Posted on 10/28/2006 11:09:36 AM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday the U.S. economy was pulling away from the shoals of a sharp housing-sector downturn and that the outlook for growth was "reasonably good."
"Most of the negatives in housing are probably behind us," Greenspan said at a conference sponsored by the Commercial Finance Association "The fourth quarter should be reasonably good, certainly better than the third quarter."
The government reports on third-quarter economic growth on Friday. After shooting ahead at a 5.6 percent annual clip at the start of the year, the economy advanced only 2.6 percent in the second quarter as home building took a dive.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the government report on third-quarter gross domestic product to show growth slowing further to a 2.2 percent pace.
However, many analysts think growth may revive in the current quarter as lower energy prices buoy consumers.
"There are early signs of stabilization," Greenspan said of the U.S. housing market, although he added: "It's not over."
"The evidence is that we're beginning to see a flattening in statistics for sales of new homes," he continued. "The rate of construction is well below the rate of purchases."
Greenspan, who retired from the Fed in January after more than 18 years at its helm, said the U.S. was "beginning to dig into the inventories of unsold new homes."
Can't help but wonder if Greenie himself has one of them there "non-traditional" mortgages?
FYI Ping.
I wonder how this will affect someone whose tenuous grasp on credibility is based on an imminent burst of a "housing bubble," or someone who uses the interest-free credit card offers that stuff his mailbox to fund an empire built on trading gold on margin?
What would possibly make you think that?
It should be noted there are still some housing markets in the U.S. which have not exhibited declining sales thus far. For example, the property sales in the greater Houston market have reached a new year-over-year record for 32 consecutive months now.
It's funny how the left decided that Greenspan was incompetent on January 20, 2001.
But I thought that I was supposed to put my house on the market for what I paid for it five years ago, ignore the equity, give up the tax benefits and rent an apartment (even though the rent would be almost as much as my mortgage payment)./sarcasm off
And buy gold. Gold! GOLD!!!
That's where I get confused. Since I won't have anymore equity, do I cash in my 401K and IRAs and take the tax hit or take cash advances on credit cards to buy gold>
Use the free cash-advance credit cards to trade gold on margin, and be sure to always buy at the bottom and always sell at the top.
Then you just can't lose!
So, I should get about a dozen or so credit cards, max them out and then get some more cards and take cash advances on them to make the minimum payments on the cards I maxed out to buy gold?
Definitely!
Because, remember: you're going to be buying at the bottom every time, and you're always going to be careful to sell at the very top. With technical analysis, you can't lose!
Margin fees be damned! Commissions, carrying-costs, be damned!
Remember, as long as the price of gold does not drop below the green line, it will not drop below the green line. Making bank with gold is EASY!
And remember how easy it was to make money on silver in the late 70s until the Hunt brothers screwed everything up by missing their margin call. I'm thinking of pouring all of my money into tulip bulbs, after almost four hundred years, that market is bound to make a huge comeback.
Exactly. I saw a scribbled chart just the other day that made me want to buy gold (and pay $18 an ounce on trading costs) and a cute cartoon that proved even the angels are pulling for gold.
WOW! And to think I almost sold everything to buy gold :)
ROTFLMAO
**snort**
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.