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For the third day in a row, one of the three networks led with the weakening housing market. Tuesday it was CNBC's Carl Quintanilla on NBC; Wednesday it was Anthony Mason on CBS; now Laura Marquez (subscription required) surveys the worst markets for falling house prices. She ticked off Polk County Fla, Loudon County Va, Worcester County Mass and Solano County Cal, where she found an owner in the suburb of Fairfield who paid $580,000 two years ago for his $400,000 home. "The effects are devastating for local businesses," Marquez added, with lumber companies, plumbing suppliers and furniture stores feeling the pinch. At the White House, economists have responded to the housing slump by cutting their forecast for next year's Gross Domestic Product to 2.7% growth, "the slowest expansion for the US economy in four years," warned CNBC's Erin Burnett on NBC. They forecast that 15% fewer jobs would be created than they had expected. "Jobs have been the one area of strength in this economy."
Building is still booming globally, noted NBC's Peter Alexander, "catapulting the price of copper" to $2 from 25c per pound. "The result? A surge of copper thefts." He took us on a tour of denuded building sites in Las Vegas, where the metal has been stripped from light poles, air conditioning units, plumbing fixtures--"even high voltage power stations are targets." Nationwide the cost of stolen copper has topped $1bn. "Imagine the famous Strip with no lights."
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