Economics Update

Here's a surprise, Bank of America buys Countrywide Financial, whose reckless mortgage policies destroyed their company and threw untold thousands out on the street, and now BoA is attempting to make the "Countrywide" brand vanish, because it is such a completely toxic entity.

Which means that they are writing off the so-called "good will", basically the value of the "Countrywide" brand name, accrued with the purchase.

Heck of a job, Kenny.

In related real estate news, home ownership percentages are back at the level they were in 2000.

More generally, we have the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve releasing its numbers, and they are all very negative, though they are no longer the end of the world bad, which is an improvement.

In energy, retail gasoline has been flat for the past 2 weeks, and oil is down on the expectation that the flu outbreak is likely to further crimp energy demand.

The flu also drove the dollar up, as people looked for safe havens.