Existing homes are starting to move again. Last month, home resales hit their highest level in more than two years, thrashing expectations. The 9.4% increase in home resales -- which entails a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.57 million -- is attributed largely to the deadline for the first-time home buyer tax credit.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the annualized, seasonally adjusted rate is up from the 5.1 million in August and far ahead of the 5.35 million expected for September (based on economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters).

The clean technology wave just got a little bigger. This tends to be a side-effect of interest from billionaire investor George Soros. And, as usual, it's more than just money; it's more than just a return. Soros, yet again, is trying to save the world. Interestingly, the bold move was announced at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate – an international association consisting of 430 newspapers from 150 countries (and thus with clear ties to the past, rather than future).

The investor and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC is planning to put $1 billion into clean-tech opportunities using what he calls "rather stringent criteria," which involves being "profitable but should also actually make a contribution to solving the problem [i.e., of clean technology adoption and proliferation]." Soros didn't provide any other details on the nature or scope of his investments.

Lincoln, Neb., is the best place in the country for job-hunters. A new survey by headhunting firm Manpower (NYSE: MAN) reports that 21% of employers there plan to add employees in the next quarter, with only 4% looking to cut. That 17% spread (which Manpower calls the "net employment outlook") is tops in the United States.

Flint, Mich., on the other hand, is at the other end of the spectrum: 26% of employers are planning to chop jobs, while only 9% are forecasting new positions.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) expects almost half of all U.S. homeowners to be underwater -- figuratively, of course -- by 2011.

Declines in home prices and the fact that some of those difficult mortgages just aren't going away put 26% of homeowners in this situation by the end of last March, and it seems the situation is only going to get worse. Unlike the early stages of the credit crisis, which were driven by subprime mortgages, the next iteration will have a greater effect on prime mortgage borrowers, which comprise two-thirds of the loans outstanding.

Unlike the stock market, the bond market thrives on "bad" news. Why is this? The main reason is the money trail. Investors are quick to move their money from stocks into bonds when something bad happens.

Yesterday we had plenty of bad news. The U.S. job market lost 467,000 jobs, a 26-year high. Now to add fuel to the fire, wages are dropping due to layoffs and shortened work weeks (WSJ subscription required). Fewer people are working, which means less money that consumers have to spend. That signals a slower economy.

The median price for existing homes in California gained 1.4% in April, posting an increase for a second month in a row. The bold are calling this the bottom (or close to it), though another financial market surprise could change the rules as it did six months ago. However, if the small uptick is real, it could mean that the worst is behind us, as some use the California residential real estate market as a leading indicator for the broader economy.

There is increasing evidence that states like California and Michigan, which are running huge budget deficits, will need federal aid to keep their essential services operating. They could plummet an already battered federal budget billions of dollars further into a deficit.

The need for state bailout funds seems to be growing and growing quickly. According to MSNBC, "In Ohio, which has shed 100,000 jobs in the past year, Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and his budget team spend a lot of time delivering bad news to constituents and plotting ways to wring money from the federal government." The state's two-year budget deficit could rise to well over $7 billion.

In places like Ohio and Michigan, matters are only going to get worse. Big industrial states are extremely likely to lose more jobs and businesses as sectors from automotive to retailing may see some companies disappear completely.

The issue that becomes more troubling every day is whether there is a finite limit to what the federal government can spend to save the national economy. Of course there is, but no one knows that number, which means no one can predict which industries and municipalities will get capital.

With so many beggars, the new Congress and administration are going to run low on hand-outs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.