As I detailed yesterday, U.S. consumers have been getting hit extremely hard by this economic slowdown, and at this point most Americans believe that a recession is coming.  But could it be possible that a recession has already begun?  As you will see below, the numbers seem to indicate that such a scenario is quite likely.  But whether we are already officially in a recession or not, the truth is that whatever we are experiencing now is nothing compared to the pain that is eventually coming down the road.

Do you remember how painful it was for our society when the first housing bubble spectacularly imploded back in 2008?

Well, it is starting to happen again.  On Thursday we learned that pending home sales in the United States have now fallen for six months in a row…

Pending home sales slipped in April, as contract activity decreased for the sixth consecutive month, the National Association of Realtors® reported. Only the Midwest region saw signings increase month-over-month, while the other three major regions reported declines. Each of the four regions registered a drop in year-over-year contract activity.