NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Housing markets from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Stockton, California, will crash and suffer price drops of more than 30 percent before the housing crisis is over, a report from Moody's Economy.com said on Thursday.

      On a national level, the housing market recession will continue through early 2009, said the report, co-authored by Mark Zandi, chief economist, and Celia Chen, director of housing economics.

      The report paints a worsening picture of the hard-hit housing sector, which is in the midst of its worst downturn since World War II.

      While activity will stabilize in 2009, it will not be until 2010 before a measurable improvement in sales, construction and pricing will emerge, the report said.

      The Bottom Line:  30% adjustment, just like it was predicted years ago.

-  Honey Beats Meds at Soothing Kids' Cough

      "Honey provided the greatest relief of symptoms compared with the other treatments," concluded lead researcher Dr. Ian Paul, Penn State's director of pediatric clinical research.

      An FDA advisory board recently recommended that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines not be given to children under 6 years of age because of a lack of effectiveness and potential for side effects.

      "With honey, parents now have a safe and effective alternative to use for children over age 1 who have cough and cold symptoms," Paul said.

      Paul cautioned that honey should never be given to children younger than 1, because of the rare risk of infantile botulism. In addition, he noted, cough medicines that mention "honey" on the label actually contain artificial honey flavor.

      In the study, 105 children ages 2 to 18 were given either honey, artificial honey-flavored DM or no treatment about a half-hour before bedtime, according to the report in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

      Paul's group found that honey was more effective in reducing the severity and frequency of nighttime cough compared with DM or no treatment. Honey also allowed the children to sleep.

      Moreover, DM was not much better at reducing cough than no treatment, the researchers found.

      Paul's team used a dark honey in their trial. Whether other honeys would be equally effective is not known, Paul said.

      Some of the children were hyperactive for a short time after being given the honey, Paul said. However, children who received honey slept better and so did their parents, the researcher noted.

      Honey has been used for centuries to treat upper respiratory infection symptoms such as cough. In addition, honey has antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, and also soothes the back of the throat, Paul noted. "The World Health Organization has cited honey as a potential therapy," he said.

      Charlotte Jordan, a project manager of research at the National Honey Board, believes the finding confirms what your grandmother told you.

      "This is a really exciting finding," she said. "For a long time it's been folklore medicine to use honey when you have a cough or a cold, but it's exciting to have a scientific study to back that up.".."

      The Bottom Line:  And let it be noted, honey has and indefinate shelf-life.

      Florida (Bloomberg) -- Florida officials are going to meet today to talk about the crisis in the state's Local Government Investment Pool. I don't know what they are going to talk about, but I know what they had better decide.

      The State Board of Administration runs the pool, and its three trustees, Governor Charlie Crist, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum, had better decide that it's in the best interest of the state to ensure that all of the pool participants get their money back.

      The investment pool, which contained $27 billion this summer, now has $14 billion, the result of withdrawals by municipalities with keenly developed senses of self- preservation. On Nov. 29 the board told the remaining participants they couldn't withdraw any more money from the pool.

      The pool, which is where most of the state's municipalities put their money when they are not using it, owns $1.5 billion in securities that have been downgraded or defaulted as a result of the subprime market collapse.

      In freezing the pool, Coleman Stipanovich, executive director of the board, said, ``If we don't do something quickly, we're not going to have an investment pool.''

The state stopped the clock.

      The same clock is ticking for every state in the country where school districts and cities and towns put their faith in someone else, usually at the county or state level, to manage their money.

      What's It Worth?

      This means, I think, most of them..."

      The Bottom Line:  Buckle up; this is where the road gets bumpy.

-  Report: World food prices to rise

      BEIJING (AP) - "Food prices are set to rise around the globe after years of decline, with climate change making it harder for the world's poorest to get adequate food, according to a report released Tuesday.

      Rising global temperatures as well as growing food consumption in rapidly developing countries such as China and India are pressuring the world food system, meaning that food prices will rise for the foreseeable future, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.

      Joachim von Braun, the director of the Washington-based research group, said food prices have been in a declining trend since scientists began developing high-yield plant varieties decades ago, "but the days of falling food prices may be over."

      "The last time the world experienced such food price increases was in 1973 to 1974 ... but today the situation is completely different. For one, the climate risk and climate change situation has increased, the climate vulnerability has increased," von Braun told reporters in Beijing.

      The institute said in a report that hunger and malnutrition could rise as poor agricultural communities most sensitive to the environment, such as in Africa, are hurt. Dependency on food imports will also increase as cereal yields decline in those countries.

      The world's agricultural production is projected to decrease by 16 percent by 2020 due to global warming, the report said, with land used for certain crops shrinking. For example, it said land to grow wheat could almost disappear in Africa.

      It said growing demand in rapidly developing countries such as China and India for processed food and expensive meat and dairy products is driving up prices for those goods, as well as for staple grains used to feed cattle.

      In addition, switching to crops used for biofuels will also reduce the amount of available food and increase prices, it said.

      Trade barriers for food should be eliminated, especially in developed nations, the report recommended, so small farmers can earn more money.

      "A world facing increased food scarcity needs to trade more, not less," the report said.

      The Bottom Line:  One day the balance of people and food will become unsettled and things will get very ugly, very quickly.

