Tracking foreclosure...

Number of houses foreclosed - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=HOMFCLOS:IND

Also - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=FORLSUBP:IND

% houses foreclosed - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BBMDFCL:IND

Retail sales...

From http://www.census.gov/marts/www/marts_current.html

- Gasoline stations sales down by -34% y-o-y. Of course, they sell much more than gasoline but most of it is gasoline.

- Motor sales down -23.5% y-o-y

- Health/personal care increased by 2.2% y-o-y

Over the past couple months, retail sales consistently fell below ~10% y-o-y.

How much do ppl eat out...

For every dollar spent on food - 48 cents is spent in restaurants.

Social security numbers....

Numbers for US

Working population ~150M

Tax returns filed last year ~120M(or 130M... a lot of ppl file taxes jointly)

Retirees receiving social security ~50M

I didn't expect Retirees/working population ratio to be 1/3.

Mortgage backed securities price indexes ....

CMBS - http://www.mlindex.ml.com/gispublic/bin/QuickChart.asp?sCurr=0|