MEANWHILE, IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  The Arizona shootings have understandably taken our eye off other issues, like an economy whose recovery is ultra-fragile.  Consider this, from Fox:

The bleakest year in the foreclosure crisis has only just begun.

Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.

"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc.
The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005.

One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.

COMMENT:  This is a catastrophe, but doesn't get much play in the mainstream media.  I can't think of much that is worse economically than a family losing its home. 

We were given "good" employment news last week, only to find out later that it wasn't very good at all.  The unemployment rate went down, but only because more and more people are leaving the work force.  If the employment picture doesn't actually improve, and if foreclosures escalate, the political implications for the president and his party can be grave.  Unless there is a major foreign crisis, the economy will still dominate our political discussion.

January 13, 2011