Debt & Demand 1 by WoodsyYou’d have to be freaking Mary Poppins to be optimistic about the economy and would need a whole lot more than a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down: You’d have to swallow all of Cuba’s sugar fields.

And, what is the cause of our economic woes? That’s right. The housing/mortgage/credit crisis which is now spreading to even those who just rent their homes from others.

The New York Times is reporting that a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association shows that “one in eight foreclosures was non-owner occupied.” Worse, the article goes on to say that the figure “probably underestimates the problem.”

Essentially what is happening across America is that property owners caught up in the mortgage debacle are foreclosing in record numbers and their poor renters are given the boot not even knowing what hit them and often with little or no warning.

The Times highlights Nevada–which has been very hard hit by the mortgage crisis–where 28 percent of mortgage defaults are in non-owner occupied houses or apartments.

And, there is yet more housing crisis related bad news, this from Detroit where there is a prediction that auto sales could hit a 15 year low.

Reuters quotes one experts as saying “…I think the mortgage issue is going to freak people out and that will hit pretty hard in ‘08.”

Now, for the good news……………………………………………………………………………………