High interest rates taking their toll. Once again, as in what else is new, the Fed has strangled the economy with ruinously high rates to fight an inflation that didn't exist except in housing. Unsold houses in inventory are around seven months, the "truckers index" of tonnage shipped by US haulage companies was down 1.8pc in October, a leading indicator of contraction. Merrill Lynch called the fall "borderline recessionary". Among the more immediate economic risks is the possibility of the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble, which has resulted in a 70 percent increase in U.S. home prices adjusted for inflation between 2000 and 2006. That's 70 percent in six years....I think that's bad. In addition, there is the very real risk of a disorderly correction in the U.S. dollar as a result of a historically wide U.S. current account deficit, while the risk of global protectionist pressures is intensifying as a result of China's intransigence in allowing any significant appreciation of its currency. So while the stock market goes up, the dollar slide is screaming a warning.

George "What, me Worry?" Bush is his usual articulate self. WTF?