       The Financial Services Authority (FSA), said a tougher global financial situation could affect the whole UK mortgage market, boosting defaults.

       Access to cash could become more difficult - a problem that caused the run on Northern Rock earlier this year.

       Lenders needed contingency plans to guard against the "worst outcomes", the City watchdog said.

       The FSA also told lenders that despite the liquidity and credit risks it was important that lenders maintained their focus on treating customers fairly, including their treatment of customers in arrears.

Changing world

       Already there were signs that the market might be changing, the FSA said.

       The watchdog warned that arrears and repossessions have increased significantly, albeit from a very low base and concentrated in specific sectors of the market.

       "There is a very real prospect that conditions will worsen further into next year, in terms of both liquidity and credit risks," Clive Briault, the FSA's retail managing director, told the Council of Mortgage Lenders' annual conference.

      The Bottom Line:  More?

      Had this homeowner behaved responsibly, as was typical for Americans of prior generations, her current monthly mortgage payments would likely be less than $600 and the remaining balance on her loan would be about $40,000. In eight more years she would have owned her home free and clear, and would likely be on track for early retirement. Instead, after 22 years of making mortgage payments, she is now $625,000 in debt. The article stated that she had recently tried to refinance into a 6%, forty year, fixed-rate mortgage, but it fell through. Even if she had qualified, she would have been obligated to make monthly mortgage payments of close to $4,000 until she was in her nineties.

      For years, Wall Street and the media have been singing the praises of the heroic American consumer. To that end Mrs. Brandon could be portrayed as Wonder Woman. She did her part to power our consumer driven economy by borrowing and spending to her heart's content. Her last refinance even allowed her to buy a brand new Lexus. As long as she could find a greater fool willing to loan her more money, there was no limit to what she could buy. As it turned out, Citigroup was the greatest fool, left holding the bag on a $625,000 mortgage on a house now likely worth only half that amount.

      Is it any wonder that we have enjoyed such a vibrant consumer based economy when a working class couple with perhaps $60,000 per year of household income can borrow over $500,000 (tax free) and buy whatever they want with the money? As the bills come due and those who have been doing all of the lending finally realize they will never be repaid, this crazy consumption binge will finally come to an end..."

      The Bottom Line:  Class dismissed.

      "This storm is hitting the coast so hard, it's not leaving any road open," Transportation Department spokeswoman Christine Miles said.

      The first wave of severe weather in the Northwest, which hit Sunday, was expected to reach the Upper Midwest with snow Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. That region had already been battered over the weekend by ice and snow before the storm blew into the Northeast on Monday.

      The governors of Washington and Oregon declared states of emergency, which will allow for easier aid to stricken communities.

      Helicopter rescues were being launched for stranded hikers and some homeowners trapped by flooding, state emergency management officials said. An estimated 30 to 40 people evacuated a flooded mobile home park near Astoria in northwestern Oregon, said Peter Williamson of the Red Cross..."

      The Bottom Line:  Opinions like this are becoming more widespread.

       GENEVA (yahoo) - "A new form of the deadly Ebola virus has been detected in an outbreak in western Uganda that has so far killed 16 people, the World Health Organization said Friday.

      Tests conducted by a national lab in Uganda and confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the virus belongs to a different subtype than the four already known, said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl.

      "We are very concerned about this because it does not present (symptoms) in exactly the same way as other Ebola strains," he said, adding that the new subtype appeared to be associated with vomiting, which does not usually occur in Ebola patients.

      Dr. Sam Zaramba, director general of Uganda's health service, said on Thursday that laboratory tests in South Africa and the United States had confirmed 51 Ebola cases, and of those, 16 patients died.

      The first case was reported on Nov. 10 in Bundibugyo district, 200 miles west of the capital, Kampala, Zaramba said.

      Ebola typically kills most of those it strikes through massive blood loss, and has no cure or treatment. It is spread through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person, or objects that have been contaminated with infected secretions..."

      The Bottom Line:  This is only the beginning.

       Moscow (pravda.ru) - "President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law suspending Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, the Kremlin announced.

The suspension takes effect Dec. 12. Under the moratorium, Russia will halt inspections and verifications of its military sites by NATO countries and will no longer be obligated to limit the number of conventional weapons deployed west of the Urals.

The 1990 arms control treaty set limits on the deployment of heavy conventional weapons by NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, to ease tensions along the border between the old Eastern bloc and Western Europe. The treaty was revised in 1999 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia ratified the updated treaty in 2004, but the United States and other NATO members have refused to follow suit, saying Moscow first must fulfill obligations to withdraw forces from Georgia and from Moldova's separatist region of Trans-Dniester.

Both houses of parliament passed the law on the moratorium at Putin's initiative.

      Hundreds of flights were canceled at airports in Des Moines, Chicago and Milwaukee on Saturday, with officials closing Des Moines International Airport for several hours after a United Airlines plane slid off a taxiway as it headed to a runway for a flight to Chicago's O'Hare. None of the 44 passengers was injured and the airport reopened by mid-afternoon.

      At Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wis., an incoming Mesa Airlines regional jet flying for United Express slid off the pavement after failing to make a turn onto a taxiway, but no injuries were reported among the 25 passengers..."

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Deadly Midwest storm halts air, highway traffic