How Much Scarier Can It Get?

The new December numbers just out today showing  a 16-year low in new home construction are the latest in a long string of truly terrible financial developments. There’s also this  Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) story on a possible slump in commercial real estate. If that’s not unnerving enough, consider how Calculated Risk views it:

The strong investment in non-residential structures has been one of the keys to avoiding recession through Q3 2007. Now that commercial real estate appears to be slumping, it looks like non-residential investment will slump too – putting the economy into recession.

Yikes.

Actually my vote for scariest story recently goes to rising credit card defaults at American Express. Why? Because some people carry around American Express cards because it forces them to pay off their balances each month. So when they can’t come up with the money to cover their charges,  it means they are genuinely , authentically stretched. They’re not going to be out shopping anytime soon. And we all know what that means – another scary economic story.