Quote:
Originally Posted by malamute
Trying to put the housing bubble back together again so we can have the appearance of a booming economy will be like putting Humpty Dumpty back together.
Obama hasn't yet come up with anything that is close to change. The housing bubble during the Bush years along with lowered wages for Americans through the export of our jobs and the import of millions of cheap labor to build the cheaply built houses for huge profits by the builders was the basis of what to some looked like a good economy. Now the housing bubble burst and no one has another plan.
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1. No one needed the bubble in the first place, so 'repairing' a bubble is not honest. The market has been correcting itself, and buyer beware for over valued properties still applies.
2. I finally bought my first home last april, after being abused for years trying to save for a house and not bother with the mortgage realtor industrial complex coaxing the rest of the world into indentured servitude. I saw that trap all too well in 80's reaganomics scheme. Why did republicans punish me for saving $$$ through taxation??? They wanted me in debt to support the artificial economy they could take credit for in media. I refused to pay $300k for a hovel. I refused to pay 900k for an over valued 300k hovel once an ammortization schedule is taken into consideration. I refused to take out a loan when the terms and the law have been rooked to tilt the board forever in their favor. I also refused to be abused by credit card companies or the tax man.
3. Where did all the 'value' of homes magically disappear? The sellers cashed in on 20yrs of appreciation the buyer should have enjoyed over time and maint. Seen through those glasses, the shell game becomes much more obvious. House flippers made off like bandits, and priced the working class out of their own neighborhoods. Considering the working class is 95% of our population, I'm thinking best the housing available reflect that, instead of permitting 20 million McMansions to get greased through because a developer and builder want that coveted high end market share. Too many get greedy, it does come at the expense of your own children- who can't afford to live in the neighborhood they were raised in because parents are using their houses to compensate for no pension and health care vulnerabilities. They're subsidizing their own lives on the backs of their own kids. Look at it for real. Cannibalization has been going on all along, and we are just getting around to doing the honest math.
4. The loss of high end jobs... 40% of our GDP was based on finance services and smarmy math schemes sold to the public for over 8 yrs. They had jobs that could support mcmansions, but the way they were making a living shot themselves in the foot. Now they're underwater, jobless, and can't find affordable housing, but unfortunately they took with them everyone else who WAS living within their means (if only the terms didn't change).
5. The housing bubble, along with deregulation to excess, along with dozens of other things trying to herd people has blown up in everyones face. The liabilities that any other responsible individual would be subject to are not applicable to flawed legislation created by representatives of dubious ability or motives, not applicable to the lobbyists wanting to pull the strings of our government, not applicable to the oligarchy who laid down the tracks to a highway to hell, not applicable to the former POTUS dabbling in economic experiments. It's all on YOU malamute. It's all on ME, even though I didn't get a vote or a say about how the big picture gets managed. That is, until Obama was elected. I'm hopeful that the changes we make to the system will root out the rot and encourage responsible people to be just that- responsible. Give them too many fleas on their backs... who profited most from the housing bubble?? Politicians endorsing deregulation, big financial institutions, investment firms, the local property tax collectors, developers, house flippers, insurance companies, who else? The only sellers who benefited were the ones who cashed out of america and moved to costa rica.
6. Deficit spending running up, reversing clinton trend during boom years... in hindsight, was that justified? We're justified in using that tool when we're thwarting depression, but that depression would not have needed staving off if not for fiscal irresponsibility happening for the past 8 yrs. We are now in a period of reconciling the books, and whatever economic charlatanism has been happening, it's been halted to some degree when undercutting agencies like country wide are out of business.
7. Freddie and fannie were in a way being assaulted by privatized sources, forcing a gov't agency to compete with unrealistic terms and market prices. See it for what it IS. These price wars only mean something when a monopoly can be achieved, and when the responsibility can be passed along to someone else by cashing out in time before the music stops playing.
8. Obama's plan of stimulus isn't wreckless spending. There is an element of investment and future returns to the equation that are increasingly getting applied. Once our wheels start moving with some momentum and head speed, fiscal conservatism will be the tool necessary to deal with problems that have been long term and need long term repayment schedules negotiated fairly so as to not destabilize global economics. The whole world has been leaning on our currency, and it's an incredible "big daddy" weight for any nation to bear. What alternatives do we have? Global currency, but do we really want to do that? We have a choice to continue that burden/ benefit/ responsibility as leader, or we can step down.
Pick one. If you mean to be the responsible leader, we'll have to be making some very hard choices to achieve those goals. If you mean to give up responsibility for global economic parenting, it means we would be letting go of substantial power/ influence over the direction of our collective global civilization.
9.Back to OP in the greater context- american homes & utilities & infrastructure & mfg can be purchased by global super powers in a fire sale if you really really want to pass the buck to st elsewhere. Here's the other view of that free market utopia you mean to have.
That would mean your mortgage being held by china, your water supply being controlled by germany, and your electricity being sold to you by russia. How about south american conglomerated produce save substantially on transportation costs by
owning the american breadbasket, kill every family farm left, and tell everyone the new price of an ear of corn is $3. Our government could be used as the cop to protect the interests of Corporatism. The whole of america could be the indentured servant for the benefit of Corporatism that knows no loyalty except to it's own profit margins.
OR... we can own ourselves, and own our country, and own our local businesses in a healthy relationship that's symbiotic. I own Ford motor company stock, and I mean to see them succeed. I'm considering buying shares in GM depending on GM's plan & restructuring. I didn't panic, I didn't try to save my own skin at the expense of my country. I'm not anti free trade. I'm anti corruption, and anti exploitation, anti trust, anti trade imbalances, and anti living beyond our means. I'm anti 'too big to fail' and PRO entreprenuership. I suggest we open up our piggy banks and buy back our country at every opportunity within our means. Who are the real patriots???
My 2008 tax credit, which does amount to be a modest zero interest loan spread out over the course of time, will be reinvested into upgrades that 2009 tax credits sponsor to cut down my tax liabilities. In the end I'm rewarded 3 times for bringing up my neighborhood, and the key to maximum yield was making sure the property was not over valued. This deal is available to any fiscally responsible american who can find real estate priced correctly and aren't in it for a quick buck flip.
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