Well, the Oracle of Omaha very bearish on the economy. Warren Buffett is predicting a long and deep recessions.

This is not all that surprising a conclusion seeing as how consumer confidence index fell to 57.2, well below the prediction of 60, and the lowest number since October 1992.

On the brighter side, the dollar has strengthened a bit, and crude prices have fallen, though Gas prices hit a new all time high for the 20th time in 20 days.

Even if oil prices moderate, the bond prices are falling because of inflation fears.

Basically, if you expect inflation, you don’t want to hold a bond with a fixed interest rate, and so if you want to sell your bond, the buyer wants a bigger discount.

In real estate, we have home prices falling an eye popping 14.1% year over year:

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.2 percent in March from February and plummeted a record 14.4 percent from March 2007.

Economists expected prices for the 20-city index to fall 2.0 percent on month and 14.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Reuters survey.

This is ugly for anyone who wants to buy a home, and the fact that we are seeing skyrocketing property tax delinquencies means that people who want to stay in their houses may find that municipal services are shrinking.

In banking, we have UBS saying that the mortgage bloodletting is not over, and US savings & loans setting aside $7.6 billion against potential losses in the home market, so if anyone is telling you that this has bottomed out, don’t believe them.