Wall Street took another shot on its chin during trading yesterday afternoon. Markets dropped almost from the outset and conditions only got worse as the day wore on. The NASDAQ led the way down with a 1.66 percent (35.87 points) decline, followed closely by a drop on the S&P 500 (1.45 percent, 15.49 points) and Dow Jones (1.32 percent, 133.96 points).

The declines from earlier this week are set to continue today. According to MarketWatch, durable goods orders were up in July 2010 for the first time in three months. Despite the modest gains in durable goods, orders are up 0.3 percent, markets are still headed down. This probably has some relation to the fact that if transportation equipment, such as Boeing’s recent aircraft sales, are excluded durable goods orders actually drop 3.8 percent. The performance of durable goods, sans aircraft, is actually the worst monthly performance since January 2009.

Today’s market movements are representative of the problems facing the United States in general. Here and there one company or sector might perform admirably, but overall the rest of the economy will stagnate. The gains of Boeing have no relation to anything else. Just as the profits of Wal-Mart or the earnings of JPMorgan Chase have absolutely no reflection on the rest of the economy.

One indication of this is the increasingly poor performance of the housing market. According to Bloomberg News, the increasing foreclosure crisis and the stagnation of the job market are wearing the housing market down.

Without jobs to pay for monthly mortgage installments, and without any real help in the case of foreclosure, it is hard to imagine the American housing market fixing itself. Thus far the American people have been told to figure it out without much assistance.

The Republicans want to cut taxes for the rich. Both parties voted for a financial bailout of the world’s largest banks. The Democrats voted for a stimulus that was largely wasted on tax rebates to the middle class. Amid all of this no one in power has entertained the notion of giving direct attention to the problems facing most Americans.

Shoring up the housing market would be simple. The government could simply declare that no person suffering from a recessionary financial hit can be foreclosed on. It could then buy up empty lots in crisis areas. The solutions are simple, but the will to enact them is simply not there.

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