Home Building Up 15% in the United States

I don't know about the rest of the world, but home building in the United States is up 15%, according to data released this morning. Builders in the U.S. started new homes at an annual rate of 872,000 homes last month. They also filed new permits an an annual pace of 894,000, up 11.6% from the 801,000 rate the previous month. Perhaps the United States is the only country in the world on such a fast pace, but at least in America, both readings are the best since the summer of 2008, when things began to fall apart due to the Iraq War which caused a spike in gas prices that crippled families and businesses alike and led to massive foreclosures, a meltdown in the financial markets, and put the United States on the brink of collapse.