According to John Stepek of MoneyWeek the US housing market is continuing it's freefall. Why is that important? Because that's been the largest employer. Fewer new houses being built means more people unemployed. For the first time since the Great Depression Americans have a negative savings ratio, meaning they're spending more money than they're taking in. And it doesn't help that George Bush, John McCain, George Allen and company voted down raising minimum wages for the ninth straight year. That bill would have raised the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.20 an hour, which would have given a raise to not only the 2,100,000 Americans living exactly on the minimum wage but all those multiplied millions living slightly above it. What Americans have been doing is refinancing their mortgages for more spending money, which works as long as the housing market is rising. And it ain't rising any more