70% Fail the Test of Common Sense

Nearly 7 in 10 people support the compromise between our naked emperor and the guns & religion set across the aisle.

This should be a long posting, but really, I can't get anywhere near 500 words out of this. Could someone anyone explain to me why it’s a good idea to cut taxes and increase spending when deficits are already at an all time high. The gov't spent almost a trillion dollars in the last year on the stimulus and the effect was almost nothing. Certainly nothing tangible came from it. So now, with a similar outlay, close to $900 billion, we are seeing the same unquantifiable promises of jobs and economic growth. In truth, all this bill could do is hasten failure of Social Security and our economy.

The only explanation for this compromise between Congress and our naked emperor is that it’s a ploy to get them reelected. Another borrow from tomorrow plan that will sink us all next week. No intelligent person could think this is a good idea. No intelligent person could possibly vote to reelect any incumbent who votes for this travishamockery.

So, could someone please explain to me, why this is a good idea, because Paul Krugman's song and dance isn't holding water for me.

Being a Businessman ...

Being a business man in this country is harder than ever. A well educated and former democrat friend described the current anti-business climate like this ...

If your a business making money in America today, your doing it by screwing someone and if your losing money you must be defrauding someone.

I couldn't say it any better than that.

Honk!

Reworked Mortgages Failing? Duh!

I said here over the last 3 years and so have a number of drowned out pundits, but the facts don't lie. Reworking mortgages is not a solution for the problem. According to the AP, More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out. That’s at least $25 billion down the drain, and it’s still early in the game, more reworked mortgages will go down the tubes with our tax dollars. Thanks barry, we appreciate your piss poor judgment and largess with our tax dollars.

The pace of borrowers with reworked mortgages dropping out of this program is accelerating at break neck speed. More than 430,000 people have dropped from this program since its inception and more than a third in the last month. You can't blame this on unemployment or under employment. They are factors, but the truth of the matter is that along with a big that has all the trimmings, there is a BMW and SUV in the garage, tons of consumer debt accrued by people filling their grand opus with big screen TVs, stainless steel appliances, designer clothes and other trappings of trying to be a Real Housewife.

The only cure for our real estate disease, if you can call gross stupidity that, is true price discovery. The message is clear, even the most extreme programs cannot salvage the real estate markets. It’s high time to let the markets and the century old mechanisms that are in place to do what they were intended to do.

Dean Baker

Dean Baker, saying what I have been saying for last 2+ years.

545 People

I hope everyone reads and remembers this in November.

Link

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 235 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all but the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.

No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislation's responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Don't you see how the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of Tip O'Neill, who stood up and criticized Ronald Reagan for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating appropriations and taxes.

O'neill is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and his fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetos it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in Lebanon, it's because they want them in Lebanon.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take it.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation" or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. They and they alone have the power. They and they alone should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

A Few Rambling Thoughts

I cruise the news sites of the internet and day after day I am bombarded with headlines I can only call bull shit. Headlines like the "Dow Passing 11,000", "Housing Starts Up", "Unemployment Down".

And I sit here having a tough time buying what the main stream media (MSM) is selling. Perhaps some companies are hiring, perhaps the number of people actually collecting unemployment is decreasing, but from where I sit, my real world view on things, I don't see companies hiring people into good jobs. I watch the job markets in the software and defense contracting business, since that’s what I do. When I look at those markets, I don't see reason for optimism. I see employers whom I would never choose to work for. I call them body shops, the benefits suck, the job security is nil, the work conditions are less than favorable, usually. And I would likely be looking at a 10-15% haircut on the salary if I had to find a new job today.

I can usually find a good deal on something that will fill the need which forced me to go to the store. If you’re finding good deals at the mall, business is bad. Retail stores are in the business of extracting as much cash from your wallet as possible. If times were good, things wouldn't be 30% off, 40% off or even more sometimes. Even laser eye surgery and hair replacement surgery is on sale, so don't be a loser, tap into that last sliver of home equity and ditch your glasses and hair piece.

I go to the gas station, can't live without gas, now can we? Nope. It’s more expensive than it was yesterday, last week, last month or last year. Why? Oil prices aren't going up on the backs of Wall Street gamblers, as the MSM would have us believe. Oil prices are going up, because our dollars buy less on the international markets. Our dollars are worth less because our government is devaluing our currency by printing more and more with reckless abandon. Where do you think the money comes from for homeowner bailouts? How about 2 wars? How about a well intentioned, but totally unaffordable health care plan? Well that one hasn't hit yet, but its going to hit like a brick though a plate glass window. We have to print money because our President and Congress spend like a college freshman with her first credit card.

