I’m offering a double-dose of Friday Fun Video. It’s our national anthem, in honor of the 4th of July. The first is an inspiring rendition by the United States Marine Band, with images. The second is a straightforward rendition with the words highlighted so you can follow along. I like these straightforward versions. I’m not a big one for the weird things singers sometimes do to the song.

Happy 4th of July!

Every year, I go camping with my family. I load up, and meet my parents, siblings and their families in some woodsy location and pitch a tent. Here in the U.S., living in a tent for a few days is recreation. Unfortunately, as foreclosures rise and things continue to go downhill, people in the richest country in the world are living in tents out of necessity. With foreclosures and job losses on the rise, tent cities are popping up around the country. US REO Properties reports on the advent of tent cities:

The big cities like Los Angeles and New York are one of the worst affected but the smaller towns have not been spared. Here too the people who have become unemployed and lost their houses to foreclosure are settling down in newly formed tent cities out of the sheer need to survive. The Associated Press reports that 61% of the homeless coalitions (local and state) report that there has been a sharp increase in homelessness.

Speaking to New York Times, Peter Stack the manager of homeless centre operations in Fresno said, “They just popped up about 18 months ago. One day [the railroad lot] was empty. The next day, there were people living there.”

Homelessness on this scale has not been seen for decades. And, even though our economy is nowhere close to a Depression, the only comparable image involves tent cities, “Hoovervilles“, set up during the Great Depression.

Foreclosures are still spiraling out of control on the housing market.The good news that pending home sales are up has been overshadowed by the fact that the tide of foreclosures continues to rise. According to Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis, prime loan delinquencies have doubled, and foreclosure filings have exceeded 300,000 for three months in a row. However, there are hopes that the foreclosures will begin to subside as Barack Obama’s foreclosure prevention measures begin to bear fruit. Bloomberg reports on some of the hopes for the housing market future:

“I’m very concerned about the rise in delinquent mortgages and foreclosure actions,” Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said in a statement with the report. President Barack Obama’s plan to create “sustainable, payment-reducing modifications is a positive step that should show significant benefits in the coming months,” Dugan said.

For homeowners trying to sell their homes fast, this represents yet another stumbling block. It is hard to compete with distressed homes, and as long as there is a glut of foreclosures on the market, other types of homes will have a harder time making headway.

Trying to sell a home in this market is a bit difficult. If you are going to sell, you have to be prepared to lower your asking price — and maybe even accept a loss. That is a lesson that basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has learned as he has tried to sell his Miami mansion over the past year. He finally did sell, for $16 million — which turns out to be less than the $18.8 million he paid for it. And significantly less than the original $32 million asking price.

In the current housing market, there is a glut of homes. Even high end luxury homes are seeing some increased supply. And that means that the buyer is at an advantage — especially if the seller has to move. If you want to sell your home, but don’t want to take a loss, you might consider renting it out. This is the solution that many take when they have to move. They help offset the cost of the mortgage on the home by renting it out. Then, when the market recovers (which may not happen until at least 2012), it is possible to sell for a better price.

Several months ago, a Ponzi scheme fell to pieces and billionaire investment manager Bernard Madoff was revealed as a con man. He has been on trial, and found guilty. And today he was sentenced to 150 years prison. Clearly, he’s not going to live that long. And, there is a good chance the 71 year old wouldn’t have made it the 12 years his lawyer asked for. However, the judge decided that the man behind one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history needed to serve as an example to the rest of the financial sector.

Sort of.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of other crooks out there in the financial world. While they may not be instigating Ponzi schemes, they are — quite likely — involved in other sneaky and underhanded practices. But most financial sector workers and companies have emerged largely unscathed. Which means that Bernie Madoff pretty much represents the entirety of justice being served to the financial sector. Perhaps that is why he got such a long sentance. Perhaps he is atoning for the sins of an entire industry that went crazy with greed the last 10 - 15 years.

So today’s video isn’t exactly “fun”. But it does show what an amazing entertainer Michael Jackson was. Enjoy his first ever moonwalk. A great song, and a cool dance move. I can’t say how long I practiced before I could do some semblance of that. (Hint: It worked best in my ballet shoes and and my clogging shoes.)

RIP Michael Jackson.

While the housing market is considered one of the pillars of economic recovery, it is far from the only consideration. Another important factor in economic recovery is employment. In fact, some argue that the labor market might be the most important consideration for a successful economic recovery. This is because as long as people are still losing jobs, they won’t be able to spend the money that keeps the economy moving. And, of course, increased unemployment means that eventually home payments won’t be made, and the housing market will continue to suffer.

Today, the labor market (and the economy) received another blow. Initial jobless claims leaped to a one-month high today. There have been some declines in the jobless rate since March, proving some hope that the recession might be nearing its end. However, the data released today shows that there is still a long way to go before the labor market returns to normal. And that means delays in other aspects of economic health as well.

Numbers for May’s new home sales are in, and it appeares that there has been an unexpected fall. Analysts thought that there would be an increase in new home sales, driven by government programs, low mortgage rates and low home prices. However, new home sales fell instead.

This is line with some opinions that the housing market will continue to languish through this year and maybe next year, and begin to see some increased activity in 2011. The housing market is not expected to stabilize and begin thriving until 2012.

One of the biggest reasons that new homes sales are falling is due to the preference for existing homes. New construction just can’t compete with the bargains offered by existing homes. In many cases, home owners are willing to deal, selling for below market value. Additionally, foreclosures make up a relatively substantial number of existing home sales. It’s hard for a builder with fixed costs to compete with those kinds of deals.

Right now, there is a lot of talk revolving around “economic green shoots” and the end of the recession. However, there has been very little in the way of solid evidence that things are improving in a substantial manner. Unemployment is slowing, but the numbers are still high. Additionally, housing prices have yet to reach a bottom. But there is speculation that the housing market will return to normal in 2012.

Kathy Tyson at Real Estate Investing on Banks.com points this out about hopes for the housing market:

There is hope again for a “boring” housing market - one in which there are just as many buyers as sellers and home prices aren’t plunging and home loans area affordably available.

Stability in the housing market — and the rest of economic recovery –  is not likely to be seen quickly. Recovering from the current recession is going to take the better part of two years, and it appears that the housing market will be long in recovery as well.

It appears as though enthusiasm about “economic green shoots” has been a bit premature. The World Bank has announced that it is cutting its global growth forecast for 2009, showing that economic uncertainty still remains. There are a number of factors at play here, but one of them appears to be higher oil prices. With prices rising on the hope of rapid economic recovery, speculation has sent oil prices high enough that they are cutting into consumer spending and contributing to the slow down. At least, many analysts feel that higher oil prices could slow global economic recovery.

Another issue is the fact that many probably just jumped the gun. With signs that the recession may be coming to a close, over-eager investors and analysts have been looking forward to economic recovery. However, any economic recovery is likely to come slowly, as evidenced by the new World Bank forecast.

It is important to remember that this recession isn’t going to be completely reversed overnight. These things take time. The recession isn’t likely to come to a complete end until the close of this year, and economic recovery will be happening all through 2010 and into 2011.