The Bank of America has essentially placed a huge wager on the housing market being at a bottom and it being the time to buy. Bank of America Corp.'s $4 billion takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp., a fraction of its $24 billion market value only a year ago, is a sign that the company believes that the housing market has hit a low.

This is a relatively good sign, as many analysts have been warning that we are amidst a serious recession.  The unemployment rate is at a 2-year high, the trade deficit (the gap between imports and exports) is at its highest in 14 months at $63.1 billion.  Meanwhile, China's global trade surplus jumped 47% in 2007 from the previous year to a record $262 billion.

President Bush and the Democrat-controlled Congress are exploring economic rescue measures, including possible tax rebates.

There are optimists among us, such as Forbes columnist Rich Karlgaard.  It seems as though about half of people think that America will face a recession in 2008.  To me, that's a dangerous sign, because I believe people tend to be willfully blind about these things until its too late.