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To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (29106)	5/1/2005 8:25:16 PM
From: THE ANT	Respond to of 116555

I agree on housing.I think they know we need to increase savings.I was reading that in certain countries in Asia the governments were making housing costs rise to force savings(I guess in those cases the government was the land holder and/ or wasnt worried about the land holders taking the proceeds out of the country)Greenspan likely doesnt want homeowners to default but also doesnt want to let them off the hook.How else are we going to make the consumer save without driving interest levels sky high? I just made a rough calculation in my head.Im in Maryland.In 1992 the house down the street was going for 180K and now sold again for 500K.My salary is up by 50% since then (I am in a field where salary does not go up with experience/competence nor down with the opposite)I have built in raises for the next 5 years which by 2010 will double my salary since 1992(I do realize this is not likely to be true of others in this economy)Thus, that house should sell for about 360K.A 30% drop will get it there.I think this will happen.It will be painfull but I suspect Greenspan thinks this can happen without a full revolution

To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (29106)	5/1/2005 9:21:14 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 116555

Greenspan clearly prefers "muddle through" over collapse as do all bureaucrats. Regardless of their preferences, I think we're getting closer to the collapse. As you likely agree, using "Monetary Policy" to delay the onset of a downturn comes with a trade-off. As my dead economist Joseph Schumpeter says in my favorite quote of his, "Policy does not allow a choice between depression and no depression, but between depression now and a worse depression later." Monetary policy works only because it moves forward demand from the future to today through the issuance of debt. Use monetary policy excessively and you build up too much debt relative to income. home.pacbell.net The problems of too much debt cannot be solved through the creation of additional debt no matter how much Milton Friedman argues that you can. .