March 5, 2009

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_bi_ge/states_foreclosures;_ylt=ArexJ7ku7ryfQJwrDckqUWKyBhIF

At the end of last year, a record 5.4 million Americans were behind on their mortgage or in foreclosure. This represented almost 12% of American homeowners. This shows how bad the American economy is currently and how it is effecting homeowners nationwide. The recession is apparent in all facets of the economy, especially the housing market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/business/economy/06retail.html?_r=1&hp

Continuing with the economic downturn, retail sales are way-down once again at almost all businesses, excluding discount stores such as Wal-Mart. High end stores, like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstroms, are taking severe hits in sales as everyday Americans are pinching pennies and conserving money where they can. Abercrombie and Fitch's sales dropped 30% over the past year. This figure is in high contrast to Wal-Mart which had a 5.1% sales increase. This shows that Americans are still spending money, but that they are being much more thrifty and conservative with their spending habits. The way the economy is heading, this is not a good sign for the stores that are posting record losses and are teetering on bankruptcy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-jobs4-2009mar04,0,4887772.story

President Obama states that his newly signed $787 billion stimulus package will produce approximately 150,000 new jobs for highway and road work/maintenance. The article states that: "The number of jobs that will be created or saved by the highway construction program, Obama said, will exceed the number of jobs lost during the past three years combined by the Big Three automakers -- Ford, Chrysler and General Motors." If this fact is true, that is a good sign for all of the Americans that lost their jobs to these automakers. This is a step in the right direction and it shows that the stimulus package, if successful, will bring the American economy back up.