New Home-Sale Incentive: Free House Calls

Lieberman's plan to raise eligibility to 67 would mean huge costs

(NEWSER) - Joe Lieberman’s proposal to raise Medicare eligibility to age 67 is proof that we’ve really “gone off the rails,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Really, we should be doing the opposite: extending Medicare, because it “actually saves money—a lot of money—compared with relying on private insurance companies.” Sure, Medicare spending per beneficiary, adjusted for inflation, has shot up more than 400% since 1969—but private health insurance premiums, also adjusted for inflation, have soared 700% in the same span. More»

Media sales price hits lowest level in almost 9 years

(AP) - Fewer Americans bought previously occupied homes last month, and those who did purchased them at steep discounts. The weak sales and rise in foreclosures pushed home prices down to their lowest level in nearly 9 years. Sales of previously occupied homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.88 million, said a Realtors' group; that's down 9.6% from 5.4 million in January. More»

Hint: California and Florida show up a lot

(NEWSER) - It's a rough time in general to sell your home, but some places are (far) worse than others. Richard Florida rounds up the 20 worst for the Daily Beast , with nine of the regions in California and six in Florida. Here are the top 5:

1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif: One of the nation's largest neighborhoods with negative equity.

The economy should be Obama's top priority: Henninger

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama makes health care sound like the most pressing issue in American life, but with unemployment at 10% and the country still officially in recession, Daniel Henninger wonders why he's "draining a dwindling reservoir of presidential capital." The cost of health care may be a problem for many, but government's job of fixing wrecked markets is not nearly over—and voters agree, with 87% dissatisfied with the economy. For the Wall Street Journal columnist, "even more so now than way back in 1992: It's still the economy, stupid." More»

Romer says the economy hasn't bottomed yet

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s top economic advisers fanned out across the Sunday talk shows today, with Tim Geithner leaving open the possibility that Obama would renege on a campaign promise not to raise taxes on the middle class. “We’re going to have to do what’s necessary” to revive the economy, the Treasury secretary said on This Week. White House economic adviser Christina Romer told State of the Union the economy hasn’t bottomed out yet, saying, “It’s going to be a long, hard slog getting out of this.” More»