J J PETER: (3:19) Magnificent post. Actually STAR OF THE SEA coaxed me to purchase the TOLLE book, which I just did. Your quotes further prompt me to find the time to read it!

EDWARD: Right on.

When I had a luxury writing job (l990-l995) I bought a townhouse in Key West. The thought occured to me that its actual quality of construction would probably not stand up to the 30 years of the mortgage. That was before global warmming led viability to the idea that the Keys, high priced real estate to be sure, would be UNDER water. A friend of mine whose family owns a small modest home valued at over a million (since it's on a canal) told me she's glad Republicans don't believe in global warming, as that gives her probably another 10 years to enjoy that location and STILL sell it!

When my husband and I bought (for cash) a 554-sq ft home in the SF Bay Area in late 2002, our friends said we were crazy to settle into such a teeny space. Well, here we are a few years later: sitting debt-free and watching our friends clutch at their third job with blood-drenched knuckles trying to maintain a bigger roof over their heads.

We Will Downsize (we being the NorthAmericans) or we will be eating soup from a campfire under a bridge to paraphrase Springsteen. The earth will not support six billion greedy souls-now or later.

Too bad for this homeowners, I hope they learn their lesson: living beyond one's means is stupid. And yes, it is time to downsize for everybody.

The underlying causes for foreclosure have existed long before the subprime chernobyl, and will continue long after this bailout. The overwhelming majority of US workers who live from paycheck to paycheck are not immune from financial hardship. Foreclosure doesn't discriminate.

Are you at risk? www.spoch.org

So the higher income neighborhoods have been hit? Now you'll see some action on the foreclosures issue!

These can take years to sell, as they must compete with brand-new developments still coming online.

Desperate to sell these homes will be liquidated causing the value or everybody else's home value to drop!

Congress is still looking the other way. Listen to the ads on AM talk radio. Fix your credit, trust us to get you out of debt in months. Invest in Real Estate and you will never have to work again! In the get rich quick schemes, you have to think; if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't!

And, once again, the American people do nothing...until they are foreclosed upon. We have all the sense of community of feral cats, clawing and biting at one another. All the while, the really big cats, the fat cats, laugh at us.

sooooooooo when a poor person gets an adjustable rate mortgage that rises too high to be afforded, he or she is a victim. when someone of some means gets one, its justice?

funny that.

Check out this terrific cartoon - from 9/20/07

http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/pccartoons/archives/wasserman.asp?Action=GetImage

Back in 79' I went to our local owned bank and asked to borrow $4,000 to buy an 80 Toyota PU.

I had $4,000 in my savings account there I wanted to apply towards the truck so all I need to borrow was the other half.

I was told "I didn't have any credit" and to get a credit card and buy some clothes or something and pay it off.

I said I needed a truck! They are telling me to buy stuff I don't need! My bank is telling me to what to buy!

I walked over and emptied my account and went to the oil field and made over $4,000 in 2 months.

I will never borrow money from an institution; I promised myself that!

Up until 1929, it was illegal to charge a
person more than six percent interest on a
loan. The bankers ignored that law in 1929;
the Congress ignored the fact the bankers were ignoring the law; and as far as I can
find out, the law has never been enforced
again. It took me months to close down my
Exxon-Mobile card on the grounds I thought it
was unpatriotic to charge 23 percent interest
on outstanding balances, compounded, while
American youth bled for Iraqi oil. The balance was zero and I finally had to threaten legal action to get the company
to close the account. That is
why the oil companies are so wealthy today
and when American youth finally discover
what high interest rates mean, there will be
a monetary revolution, and the bankers and
compliant leaders might be forced to give
America back (to paraphrase an old populist).
Most of our current monetary problems will
then take care of themselves and some modest
equilibrium can be restored under the rule
of law; and not usurious loansharking. The
same principles hold true for the housing
business, etc. I hold the state legislatures
accountable for not educating our youth as
to what is really going on.

AngstOfThePeople raises a good point. We clearly have to bring predatory lenders to heel, but we also have to work on the "gotta have it" mentality that grips all socioeconomic classes. Greed and irresponsibility are present in all the actors in this crisis.

When you borrow money, you take a gamble that future good luck will allow you to pay it off. Sometimes you lose. If you roll the dice, you take your chances. Its your choice and your responsibility. Thats the way it works in a free society. If you make money, nobody takes it away, so why should we pay your bill when things go the other way.

