HOMES CRASHING

The National Association of Realtors reports that home prices are falling fast. The average is about seven percent on an annual basis. The steepest drops are in the states - Arizona, California and Florida - where the huge increases heated up the real estate market.

This is significant news because housing construction has been the engine of the economy in recent years. Housing is one category not subject to outsourcing or moving off shore, although the labor is largely done by aliens.

If this market fizzles much more, the public will wake up and demand a protective tariff program to encourage factories in America (remember those?) They'll vote for representatives who will drastically reduce federal spending so as to make the dollar respectable abroad and ease the burden on taxpayers.

The middle class would be born again.