New home sales in image form

The dismal science is detail-laden, so it's easy to glaze over at talk of federal reserve policy and forget the impact it has on your life. That's why I'm a big fan of the graphical representation. Unsure of what a few percentage points one way or the other means? Me, too. Pictures! I want pictures!

Hence the effect of this graph of new home sales nationwide. If the economy were that Cliffhanger game from The Price is Right, our little Bavarian climber would be tumbling down those little red lines, bonking his head on each red step.

We knew the housing market was bad. The image shows how bad. This is in concordance with local data, too, as hundreds of new homes are selling for tens of thousands less than the initial list price.

(Expanded image of the graph is here.)