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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (172569)	12/19/2008 12:20:45 PM
From: DebtBomb	Respond to of 306849

"Bush's entire approach is to push the worst of the collapse into the Obama administration. For him, that solves the problem. Not on HIS watch!" Bingo!

To: bentway who wrote (172569)	12/19/2008 12:24:47 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

Nothing's changed for decades... At least he gave the autos a bridge. Now Obama can bail the unions.

To: bentway who wrote (172569)	12/19/2008 12:38:10 PM
From: Bank Holding Company	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Yes. The bush regime was an abhorrent failure and now it's obama's problem. AWESOME!

To: bentway who wrote (172569)	12/19/2008 3:46:13 PM
From: ChanceIs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

I don't know about Bush's approach. Nor do I care. The greater point I am trying to make is that housing prices will revert to their long term historic norm, eg 3X gross income. There is nothing any government can do to stop that. The question is whether the government should do anything to subsidize (pay free rent for a period) those in horrible positions WRT their mortgages. I believe the integral of sharp pain over a short period will be much less that low pain over a much longer time span. There is also the moral hazard question. The constitution gives you the right to pursue happiness, it doesn't give the government the responsibility to ensure anybody's happiness. Quite a sad day when we first trod down that path. The constitution also has a clause on taxation. It reads something like....'all taxes shall be equal.' We could argue until the cows come home about what equal means. I would also raise the question about what tax means. What I pay to the government is clearly a tax. is what I receive from the government a "negative tax" which should be netted against the "positive taxes" I pay??? I sure think so. The intent of the law is clear - the government will deal equitably with all WRT personal finances. This BS about the mortgage interest deduction and now the mortgage bailout offends my nostrils and all my sensibilities.

To: bentway who wrote (172569)	12/19/2008 4:50:57 PM
From: ChanceIs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Home price to drop another 17%-24% to bottom. Another great source from CR. See the report: designs.valueinvestorinsight.com and especially pages 28 thru 42. There is no way that the government can stop the reversion to historical mean. It will happen. What the government can do is to try to mitigate the collateral damage - let the air out slowly. I am in the von Mises camp. Recessions come through misallocation of capital. As a society, we jammed too much capital into housing. It makes no sense to jam more in or not to take some and redirect it elsewhere. I get soooo irritated by these plaintive cries from Congress.....do something to help the homeowner. He made his bed, let him sleep in it. In many instances the jingle mail is best for the (former) homeowner. To me the approach is obvious - renter nation. About the only sensible thing the government has done is to allow renters in foreclosed investment properties to stay a while longer - anti-eviction legislation. Houses don't produce anything. The situation must correct. The borrowers, lenders, and intermediaries all have to take their lumps. When does it ever benefit anyone to continue to deny the reality of an economic position. It clouds the judgment.