I look across the street and see an empty house. Next to that is another and behind that one is yet another and another. The talking heads on TV tell me that things are getting better, but my gut tells me that they haven't stopped getting worse. And here's why:

That empty house across the street? It's abandoned. Not so shocking, right? We all have them in our neighborhoods. Un-mowed lawn, windows open to the world. A haven to rats and squirrels, a local clubhouse for mischievous teens or homeless. Empty, un-kept and unloved and apparently unowned.

Three years ago this house sold for $360,000.00. A nice large family with 4 kids, a brand new Excursion and dog moved in and stayed for a year an a half. Then one night, in the middle of the night, the lights went out and never came back on. The next day there was no one home. They had left. Windows open, mail on the stoop...garbage on the curb.

Things are getting worse.

In this day of foreclosures at record highs and 11 percent unemployment? They say" it's past!" They say "It's bottomed!" They say "It's on it's way up!". They point at the rebound in the stock market. They claim that "The Stimulus" is working.

This house is unowned. The supposed owner walked off leaving their responsibility to the bank. The bank has ignored it, leaving their responsibility to the owner. This is a ghost house, shadow inventory, a property that no-one owns that no-one claims and is becoming a blight on the neighborhood. The bank insists that they are trying to work out a settlement with an ex-owner who will never come back and repair the damages that have racked up in his absence.

The dirty little secret is that this is standard practice in the banking world right now. Maybe if they ignore it it will go away. If they acknowledge it it becomes real. On the books, a statistic, a number with all the encumbrances therein. Then they have to take care of it and to rehabilitate it and to try to sell it. Or to raze it to the ground and take a full share of loss.

At least the city started mowing the lawn last month.