The money to fund all of that spending sure isn't coming from the 1% of the population that obama promised to make pay, so all us middle class suckers would have a scapegoat to blame for our predicament. It sort of reminds me of a certain post Weimar republic politician. Stirring up the populist angst against a small group who used to wield some influence.

I go to the grocery store and the same bag of food costs more than it did 3 months ago. Why? See the previous paragraph. What however is the fallout? I can tell you that my pay check isn't growing faster than my energy or grocery bill, which is bad news for me and its bad news for you.

I look around and the pot holes from this winter still haven't been repaired. Why? Because our municipal governments are pushing the limits on solvency. California is less solvent than Lehman Brothers was 18 months ago. Talk about too big to fail. Again, this is not good news for all Americans, especially Californians.

The current rally in the NYSE is a farse. I'll call it a suckers rally. Volume is low, far to low to be driving this rally. The Ibanks are walking a thin line as danger lurks from commercial real estate, the financing from the tail end of the real estate boom and the abuses of home equity lines. The Ibanks claim to be putting money aside to cover those losses, I am will to gamble that they haven't put enough away and its likely that some big bank is going to sink like an anvil with billion of tax payer dollars.

The NAR managed to glom onto some statistic about housing sales being up, so it’s all good news there, but not really. Nobody with a half open, objective mind believes the headlines. They couldn't possibly be hoodwinked by the headlines. Our government is doing everything and anything in a vain attempt to prop up housing prices, which in most markets are still vastly over valued with respect to historical norms and personal income. And the means are no longer there to support those prices, like they were 3-4 years ago. There is no more loose credit. There are no more exotic finance options. There is no more home ATMs to fund $100 rounds of golf, $3000 TVs, $45,000 SUVs or $350,000 lakes homes. The party is over. The real value on goods and services are going to have to go back to normal.

Housing has further been falsely proped up by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who are spending uncle Barry's freshly printed monopoly money. That can't last forever.

And it’s not going to get any better. The baby boomers who lit the fuse on this debacle are headed toward retirement. They aren't going to be buying anymore; they are going to be net sellers. And here is the rub. Gen X, Gen Y, the millennials who are supposed to be coming into their own right now are learning a lesson that their grand parents learned during the great depression. Spending habits will never be the same. The money simply doesn't exist. You and I can't print money like our government. We'll never tap into our consumer credit like we did 5 years ago, because of our experiences today. Not to mention Gen X, Gen Y and the millennials don't have the same kinds of resources the boomers had to abuse and they aren't going to inherit the wealth of their boomer parents.

Before the McMansion was the American dream, the real American dream was that your children would live a better life than you. That dream is dead, probably killed by your parents if you’re under 45. A stake driven though its heart by ARMs, credit cards, beach houses, boats and host of other forms of conspicuous consumption.

Dear Israel...

An open letter from our President, to the people of Israel.

Your on your own.

Signed,
Barack Hussein Obama

Read this story. Absolutly horrible statesmenship on the part of the President. You wouldn't treat the prime minister of Burma like this. Shameful.

The Resentment Zone

Some NY Times blogger wrote a piece talking about how people with reworked loans are getting different payments out of the deal, depending on their income and he called the posting The Resentment Zone. What a pile of malarkey. This was my comment on his thread.

How about being a renter, who was priced out of the market because these same fools who are now receiving my tax dollars, directly or indirectly, in order to keep them in their ill financed, over priced homes. In essence this program and others like it are using the renters’ tax dollars against them by artificially preserving absurdly high and unsustainable prices. Write a piece about that. That is resentment! The person who has to pay more because they make more should just count their blessings that they aren't being tossed out in the street, like how the system worked before we elected a socialist President and Congress.

I used to be a pragmatic voter, but that was before my government started punishing me for saving and making good financial decisions. I am sad to have voted for Jim Moran and Jim Webb. I will not be making that mistake when they are next up for election, even if they were running against the likes of David Duke.

In nearly every piece of significant legislation that has been passed in the last 15 months, people who made good choices are being forsaken for their neighbors who took every short cut available to them. When I was busy making good grades, my friends were messing around. When I was in college taking tough classes like physics, calculus or symbolic logic my friends were taking psychology, art or theatre. When I was busy saving, my neighbors were filling their ill financed homes with big screen TVs and furniture, all bought with loose credit. I knew the housing market was going to cave in and I didn't buy at late bubble prices, instead I waited for the crash, it came, but government has been busy subverting the free market at nearly every turn. The banks got their bailout. My neighbors got their bailout. Where is mine? I don't actually expect one, but it sure burns to watch BHO, his cronies and Congress drive a stake through the heart of my American dream, all because I made good choices. There is something wrong when stupidity and ignorance are repeatedly being rewarded over prudence and intelligence.

