Economics Update

Well, the consumer confidence index fell to its lowest level in 5 years, what's more, the Frog consumers are bumming more than they have in 20 years.

Sarkosy is not going to find a lot of support for making the French economy more "Anglo-Saxon" right now.

In real estate, foreclosures jumped 23% in 1Q of 2007, which is on a pace for a 200% increase in foreclosures in 2008, while the Case-Shiller Home Price index fell 13% year over year in February.

This is not over. It's not close to being over.

In the ever entertaining Countrywide sage, the mortgage lender posted a $893 million first-quarter loss.

I still wonder when some Bank of America investor finally starts screaming about a proxy fight over their purchase of Nationwide. Every day, the deal looks worse and worse.

As to energy, oil is down, but gasoline is up.