Here Comes the Cavalry

There is a tremendous likelihood, especially after the good data released last Thursday for unemployment insurance claims (they were down by about 2,000, and the 40-week average was down by a convincing 4,500), that the report on employment gains in February (to be released this Friday) will cause a lot of rejoicing in the real estate markets.

At this moment, there is just about nothing more important to the on-going recovery--that is, the strengthening of real estate sales volume--than improvements in our nation's ability to generate jobs for those who need them. Someone contemplating the purchase of a home wants to feel confident that he or she will have a job for the foreseeable future, and thus be able to make the monthly payments on a large and inevitably frightening mortgage.

So--Friday should give us an attractive set of figures for job growth. We should hear from a lot of economic analysts who, of course, "knew it all along." We may see interest rates--including mortgage interest rates--edge a bit higher, as they do when they run into good economic news these days. Real estate sales should increase a bit, and it will be fascinating to see if greater sales volume will translate into a self-fulfilling cycle of sales increases. The stock markets should react with pleasure. Etc.

But there are still reasons for concern, of course, and there are many analysts who seem to write their economic judgments while sucking on lemons who will rush to tell us how skeptical they are of economic advances in such uncertain times.

They will have a point. But the greater point, at least for the moment, is that the numbers will be real. They cannot be argued away. They must be incorporated into one's view of the marketplace. And don't let anyone take away the pleasure of doing that.

*****

Holy Nuggets, Batman!

Here's an investment I'd never contemplated before. About six years ago, a Nebraska woman noticed that one of the nuggets in her order of Chicken McNuggets bore a striking resemblance to the familiar face of George Washington on a 25-cent coin. Rather than eat it, she kept it in her freezer all these years and then, inspired by a with to raise money for her church, she offered the nugget on EBay and received a bid of $8,100.

EBay at first denied the sale, since they don't handle "expired food." But they let it go through since it was for a good cause. One assumes, too, that nuggets have a lengthy shelf life in your freezer.

All of which confirms my own saying: "One man's rock'n'roll may be another's migraine." And probably proves once again that there are fortunes to be found in the most unlikely places.

Sushi, anyone?