Lessons In Defining the Next American Dream

Housing prices peaked 40 months ago in May 2006. What have we learned from the great housing bubble and crash ?

Obviously, we have learned that housing prices can be extraordinarily volatile. No one can ever again say foolish things like housing prices never fall. People who bought with a standard mortgage in the years close to the boom have lost all of the equity in their houses. Buyers and lenders should never again think that an area’s recent price increases are the sign of a strong market where prices have nowhere to go but up. In the long run, price increases are followed by price drops, and caution needs to be taken in booming markets.

The second lesson of the housing debacle is that there is extraordinary pain in both housing busts and booms. When housing prices soared, ordinary Americans found it increasingly hard to afford a house. During the boom, many hoped that housing prices would stop rising and even decline, not understanding the terrible impact that declining housing prices would have. Large swings in housing prices, can be extremely painful.

The third lesson is that the response to the American housing crisis has been incredibly foolish. We've used public resources to encourage ordinary Americans to bet all they could on the housing markets. We have allowed billions of tax payer dollars to bail out of firms that had lost on those mortgage gambles. We continue to provide billions of tax payer dollars to the same institutions that were instrumental in creating the bubble that burst what once was the American Dream.

All of these "lessons " leave me wondering what the next American Dream will be.

Perhaps a much less volatile, more comforting lifestyle with a reassurance that we live in a country that cares for it's citizens emotional, financial and physical well being. That the people we've put in charge are truly capable of handling those responsibilities. That we the people and our families are the beneficiaries and not the victims of big business and big government.

For more on today's housing market call 561-306-6736 or email rebuygeorge@yahoo.com

Taxpayers $700,000,000,000 Handout

"Wall Street" has never translated to "housing". Try as they may to make them synonymous it isn't so just because someone says it is or want us to believe it. Looking at the players in the current economic debacle, this madcap comedy of errors, I'm reminded how much the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve emulate a classic cartoon comic strip of old. Cartoonist Jeff Fisher's characters Mutt and Jeff were business men, almost smart enough to be con men. Mutt was tall and lanky, slightly bent forward while Jeff, his partner, was shorter, a stockier physical makeup and balding with a mustache and beard. I'll give you a moment here to visualize. OK! See any similarity yet? If not here's a link to Mutt and Jeff. Almost uncanny I think.

These two energetic little lunatics were always looking for the easy way to get something. They would attempt the craziest most hair brained schemes and act on them, believing that they couldn't or wouldn't fail. Mutt and Jeff were always surprised to be tossed on their butts, from wherever they were trying to sell their junk by much more sane level headed people.

Our Treasury Secretary and Chairman of the Federal Reserve however have achieved what the fictional Mutt and Jeff only aspired to. They've somehow convinced the most advanced, most sophisticated and supposedly most intelligent government in the world that they need $700,000,000,000. Is that enough zero's? Congress is busy running around convincing each other to vote one way or the other. The House and Senate have each already voted, one no and the other yes to give. What they've forgotten is that the real issue with the economy is still housing. How does Wall Street translate to housing? I just don't get it. A recent First Time Homebuyer tax rebate has not stimulated people to buy houses. A $300,000,000,000 FHA initiative designed to help refinance "troubled mortgages" has done little. Although that was made available only last week I don't see any rush on FHA refinancing. Federal takeovers of both Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac have cost us tens of billions of dollars and still banks and industry giants continue to fail under multi million dollar leadership.

Corporate greed, corruption and politics as usual have put us all on the edge of our seats waiting to see or hear whether or not Mutt & Jeff have made the ultimate score. A taxpayer handout to rescue Wall Street. What happened to rescuing housing? The aforementioned Homebuyer Tax Credit, FHA plan and Corporate bailouts were all initiatives of our Treasury and Fed leaders. These guys weren't thrown out like Mutt & Jeff, they just haven't worked. Hey here's another hair brained scheme. Give them $700B to try to bail out Wall Street. It may not work but heck if you guys are in a giving mood and your pockets keep getting deeper give it up. No guarantees, no need for oversight or regulation, Mutt & Jeff will let you know when it fails. In the meantime Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer keep watching and keep waiting. Something good may happen someday.

Like the more sane, level headed business minded people that kept throwing Mutt & Jeff out on their backsides, I want to remind everyone of a little word seldom used anymore when it comes to doling out billions of dollars in response to tantrums born of greed and overindulgence.

Just say NO. Say no to the Wall Street power brokers, say no to the corruption, say no to the partisan politics that have lead us to a dark place in our country's history and say No to any more Mutt & Jeff like schemes. Let the corporations and their overpaid CEO's wallow in not being rescued by taxpayers. Let's get the ball back on the court and concentrate efforts on straighten out the housing crisis.

Push the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, pressure banks to employ forbearance efforts for troubled borrowers, move forward with the already in place FHA reforms that as of Oct. 1 are available, and let's take a long look at the arbitrary actions of HELOC lenders in capping or eliminating lines of credit in order to accommodate their own selfish greed.

Mutt & Jeff my answer is NO !