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[Juliana Dutra <kila01 AT yahoo.com>]

PS: I didn't write the previous article nor this one -
Jules

It's the economy
Fed chief Alan Greenspan and two other Fed governors
give speeches today, Bloomberg notes in its report
that the Fed is indeed thinking about continuing to
raise interest rates because of concerns about
inflation.

The Merrill Lynch research department yesterday
presented clients with a list titled "Seven
Constraints Facing the Consumer:
" 1) Personal "savings rate at -0.7%;" 
2) "Debt/income ratio at a record 124% (was 117% a
year ago);" 
3) "Housing affordability at a 14-year low; 16-year
low for first-time buyers;" 
4) "Fed tightening... - households have $2.3 trillion
of short-term debt that will get dinged by the
relentless rise in short-term rates;" 
5) "Higher energy prices;" 
6) "Lagging wages: average hourly earnings" are
growing at the "weakest pace" since December 1990;
and, 
7) "Regulatory credit changes: Fed letters of guidance
(mortgages), tightened bankruptcy protection laws
(Chapters 7, 13), higher minimum credit balance
payments."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/