"It's difficult to see a path out of this crisis, at least not without more people dying."
That's how NPR's Cairo bureau chief, Leila Fadel, ended her Morning Edition report Thursday. After Wednesday's deadly crackdown by the army on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi — a crackdown that according to latest estimates left more than 500 people dead and 3,500 or so wounded — the fear is that there will be much more bloodshed.
Six years ago, the U.S. housing market plunged off a cliff. Now prices are bouncing back up — sharply in many markets.
That has some real estate analysts saying 2013 may mark the turning point — when pent-up demand will revive the housing sector and boost the broader economy.
The optimists say millions of Americans have been living with relatives or renting for years now, trying to ride out the Great Recession and the slow recovery. At this point, many are ready to buy homes of their own.
If that theory turns out to be right, the home-sales boom could lead to new jobs in construction, landscaping, drapery hanging, furniture making, lending and much more.
A Housing Resurgence?
The reasons for optimism are compelling:
— Census data show that the number of such multigenerational households of adults rose from 46.5 million in 2007 to 51.4 million by the end of 2009 — a 10.5 percent jump over just three years. That means millions of young adults are still living with their parents, and may be eager to move out.
— Rents are high. RealFacts LLC said that its most recent survey shows that out of 41 markets, rents were up in 39 and remained flat in two.
— Even as rents rise, homes remain affordable in most markets because prices are well below peak levels and interest rates remain low by historic standards.
— Overall household debt has declined to the lowest level since 2006, according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That means more people are in better financial shape to buy a house.
In light of all those factors, "there's pretty clearly a lot of pent-up demand," said Andrew Paciorek, an economist with the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.
His research shows that between 2006 and 2011, the number of Americans forming new households was less than half what it would have been under normal economic conditions. That rate of household formation represented "the lowest five-year period on record — at least back to the 1950s or so," he said.
His economic model predicts that the housing market will continue to see a steady boost as Americans finally shake off the recession and get back to forming new households.
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Egypt suffered a day of terrible violence Wednesday, and the bloodshed was compounded by several developments that suggest more confrontations are ahead.
Egypt's security forces reasserted their authority on a number of fronts and gave every appearance that they would press ahead with a crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups.
Here are several examples:
State of Emergency: The interim government declared a state of emergency for a month, which includes a 7 p.m. curfew. Egyptians have a long and painful history with emergency laws and are sure to be skeptical about the timetable. The former president, Hosni Mubarak, maintained virtual martial law for three decades until he was ousted in 2011.
Mohammed Morsi, the elected president who was removed by the military on July 3, declared a month-long state of emergency back in January, giving the security forces broad powers to arrest and detain people.
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Nobody, apparently. And maybe that's the thing: Bianco says she'd never done her "Total Eclipse" riff in public before, so everybody's getting their first look.
Plenty of New Yorkers (and tourists) have seen her diva mimicry, though, not least in the Times Square institution Forbidden Broadway, where she earned a Drama Desk nomination and honed her deadly accurate impressions of Kristin Chenoweth and Bernadette Peters. ("Never met either of them, but hope they understand that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.")
And she takes her solo show Diva Moments on the road from time to time; next up are dates in London, Sept. 6 and 7 at the Hippodrome.
The occasion for this "Total Eclipse" bit's debut was 54 Below's weekly Backstage night, a kind of open-mic hootenanny for theater types and madly ambitious fans. And yes, it was unrehearsed.
"I have a rough outline," Bianco says; she'd given host Suzie Mosher a list of diva names to shout out, and she knew she wanted to end with Celine Dion, "but the rest of it was sort of loosey-goosey."
But then Bianco seems like the game sort in general. Her NPR-adjacent experience involved Jeff Lunden, who'd written a song about Billy Crystal, who was the honoree at a gala at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Bianco, one of the two singers hired to perform, "had to sing it as if I were an old woman who grew up with Billy Crystal in Lawnguyland. So I think Jeff knew I wasn't afraid of funny voices."
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