can rely onto try and really go after and overturn this healthcare reform law. jon: the chief congressional correspondent for the examiner, sue, thank you. julie: home prices taking a hit falling in most major u.s. cities, but consumer confidence is actually surging. doug mcelway with the details live in washington d.c. doug, what should we make of the new numbers? reporter: it s a good news, bad news situation with the economic numbers. let s start with the bad news the decline in hoping prices, the housing slump remains a major inch pedestrian amount to a robust economic recovery. here is the key number that came out just this morning. the case-schiller index that standard & poors uses to measure the health of home prices designed 1.1% in ten major metropolitan markets in october from a month earlier. atlanta, though, down 5%, that is the highest, the steepest decline month to month while chicago, cleveland, detroit and minneapolis all posted monthly declines of 1% or more.
relief effort. only 12,000 people ultimately were helped. only a 10th of the applicants even qualified for the grants and interest free loans. bureaucratic problems plagued this program from the start. its rollout delayed for months. many would argue that is not such a bad thing. perhaps the problem is that government has had too much a role in the housing market. what it needs to do instead is get out of the way and let the very painful foreclosure process take place so that prices can finally bottom and slowly start recovering again. now, low rates have done very little to help the housing slump. if you don t have enough cash or home equity to get a modification or you are just too scared of risk in this market to buy you don t take advantage of even record rates. others have already refinanced because the average rate has been below 5% for a lot of ths last year and you aren t ready
in sales compared to 5.2% last year. the luxury sellers, they are doing amazingly, saks, nordstroms, tiffany s, all doing well. target did wellç on the other end of the spectrum. it is hard to know how much we are going to have to we ve got the housing slump, unemployment and the economy isn t doing well. the big question is all retailers minds is, when are we going to have to cut and by how much? jamie: and buy fromç whom? i read in research they are going to be buying more from other countries rather than buying goods that they could get here that could mean less jobs mean if the stores themselves are hiring. exactly. they may be importing quite a bit from china and the rest. it is all right now a big
deliver on those numbers. courtney, where are you, by was sunny. reporter: i m at the toys r us in times square. appreciate that. courtney reagan. let s turn to mandy drury. home ownership in this country has fallen to 65%. it has seen the biggest drop since the great depression. the american dream not a reality for more than a third of the country right now. reporter: yeah. this is despite 30-year fixed rate, 15-year fixed rate mortgages at an all-time low. why can t we get more people into homes right now in america? reporter: that is such an excellent question. obviously the housing slump really can t seem to get off its knees. it s really taking its toll. to your point about record low interest rates. there are a lot of people out there who do want to refinance or buy a home to take advantage of these record low interest rates. the problem is that credit standards have tightnd. and maybe you could argue that is a good thing. but nonetheless it means you
in american history is almost treason in my opinion. because he never served. perry told a military gathering, quote, i want to make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of the united states respects highly the president of the united states. in fact, perry even seems to question obama s patriotism. listen to this. you need to ask him. [ inaudible question ] i m saying a good reporter. go ask hm. cnn s shannon travis is in iowa. governor perry had a gem for you, i understand, in your cameras? that s right. reporter: he did have a gem for me. it s important to question whether the newly republican presidential candidate if this is his texas swaggering bravado. he is just getting into this race and has more established contenders who have been in the race longer. as you yu just mentioned he did say a little bit of things and say he sealed it with a kiss. romney took a swipe at you today saying he has private sector experience and that makes hi