It's the Economy... And I Feel Stupid
It's true -- the famous quote may go, "It's the economy, stupid*," but these days, I feel like I'm the stupid, and don't worry if you're right there with me! It's just incredibly volatile right now, so much so that good advice yesterday may be dead wrong today, and day-old economic news is as irrelevant as yesterday's Britney report. What I've found, though, is that all this change, all these ups and downs, make right now a really good time to learn. For example, yesterday I learned about where the money for the rebates Congress is proposing comes from (nowhere?), and all the housing news combined with the Fed's rate cuts mean I have a new key phrase in my vocabulary: the ten-year treasury note (or T-note -- it affects mortgage rates!). Often I pick up bits here and there that only leave me with more questions, like "the dollar is falling." Ok, but if that's true, won't folks from other countries want to vacation in the States, and then won't that help the economy? How? If you have answers for me, leave them here, but also leave all your questions about housing news, APR's, rebates, the dollar, and all things American money.
*Although that's oft-repeated today, the slightly different original belongs to James Carville
Tags: Fed | credit | dollar | economy | housing | interest rates | money
1:58 PM ET | 01-30-2008 | permalink
