Budget Deficits and the Debt

The Charlie Rose show on Wednesday had a fantastic round-table discussion on the impact of our budget deficits and the national debt. I encourage all of my readers to take a look. Charlie talks about the source of the problems, the impact for the future, and the likely solutions with David Leonhardt, Alan Blinder, Alan Auerbach and Richard Posner.



To view this clip and other highlights from the The Charlie Rose Show please go to http://www.charlierose.com/view/clip/10381 .

It's Murky on the Bottom

With interest rates climbing over the past month, many analysts are concerned that a housing recovery will be delayed. Today we saw a strong sale of 30 year treasury bonds that seemed to offer a hint that perhaps we were seeing a leveling off on mortgage rates. The jobless rate remains the single largest obstacle to recovery in housing and the economy overall.

Here is a discussion from earlier today on CNBC that discusses the foreclosure activity and how interest rates may impact future activity.