The United States economy is far from a depression; as a matter of fact, the media and a growing percentage of economists started using the “R” word only a few months ago. I do not expect to see a depression in my lifetime.

The US is a going concern and will remain so. Still, there are developments that remind observers of the days of Hoovervilles - shantytown 1930s communities of homeless citizens nestled out of sight near the railroad tracks instead of on Main Street USA.

Most of the headlines focus on the housing market as indeed they should. While there are no visible Bushvilles as of yet, there were, according to reports from RealtyTrac, 153,000 initial foreclosure notices sent out during the month of January, which, when annualised, suggest that nearly 1½ per cent of America’s homeowners

read the rest published by FT here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0b3bc18-ea56-11dc-b3c9-0000779fd2ac.html