This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver on Oct. 31 at 8:52 a.m. EDT.
The media were preoccupied yesterday with the drama surrounding Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) and its chairman Stanley O'Neal.
While so distracted, the media missed some very important housing data -- the release of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for August, which shows fresh signs of housing weakness.
When I link that release with the negative wealth effect stemming from an extended period of lower home prices (2006-10) and the stretching of the consumer's balance sheet into uncharted territory, the burden of economic growth, as I have previously written, lies increasingly on the shoulders of the stock market. Historically, this has been a slippery slope of dependence. ...
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