Census Data Shows How Housing Bubble Burst

"New census data show that throughout the first half of the decade, the slumping economy touched nearly every U.S. community. Incomes dropped while poverty and unemployment rose in the vast majority of the nation's cities and towns."

"The numbers weren't as bad in other parts of country, but no region was spared, with incomes dropping as home prices escalated. The result: an unsustainable housing market that fueled the current economic crisis."

"The new numbers explain why the housing bubble burst and why the economy was such a big issue in this year's presidential campaign. They also explain why voters soured so much on President Bush's handling of the economy, even before the current financial crisis."

"The years covered by the report include the housing market at its peak. Incomes had started to rise while poverty and unemployment rates had begun to fall, after the recession earlier in the decade. But in the vast majority of cities and towns, economic conditions never fully reached the prosperity that marked the beginning of the decade."