I'm not going to shed any tears over anyone who is losing one of these monstrosities. I'll take it a step further and say that I don't think that anyone should receive a mortgage deduction on their taxes for any home that is valued over 60% of the median home price in their region. The tax breaks ought to be there to make home ownership a reality, not a means for the wannabes to be rewarded.

If you have debt, other then a reasonable mortage and a car payment you are paying down, and you can't pay off the discretionary spending you do on your credit card and your cost of living bills (phone, energy, insurance, cable-ugghh!, etc) then you are eating your seed corn. The season for planting is now, and if your seed is gone, the harvest next fall will see barren ground, and a deadly winter will follow.

When the consumer realizes that 'living large' is nothing more than viewing our own worth by other peoples standards, and all the worry and concern over paying for items that we can't afford is not good for our health, only then will people see that 'living large' and immediate gratification does not equal happiness.

Pendejos egoistas.

We have a modest home in a middle-class neighborhood. We've lived here for 20 years. It's paid off. We owe nothing. Our cars are getting old. We don't have the fancy new TV sets or blackberries and new technology. My computer needs to be replaced. But, we don't owe any money to anyone.

The problem is that the neighborhood has changed. We are now getting abandomed houses and people who no longer bother taking care of their property. Property values have gone down and the crime rate has gone up.

Even those of us who have been careful with money are getting hit. Regardless of who is to blame, we're all going to be hurt.

No Spinoza, AngstOfThePeople does not have a good point. People who bought McMansions knew what they were doing. Brokers weren't lying to them about what they were signing. They were being greedy and gambling they would get away with it. I knew in 2005 that was the last hot year, but I read the financial pages and knew we had huge fundamental weaknesses in our economy that were unsustainable.

Lower income people were lied to and redlined into mortgages with punitive features, about which they weren't informed, even when they qualified for better mortgages. That's the real crime.

The problem with not helping these people is that when they lose their homes, their neighbors lose market value and the entire building industry is collapsing with plenty of collateral damage. Add to that the banking industry tightening credit because they are clueless about which of their assets are safe and the Fed printing money like a drunken sailor, lying about inflation by excluding our inescapable costs of food and energy which are skyrocketing, and we do have a perfect storm coming on us.

I don't see a single politician daring to face reality at this point.

kathyodat

Considering the whole house of cards structure akin to what was the situation in the Stock Market before the 1929 Crash was what was going on in the mortgage business, is it any surprise that the crassest of "Look at me" housing is now under the foreclosure hammer? Next up is the highest tier of the market.

I am reminded of how my grandmother, a survivor of the Depression, managed to live a virtualy debt free life. Her rules were as follows:

1. Never buy on credit. If she couldn't pay for it outright then she didn't need it. My grandparents house was a fixer upper purchased with cash from their savings.
2. Do not trust banks. She never held a bank account as long as I could remember. She paid cash for everything.
3. Do not borrow money, even from family. It will give the lender control over your affairs. Make do with what you have.
4. Secondhand clothes will cover you just as much as new ones will.

Friends and family scoffed at her for not being in with the times. We said she was clinging to a Depression mentality, yet she always came out of any economic downturn unscathed. She was never wealthy but she was satified with what she had.

Any person who buys into the McMansion or as I call it, Starter Castle bit, and now has problems has it coming. No two people need that much space, and most of these were not sold to people with large families. They were sold to couples who had to have all that extra space. A cleaning woman cannot even clean the damn things in 8 hours. I know that to be a fact. I have 1040 sq. ft. and wonder what to do with all the extra space which is little used. Get real America.

Lynda O April 7th, 2008 11:03 am

"The earth will not support six billion greedy souls-now or later."

Even less-so the nine billion promised for 2050 ... but sometime in between, there may be someone willing to buy those houses.

(88,000) jobs wiped out ___ JUST last month. ___Do any believe that trend will suddenly cease?

That's 88,000 more who will NOT be purchasing automobiles, F-150s or SUVs, shopping at Home Depot or buying Chinese made junk at Wal-Mart, or buying appliances, tile, carpets etc. That is 88,000 more this year who won't be purchasing a home, or even keepng the one they have if it's mortaged. 88,000 more who may have lost health insurance and will be cashing in their 401s if they have them just to make their house or rent payments and buy food and necessities.

More and more business failures will continue with more and more jobs lost. Like a snow ball rolling down hill, picking up speed and gaining in volumn and mass. A mass of unemployed and the price of everything rising. Be prepared!!

