Following April’s anemic 2% growth, May looks like it will receive a shot of car-HGH. The U.S. consumer is poised to scoop up 1,378,000 new vehicles this month, which translates to an annual selling rate of 14.2 million. As we know, new car sales are typically seen as a barometer for the economy, and if growth continues and we stay above 14 million new cars bought for the year, it will be the best industry performance since 16.1 million cars were purchased in 2007.

That was the last year before the financial and housing markets drove their vehicles off a cliff. Well, incidentally, the housing market *might be* improving, too. Existing home sales were up 3.4% in April, and the median price (perhaps a better indicator of a recovering housing market) rose 10.1% from last April; this was the largest monthly price increase since January 2006.

People are buying cars and houses and shares of Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg is wearing a tie (he was married earlier this week in his backyard to his college sweetheart).

All signs of economic improvement! Why don’t you go and drive your old, ratty beater off a cliff and use CarWoo! to get a new car on the cheap.

(Get out of the car before it goes over the cliff; don’t be like Lehman Brothers in 2008.)