There have been 3 housing bubbles in the last 100 years, prior to our current bubble. In the 70s and 80s, the bubble completely collapsed, with prices returning to historic housing price trend line that essentially parallels inflation and personal income growth. The post WWII bubble did not return to the trend line, because it was fueled by the advent of the 30 year mortgage, which still exists. The current bubble will not behave like this because hyper-loose credit and ultra exotic loans no longer exist. Artificial measures which prop up the market are not going to work. The laws of economics are like the ocean tides. They can be held back for a while, but sooner or later, the tides take over and often very aggressively.

Roughly 30% of this nations home owners, own their house outright with no mortgage. Nearly another 30% own their home with a traditional mortgage that they can afford. Close to a third of this nation rents their home, which leaves less than 10% of the population in over their head with a bad mortgage on a home they cannot afford. A disproportionate amount of money is being spent on a small percentage of the population while forsaking a significantly larger portion of the population.

Black Monday

I sit here utterly disgusted, but I need to stay focused on my job, because I and many people like myself are on the hook to pay for Congress's largess. I'll offer this, from Davy Crockett and his time in the US Congress ...

Source

One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

“Mr. Speaker–I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.

Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.”

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

“Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown . It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made homeless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

“The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.

“I began: ‘Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and–’

“‘Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett, I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.’

“This was a sockdolager . . . I begged him to tell me what was the matter.

“‘Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest. . . . But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.’

“‘I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.’

“‘No, Colonel, there’s no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown . Is that true?’

“‘Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.’

“‘It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown , neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week’s pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.

Socialism

From our friends at VeryDemotivational.com

An Outsider No More

Barack Obama ran for President as an outsider. One incomplete term in the Illinois State House and one incomplete term in the US Senate made that a plausible argument. It makes you wonder, but that’s not the point of this post. For all the bluster about doing things differently, offering transparency, pretending to kick special interests out of the White House, Barack Obama is unmasking himself. He is being shown to be no different than the politicians he demonized in order to win his party's nomination and this nation’s highest office.

Obama's latest plan to salvage, unsalvageable housing prices is little more than political maneuvering. $200,000 in Ivy League educations that other people paid for should provide enough knowledge to the man for him to know that the housing markets can't be saved. The laws of economics are nearly as concrete as the laws of physics. His handlers and advisors have to know this as well. The genesis of Obama's latest plan starts with how the dollar carry trade was used to prop up the equity markets. As a child, I can remember that dinner didn't start at my house until my father got to see how the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed. I can hear the chattering music and Peter Jennings reporting that the DJIA was up or down 5-10 pts, not the dozens or hundreds that it moves by today. Only then could dinner be served. I am almost 40, for my entire life, the DJIA has been the bell weather by which Americans judged how good things are, economically speaking. Sometime in the last year, things changed. The DJIA and our retirement accounts have been replaced as the harbinger of economic health. Now it’s the value of our homes which the common man uses to gauge economic health.

By cutting the prime rates to near zero, the Fed ignited a market frenzy over the last year. Using the dollar carry trade billions of dollars were pumped into the markets in 2009. For the last 12 months, the DJIA is up from 7062.93 (2/23/09) to 10,282.41. That is an increase of over 31% in 1 year. Since Feb 09, Obama's job approval rating has dropped from 64% to 51% today, and it’s been as lows as 47% in the last year, according to Gallup. Year over year, that’s a solid 20% drop, in spite of market appreciation in excess of 30%. For past President's, a soaring Dow would translate to significant job approval ratings boost.

Switching to plan B, for getting reelected, Barack Obama has put forth a $1.5 billion plan to support housing values in only 5 states; Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and California. Those 5 states represent 114 electoral votes, of which Obama won 104 in 2008. That’s 42% of what is needed to win the Presidency. Propping up housing in even one of those embattled states would provide a big boost to the Case/Shiller Housing Index.

So, rather than deal with the systemic problem in the housing markets, massive over valuation, the President is choosing to succumb to the oldest and biggest problem our representative democracy has, conflict of interest. Rather than do what’s best for his constituency, the people of the United States and fulfill the oath he took on January 20th 2009, Barack Obama has chosen to do what’s best for him, get himself reelected by playing the game which is sinking our great nation. If he hadn't already, he's certainly discrediting himself as a Beltway outsider and in doing so, he's saddling each and every American with more than $40,000 in government debt. That’s some legacy of change. That number is up 30% from a year ago mostly on the back of policies which are not meant to rectify the mistakes of George W. Bush. The statute of limitations for blaming GWB has expired. Barack Obama is giving us all change that we're going to have to live with.

