From RealTrends.com: The housing and automobile industries are the main driving forces of the economy – in both directions. That makes sense since consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy, and homes and cars are the biggest ticket items consumers spend money on. More importantly, unlike most purchases, it’s not just spending the money they made last week, but through loans and mortgages it’s spending in advance money they will earn for the next five to thirty years.That housing and autos therefore continue to be the economy’s main driving forces was dramatically demonstrated when both home and auto sales were so instrumental in driving the economy and markets higher after the 2000-2002 meltdown. And then when the resulting real estate bubble burst in 2006, housing and autos led the way down into the sub-prime mortgage catastrophe and then the meltdown into the 2008-2009 Great Recession.
Their powerful influence continued when in 2008 and early 2009 trillions were spent, mostly on the bailout of banks and the rest of the financial sector, but the economy didn’t begin recuperating to any noticeable degree until the housing industry and automakers began their substantial recovery.
And they have indeed experienced a substantial recovery.
Read more: The Real Estate Mini-Bubble Will Be Economy’s Next Problem – Forbes.