Potential home buyers have a two-step decision process. First, they determine whether they can afford to make a purchase - does their income safely cover their mortgage payment? Then they determine whether owning is a better financial choice than renting - are the costs of owning a home lower than the cost of renting it?

Distressed properties are often vacant and in disrepair, and thus sold at significant discounts. As the share of distressed sales grows, home prices fall.

The Bush tax cuts should be extended permanently for families with annual incomes of less than $250,000 and should be phased out slowly for those making more than that. Raising taxes on anyone now, when the economic recovery is so fragile, would be a mistake.

The extension and expansion of the payroll tax holidays for workers would be number one on my list and key to avoiding recession.

I'm a registered Democrat.

There are different flavors of recession. You can get into some pretty dark scenarios pretty quickly.

The principal linkages between Japan and the U.S. global economies are trade, financial markets, and commodity markets.