The deck of cards is falling and there is no credible end in sight, it now requires $1.61 to purchase a Euro. A year ago, you could buy a Euro for $89 cents. Fuel and food have almost doubled in cost in just the past two years. There is no stopping that trend. Be prepared!!!

The sad part of this is that there are so many people in this country who really believe that they
"NEED" a 20,000 sq. ft house or a 500hp automobile. There are billions of people on this planet
who would love to have a 500 sq ft house with running water and electrical service. What these
people throw away in a week could feed a poor family for a month. There is just no limit to the
greed of these people. If there is a bailout for people who are losing their homes, it will probaly
start with those at the top.

Don't forget that the bailout will come from those that live below their means. Their savings will bail out those that lived beyond their means. Your reward for saving will be the honor of paying off the bills of those that over-consumed their funds.

My wife was appalled at the quality of building that goes on in the US, even these McMansions. These things are built to last a very short time. I keep wondering what will happen to the land they're built on when they are abandoned.

Kathyodat - being poor or a minority does not automatically make one a victim - to imply that mcmansion owners are somehow necessarily immune from falling prey to irresponsible lending practices, is just missing the point.

Stupid adheres to no socio economic profiling guidelines.

Every time a new McMansion has cropped up on my road, I can't help thinking that in the end it will have to be divided up into apartments. Why is no one talking about this?

What these events foretell, is the collapse of the egoism consciousness.

All things we surround ourselves with that go beyond the sustaining of our health and well being, are the ego's attempt to make itself larger, and thus satisfied - that it is bigger, and can show its audience "look what I have, is it not BETTER than yours"?, and thus the ego "I" is superior.

In Eckhart Tolle's new book, A New Earth, he explains it this way;

"Millions are now ready to awaken because spiritual awakening is not an option anymore, but a necessity if humanity and the planet are to survive. Everything is speeding up – the madness, the collective egoism dysfunction, as well as the arising of the new consciousness, The Awakening.

We are running out of time. From the perspective of the ego, that's bad news and will give rise to fear. From a higher perspective, the running out of time is exactly what is needed for the new consciousness to come into this world."

"We" - humanity are addicted to satisfying the demands of the ego, and the events we are all commenting about on this site, Huffington, and other blogs, question the actions taking place on this planet on behalf of ego consciousness. To dissolve the influence of this inner voice of the mind, we must start as individuals to lift ourselves up.

The one unifying purpose of humanity is lost in its religions, which should be the guidepost to which WE should look for our true purpose.

Alas, the religions of the world have come under the servitude of the collective ego, and for the most part divide us rather than unite us.

The uniting force of self-realization, self discovery, self awakening is coming. It's based on the original teachings of Jesus, and Buddha, and Krishna - that man is a spiritual being having a human experience, and until he reunites with the creative force that sustains us, he is condemned to wander, seeking answers in pleasure, in monetary terms, in material THINGS and most delusional of all, in intoxicants.

An awakening power is starting to be perceived by those who are looking. Those who have seen what our culture offers as the "ANSWERS", i.e. more stuff, more, bigger, mine, my ownism - is a hollow and temporary satiation of ego's unending demand for relativism.

The ego won't go down without a fight. And economically, this paradigm must change, or we are doomed to consume ourselves into extinction.

Join the fight for self survival, it's up to us.

www.ananda.org

ggmurray: "Every time a new McMansion has cropped up on my road, I can't help thinking that in the end it will have to be divided up into apartments. Why is no one talking about this?"

I was thinking the same thing on the way into work this AM. these monster houses will just be cut up into tenaments like the brownstones in Harlem were.

But most of these, at least up here, are a loooong way from transit and even further from centers of work, so who would live there if all you could afford was a room in a tenament? probably no-one. most will just rot, some will be squatted by the unemployed neo-hobo drifters after GDII kicks in..

I think you're skewing this issue a bit -AngstOfThePeople-.

If one has the financial wherewithal to recieve the kind of monster loan that "buying" one of these giant houses requires, then it follows that one should have some experience with money and investments and therefore should not be fooled by lenders.

At the very least people with that much money -even if its just from a high paying job, not investments or inheritence- should be able to afford, and be savy enough to employ a lawyer to review the Terms of the Loan.

The same should cleary not be expected from truly Working Class folks.

