The housing sector is the sinkhole in the jobs recovery at the national macroeconomic level, reports the Wall Street Journal today (see page A2, Severity of Recession Slows Down Recovery More Than Anything Else).  By June 2010, the construction industry had lost two million jobs.  And of the 4.4 million Americans who have been out of [...]

This morning on KQED Public Radio, NPR gave a disturbing report about FreddieMac and U.S. homeowner’s, including Bay Area homeowner’s, ability today to refinance their home mortgages.  NPR said FreddieMac, a pseudo-federal government agency that helps U.S. residents from all across the nation buy homes, is betting homeowners won’t be able to refinance in the [...]

This morning’s San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting story about the future of manufacturing in the United States.  The story is written by Andrew S. Ross in his, The Bottom Line column.  See page D1 of the Chronicle.  Ross says that a report by Boston Consulting Group says manufacturing is going to make a comeback [...]

Last week I said I would comment on how the state budget proposed by Governor Brown is expected to affect California’s housing market.  I expected some changes in tax rates affecting housing, but after reviewing a summary of the budget, there are no changes to tax rates.  In the budget summary, the writers of the [...]

On the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle today is a story about Governor Brown’s desire to see California pay off its debt.  The debt is money the government of the State of California owes to people who have bought bonds issued by the state. Why does the governor want to pay off the [...]