Prices on The Rise Still

[Aug 15, 2008.]

The current year has been quite difficult for America in general. The housing bubble burst last year, with the shock waves of that event having greatly impacted the economic circumstances in 2008, creating a mortgage crisis and a housing slump that is causing all sorts of financial turmoil in their respective sectors. Besides this problem, the automotive industry has been in a slump due to the costs of gas and the thinning wallet of the average American, with automotive sales dropping significantly month after month.

But, amongst all these problems, perhaps the heart of them lies in the fact that inflation has taken over consumer lives, affecting the costs of daily expenses such as food and gas. In this regards, prices have not dropped yet, and while they seem to remain stable at the moment, they have nonetheless continued to go up slightly over the past several months.

Over the past year, Inflation has risen by approximately 5%, with this figure reflecting on the exhausting gains that have been seen in the price of commodities such as gas, milk, bread, miscellaneous food items, appliances, accessories, and many more items that Americans depend on each and every day in order to survive.

Even though the Economic Stimulus Package has been sent out to over 130 million Americans, these funds were rather small and only contributed to the national deficit. Government welfare can only go so far to counteract the natural changes in the economy, and people have managed to spend what they can on the things that they need while only having so much of their own money to expend.

On the other hand, the cost of clothing has dropped dramatically, which some people believe is due to the fact that the prices were exaggerated in the first place due to designer names and such. With a slumping economy, retailers have slashed prices to accommodate the dwindling savings of people who shop in order to keep sales up.

Recent News:

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Limits Raised
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) loan limits will be raised to $417,000 nationally. For most parts of the country, this is a substantial increase. Home Equity Conversion Mortgages are Federal Housing Administration-guaranteed reverse mortgages for homeowners 62 and older. They allow seniors [...]
[November 18th, 2008]
Scammers Claim Federal Reserve Program Offers Personal Loans
When people are facing tough economic times there’s always the potential for fraudsters to take advantage of them. According to the Federal Reserve, scammers are targeting people who need personal loans to try and gain access to their checking accounts. The way the fraud works is consumers are contacted and told that they can borrow personal [...]
[November 17th, 2008]
FDIC Chairwoman Proposes Plan to Reduce Mortgage Payments for Delinquent Borrowers
Another proposal has been floated for helping homeowners who are delinquent on monthly payments on their mortgages. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairwoman Sheila Bair proposed a plan to reduce mortgage payments for delinquent homeowners to 31% of their monthly income, according to CNN Money. To qualify, people would need to be at least two [...]
[November 14th, 2008]
Mortgage Applications On the Rise Last Week
The Mortgage Bankers Association just released their Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 7, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 425.0, an increase of 11.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 379.9 one [...]
[November 13th, 2008]
GMAC to Cut Back on Auto Loans
By Brent Lane Rebuild.org Columnist GMAC has announced they will decrease their Auto Loan exposure in the European markets starting the 1st of November 2008. This cut back is due to the significant credit and capital market disruptions. The countries affected include Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain. On top on this cut back GM [...]
[November 12th, 2008]

Easily subscribe to the rebuild.org news feed.

Read our news without even visiting our site!

Subscribe to our news

Rebuild.org monthly news archive