How in the world can anybody possibly claim that the U.S. economy is in good shape?  Honestly, I don't see how anyone can make a rational argument that this is the case.  Actually, the only people that seem to be trying to claim that the U.S. economy is heading in the right direction are those in the upper tiers of the economic food chain.  At this stage, those in the lower tiers of the economic food chain are very well aware of how much they are suffering.  Poverty, homelessness and hunger are rapidly growing all over America right now.  But if you still have plenty of money and those around you still have plenty of money, you may be wondering what all of the fuss is about.  If you are one of those people, hopefully this article will be a wake up call for you.

Let's start with the housing market.  On Friday, we learned that sales of previously owned homes in December 2023 were 6.2 percent lower than they were in December 2022…

Sales of previously owned homes fell 1% in December compared with November to 3.78 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were 6.2% lower than in December 2022, marking the lowest level since August 2010.