Where and for what reason whould they have picked up the kind of legal and economic knowledge that it would take to see through the thick cloud of B.S. that lenders have been producing for the last 5+ years?

Our public schools?

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Their day to day life experience working to survive paycheck to paycheck?

Doubtful.

---------------------------------------------------

So no, I don't think, and I doubt -BeForKids- thinks, this is necessarily "justice" for the McMansion "owners", but it is almost certainly just desserts.

And if not, if people who could afford these giant loans TRULY are just as ignorant of the law and finance as the Workers who have never had enough wealth to bother shaking this ignorance, then, Man, that's actually MUCH WORSE, isn't it?

That means that a significant portion of the Wealth of this land, and this Nation-State, has been witheld from the Majority, not by a strong and purposeful Management Class, but rather by isolated pockets of OVERPAID IDIOTS!

That idea pisses me off so much, I'd much rather think that these people were merely speculating or overconfident in the Bull Economy.

That I can excuse.

That doesn't force me to consider radical, decisive, possibly violent Action, in order to more fairly (and apparently no less wisely!) distribute the Wealth.

------------------------------------

Hell, maybe we should do it anyway, sans the violence.

Remember the Wobblies? Maybe we need them back!

One Big Union!

Only this time without the "industrial" part?

A people's Union of all the Workers/Farmers, Mothers/Fathers, Cooks/Crafters, Artists/Accountants, Lawyers/Layabouts, Profs./Students, and all the rest of the People!

We could run this sucker just as good as the Politicians and the Wealthy!

Look what they've done with the place! Just about run it into the ground!

Maybe we should give it a try.

Are they allowing people to write (GEN)(ERAL) sss(STR)ii(IKE!!!!) on this site yet?

--End of Rabble Rousing, promise--

-matti.

AngstOfThePeople, I didn't say being poor or a minority guaranteed victimhood, I just said that predators targeted them. With greater success than better informed people. My youngest son went to a school in Wading River in Suffolk County on Long Island which was spending $18,000/child annually, courtesy of the Shoreham nuclear power plant. Six computers in each classroom in addition to 20 in the computer lab, no more than 18 children/class, art and music teachers and librarians and a ton of extracurricular activities, including baking cookies in class and cultivating miniponds on class windowsills. Up in Nassau County, Amityville, a very poor district, was spending $3000/child. When we moved to Eugene OR, the French class had 50 students, the science class had six textbooks, ten years old. The math department had no math majors teaching and they were clueless about how to teach the math course to the 7th graders. His teacher told me that. Oregon's measure 5 (courtesy of Bill Sizemore had trashed the school system. His English teacher was a former PE teacher who couldn't spell (cheif for example in 4" high letters on the wall). My point is it makes a huge difference in what kind of education people get. The No Child Left Behind Act is driving schools to encourage kids to drop out before getting tested so they won't drag down the scores and reduce the Federal aid to schools. This doesn't happen to well-to-do kids. They have an opportunity to learn to understand contracts. Not very many children of poor, single family homes manage to pull themselves up out of all the hardships they have to face to make it to college.

There is still tremendous wealth in this country but it is not being allocated for the public good, including our children. We know where it's going. That is my point.

matti, what a wonderful comment! You made me laugh with your logical argument that they must be OVERPAID IDIOTS! Of course, that is a reasonable possibility, what with nepotism, legacy college students (ie GW Bush), favoritism (ie Brownie) et al.

And no, I don't wish pain on anyone. But I would like to take back some of our money that WE worked to provide from those wealthy thieves who stole it and reinvest it in our country and people.

And I would love to elect politicians who would support us to do that.

kathyodat

Mcmansions , high HP cars, gas guzzlers, golf courses,and many other wasteful things should be taxed out of existence. Those taxes should be spent on building up more efficient transportation and subsidizing efficient things like elecric cars, small apartments, and public transportation.

If I could have afforded a McMansion, I would have paid cash for a much more modest home. My little towhnouse, 1078 square feet, was paid off years ago. I did get the urge to "move up" some years back, and a real estate agent was trying to talk me into taking out a loan for the down payment and a loan for the mortgage. I ran, I did not walk, out of her office. What the hell are/were people thinking taking out huge loans they had to know they couldn't really afford? When it takes two incomes to make a mortgage payment you are in over your head.

I've been in my 768 sq. ft. home for over 20 years, and I've never been more grateful for it.

