"Paulson says U.S. housing correction "necessary""
"A slump in U.S. homebuilding that slowed growth at the end of 2007 will help wring out excesses and the Bush administration is not trying to ward it off, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday.
"After years of unsustainable home price appreciation, this is a necessary correction," Paulson said in prepared remarks for delivery to a real estate roundtable. A proposed fiscal stimulus package "is not intended or expected to slow down the housing correction," he added.
Paulson said the housing downturn's impact was evident in the sharp deceleration in national economic growth to a 0.6 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, which the Commerce Department reported earlier on Wednesday.
He spoke to the realtors, who greeted him warmly, minutes after the Federal Reserve announced it was slashing U.S. interest rates by an additional hefty half percentage point and cheered on the U.S. central bank's action....""U.S. gold futures jump to record high above $940"
"New York gold futures accelerated gains to reach a record high above $940 in Wednesday afternoon's electronic trade, as the dollar tumbled after the Federal Reserve slashed key U.S. interest rates by 50 basis points."
I'm fucked. I don't have any gold, and I can't afford to buy any.
How many more people out there like me, and what are we gonna do, huh?
