I remember a teacher I once had telling all of us that “status quo” was Latin for the “mess we are in,” and it certainly fits the housing market, and the economy in general.  We may well be in for that least-desired of all events, a “double dip” recession. Many factors contribute to this, of course, but the main one is weak jobs and weak wages.  Most private sector employees, if they can FIND work, must settle for less than they made, by quite a bit.  This is hardly what the “new folks in town” promised when they were elected in 2006, but who’s counting? The only thing that seems to have happened with the economy is that the feds have spent vast amounts of money shoring up the “bigs,” and the rest of us still wonder when we are going to see a return to employment and hopefully financial stability.  I recently read an article (admittedly a bit biased) in which the current administration is called the “Great Jobs Killer.”  See it here: http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/barack-obama–the-great-jobs-killer-97758294.html; now as I said, he’s biased, but this is really pretty much how the small business people in my own area (San Diego) view what is happening.  There are other issues, like the ones mentioned here:   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7871421/With-the-US-trapped-in-depression-this-really-is-starting-to-feel-like-1932.html.