The official version of reality in use this week at the White House says that the U.S. economy is recovering, slowly but surely, and unemployment is falling. The same perspective says that residential real estate markets are stabilizing and banks are starting to lend more aggressively. None of these statements are true, but there are quite a few people in the White House who believe them nonetheless. My view is a bit different, namely that unemployment is likely to remain at current levels during the balance of 2010. The sharp reduction in credit available to the real economy and the overhang in the mortgage markets are not likely to improve anytime soon. I spoke about the economic outlook with Larry Kudlow and James Glassman on CNBC last Friday: “Double Dip Fears Mount.”