Home construction maven Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL) joined the choir of the footsore and cash-starved today by calling on government to make it all better. According to CEO Robert Toll, the U.S. government needs to “aid” the housing market, primarily by propping up home values.

Gas prices hit another record high. Soaring food prices ignite riots the world over. It should come as no surprise that a 71% increase in food prices since 2006 has the good citizens of South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Mozambique up in arms.

Folks have three things on their minds this weekend: food prices, gas prices and Kimbo Slice. In other words, consumer sentiment hits 28-year lows and the only relief in sight is pure, unadulterated violence on CBS.

Don’t believe all the gloom and doom you read… The U.S. housing bust may be just about over. We should be darn close to the bottom… possibly within one year of it.

Questioning the Fed’s moves… Euros slow down… Aussie hits 25-year high… Oil hits $135!

Who’s this menacing figure storming out of 11 Downing Street? Why, if it isn’t scary Alistair Darling, who’s been up all night practicing Chinese burns in preparation for today’s Big Meeting with the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Well, as I suspected, it doesn’t look like the Bank of England’s £50bn injection is going to bring down mortgage rates any time soon.

Yesterday, UK rates came down a quarter to 5%. ECB rates held steady as expected at 4% and all of us who continue to feel poorer can be grateful that we’re not paying a mortgage in Iceland.

It’s the end of an era. The last widely-available 100% mortgage product has been taken off the market. Abbey, the UK’s third-biggest lender, has yanked the no-deposit deal. It’s also planning to raise its tracker mortgage rates by up to 0.35%.

A normally busy restaurant near me was half empty on Saturday evening. The same was true of a usually vibrant bar around the corner. What’s going on? The answer is unfortunately simple – household budgets are now tight for most of us.