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Non-financial economic news concerned the housing market and the small business sector. NBC's Tom Costello filed from Capitol Hill where hearings on a $150bn federal stimulus package considered aid for small business. Technically such enterprises include any with fewer than 500 employees--but do the arithmetic from Costello's numbers and it is clear that for most, "small business" amounts to "self-employed." A nationwide total of 27m small enterprises has a combined workforce of just 59m. ABC's A Closer Look had Brian Rooney (embargoed link) inquire whether housing prices have bottomed. He found an example in Atlanta where a $279K property sold for $137K and another in California where a $550K asking price turned into $250K at auction. Yet he warned that the glut might yet get worse: "Thousands of foreclosure and bank owned properties are still being dumped on the retail market, continuing to drive down prices."
As the index of consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since it was devised 41 years ago, NBC sent Mike Taibbi out on the thankless task of profiling members of the 12% of Americans in his network's poll who believe the nation is "on the right track." Taibbi found a New York City graphic designer cum commercial landlord and a New Jersey sales manager for a home toolkit importer. The designer will stay optimistic until his real estate goes south; the handyman believes "in a recession people tend to fix things instead of replacing them" so his job is secure.
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