’re timing is good. She was just offered a new position at the U.S.D.A. and turned it down. It’s ironic, but I guess she’s become one of those people Reid says are getting unemployment and just simply don’t want to work anymore.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

"I've had many, many requests from around the country from people who want to hear from me. "I'd like to hear from them, because I'd like to know about efforts that are being made in communities that are dealing with racism and discrimination, and I'd really like to highlight them. ... That's what this country needs. We're a great country, and there are people who care. We're hearing too much from those who would want to point out the negative right now, and I really would like to concentrate on the positive." ~ Shirley Sherrod

TODAY’S VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9Y0AU_ESw&playnext=1&videos=hQ62uWbVTsQ&feature=mpt%253Atop_stories