By Richard E Walrath and Patricia L Johnson

New Residential Sales for month of June 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 834,000 [22.3 percent below the June 2006 estimate of 1,073.00] while preliminary estimates of Existing Home Sales for June 2007 indicated sales of 5.75 million, [11.4 percent below the June 2006 seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.49 million]  July figures will be released in a few days.

Job creation and new homes generally have a positive correlation, as do marriages in the same year.  What we have seen during the Bush years is a relatively low number of jobs created.  NBC’s Deputy Political Director, Mark Murray indicates 23 million jobs were created under the Clinton administration while only a net of 5.6 million jobs have been created during the Bush years.

"During the eight years of the Clinton Administration — which, by the way, raised taxes — about 23 million jobs were created, which comes out to about 240,000 jobs per month. By comparison, only a net of 5.6 million jobs have been created during the Bush years, which comes out to about 71,000 per month. Even taking away the job losses caused by a recession and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bush years come up short: In the 47 consecutive months of job growth since the fall of 2003, the per-month average has been about 177,000 jobs."

That, along with the over-building of homes, has created the mess we’re in now.  The houses aren’t going to go away no matter how much money they pump into the economy.