Peter Schiff Validating Me

Every thing I have said for the last 2 years, Schiff reiterates here.

State of the Union

Its sad.

The President is clearly out of touch with the realities of life for every day Americans, regardless of class. Poor American are paying more for gas than they were a year ago. Their dollar buys them less at the grocery store and Walmart where the declining dollar has driven up shipping costs as well as the cost of imports.

The President advocated nuclear power, domestic drilling and clean coal. The green lobby must haved dropped dead, just so they could turn over in their graves. While running for President, obama asailed John McCain's call for 30 new nuclear plants in the United States. He further fought any legislation to open up domestic oil drilling. Never mind that China, by way of Cuban leases, uses horizontal drilling techniques closer to the US mainland than any American company is permitted to. And then there is clean coal. I believe obama called clean coal a fallacy.

The President has failed to fully address our nation's economic issues while chasing devisive legislation which draws resources away from an economic recovery. Powerful Democrats are even recognizing this. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said ...

"Somewhere along the line, the White House lost its way. Instead of focusing on solutions to help America's families wade through the wreckage of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Washington has wasted valuable time wrestling with partisan politics in an effort to rush through drastic reforms that do not directly address our most immediate needs."

Its becomming more and more evident, that our President is like the emperor and his new clothes. Unfortunatly, there is nobody in, the inner circle willing to tell the President that he's naked. GWB was a moron who screwed us all. Barack Obama is a conniving carpet bagger who is willfully screweing us all. Anybody can make a mess, but takes real brains to create a disaster.

Healthcare Reform

At this point, it looks like the Dems may try and fast track this legislation while they still technically have the 60 votes in the Senate to avoid a filibuster by the Republicans, who would have enough votes to block the legislation, with the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts.

I can only say, that any move, of that manor would be highly unethical, considering that the people of Massachusetts have spoken. They have chosen their representation. To go against the clearly stated will of the people is just plain wrong.

Then again, when has the will of the people meant anything to our emperor, his tailor and the sycophants around him to who tell him how nice his new clothes look.

Mr. President, your mandate, if you can call 52% a mandate, has been revoked.

To my elected represenatives, Mr. Moran, Mr. Webb and Mr. Warner, its time to start listening to your constituants rather than marching in lockstep with the President. The party is over, you'll all be out looking for a job soon.

Ironic

I find it ironic that our President disparages Scott Brown as a lockstep Republican while he's busy trying to save Ted Kennedy's seat in Congress for a lockstep Democrat. Tsk tsk tsk.

Soooooooo Long Sucka!

Chris Dodd has finally realized that he is going to get his ass handed to him in November, so he's stepping aside. Calling it retirement. He should to be going to jail for his involvement with Countrywide Mortgage Co. This makes today the best day of the year. What shame to waste it on a frigid Wednesday in January, but somehow, it seems a little warmer out, a little brighter of a day.

Harry Reid ... you’re next.

The Emperors New Clothes

The market rally is farce, just like the "strong" housing numbers are a joke. The markets are being propped up with our own tax dollars that the IBanks were bailed out with last year.

The housing markets only have decent numbers to report because of the $8000 tax credit and the government's unending willingness to underwrite bad loans through FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Take away either mistake or better yet both and we would see housing sales go through the sub-basement floor. Almost instantly we would see home prices fall to the Case-Shiller 100 year trend line which follows the curves for inflation and personal income growth. Clinton expanded the CRA and GWB continued following through on the idea, which is now showing itself to be a miserably failed experiment. Its time to make housing affordable, the right way, the natural way. Truly affordable housing, would be the best thing that could possibly happen to our economy and a real economic rebound. Money tied up buying over priced, artificially inflated home prices is not productively used money. Its essentially wasted money, because its money that isn't available for investment and consumption of manufactured goods.

I expected better from Harvard (our President) and Hopkins (Turbo Tax Timmy) men, but I guess they have an alternate agenda that does not include serving the tax payers best interests. Sadly, the White House and Capitol Hill have ceased to be where our country's best and brightest have tried to go. Now its the domain of special interests, the the party of no ideas and the party of bad ideas.

The Hope our President promised us during his campaign is proving to be false and fleeting. The statute of limitations on blaming George W. Bush is running out. Eventually, even the most strident supporter will have to reconcile with the reality of the situation.