Some recession weÂ’re in, donÂ’t you think? I wonder if George W. Bush gets credit for the economic recovery that is now happening on his watch?

Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April. While it was a rare spot of good news for the housing market, analysts said it's far too soon to declare an end to the prolonged slump.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that housing construction rose by 8.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units. Building of single-family homes continued to weaken, however. The growth came from a big jump in apartment construction.

Analysts predicted the surprising rebound in April would be temporary given the headwinds builders are still confronting, from slumping sales to soaring home foreclosures.

Of course, the press doesnÂ’t want to let the good news go unanswered.

A second report Friday showed that consumer confidence as measured by the University of Michigan/Reuters survey fell to a 28-year low of 59.5 in early May, down from 62.6 in April. The drop was blamed in part on rising concerns about higher gas and food prices.

And after all, if you keep being told by the press how bad things really are, you will soon really start to lose confidence in the economy – so they have to make sure that they do their best to minimize the economic good news and highlight the bad. Somehow I don’t remember that approach during the Clinton recession of 2000 – where every bit of bad news was bolstered with something good or somehow minimized, even though we weren’t on our way out of it. Not that I’m claiming media bias or anything….

Posted by: Greg at 11:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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