The mcmansions need to be stigmatized so that their owners look like fools.

will the former Exxon exec. that left with a 400 million dollar bonus loose his house?

of course not, and eventually people like him will own most of everything and they will still be able to afford the $13 a gallon gas thats not far off.

there will be mega numbers of new street people in the usa, but there will not be any soup kitchens to feed them.

This has all been planned and the plan is working.

This whole situation (buying way more then one can afford) was built on greed, and the prospect of unloading on some sucker before the bill was due. I have talked to lenders, and the premise for taking out these risky loans was this:

Get a 3 - 5 - or 7 year ARM, but before the adjustment comes where you really start Paying WHAT THE LOAN SHOULD COST YOU, do the following:

1 - refinance to a cheaper instrument, and while you are at it ~ HEY ~ take out some of the equity, since housing WILL CONTINUE TO RISE AT A 10 PERCENT CLIP A YEAR.

Or 2 - sell in two years, don't pay capital gains, and MOVE UP with that risen equity dividend you got, because ~~~ you got it, houses will continue to rise at a 10% clip year over year.

It was all based on a TOMORROW fantasy, on not actually paying for your lifestyle, but dumping it back for someone else to pay for.

Well, the bottom is falling out. The dream has become a nightmare, because both the laws of ballons and the laws of physics are infallible and continuous.

WHAT GOES UP, MUST COME DOWN.

What we are seeing is called.

KARMA

This is SO SATISFYING...although the really GRIM part is that the once OPEN SPACES are gone forever...greedy assholes that got city councils with seven out of eight council members being directly or closely tied to the real estate market and or developers..making ANY and ALL rule bending decisions that they could to accomodate these disgusting testaments to bad taste and poor craftsmanship...AND not only that..BUT WHAT IS IT WITH "BEIGE" WHY IS EVERY FUCKING NEW McHOUSE "BEIGE"? WHY? WHAT THE HELL? IS THIS SOME KIND OF MASS DELUSION? SOME KIND OF STRANGE BRAINWASHING LEMMING TRIP THAT EVERYONE IN ONE OF THESE "HUMAN STORAGE UNITS" ACTUALLY WANTS TO BE NO DIFFERNT AND EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE HOUSE 10' AWAY FROM THEIRS..(OR THE BANKS IN THIS CASE..)??
Anyway...I love seeing these houses go down..
ONE MORE SHOUT OUT! THE GREED IS STILL GOING STRONG..THIS IS THE REALLY INCREDIBLE PART OT ME...THAT THE REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND AGENTS ARE STILL..ULTRA STUBBORNLY, HOLDING ON TO THE 40% INFLATED PRICE TAG OF REAL ESTATE NATIONWIDE..HERE IN MY TOWN..HOUSES THAT HAVE BEEN ON THE MARKET FOR..I SHIT YOU NOT...2 PLUS YEARS...AND ARE 100 THOUSAND OVERPRICED...HAVE NOT BEEN REDUCED AT ALL...NOT AT ALL..AND IT IS THE GREED OF THE AGENTS AND REAL ESTATE MARKET THAT REALLY DID THIS TO BEGIN WITH..THE WALKING THE PAPER SCAM OF THE "APPRAISAL"...STILL ONE OF THE BIGGEST SCAMS IN BUSINESS...WHERE ELSE CAN ANY IDIOT MAKE 30 GRAND IN 20 MINUTES? AND WITH OVERINFLATED VALUES AND ULTRA CHEAP MONEY..THIS IS WAHT REALLY HAPPENED..THE BLAME THEY ARE PUTTING ON THE "RISKY LOANS" IS BS...THIS IS THE REALESTATE MARKET AND THE APPRAISAL GAME..PERIOD...AND IT STILL IS..AMAZINGLY ENOUGH...
SO THE REAL QUESTION IS: HOW LONG WILL THIS HAVE TO GO ON BEFORE THE ARTIFICIAL 40% OVERPRICING OF PROPERTY FINALLY BE TOO IMPOSSIBLE FOR AGENTS...SORRY BUT TYPICALLY WOMEN WITH A LICENSE AND NO LIFE...BE FORCED TO SURRENDER THEIR GREED??????

I'd like to know how many of the buyers in the article used the builders' in-house lenders. Builders opened their own mortgage co's, (or had affiliations w/lenders like Countrywide), and got right in on predatory lending. They sometimes violated lending laws like requiring the buyers to use their lender. Buyers is a broad group that can include everything from people involved in fraudulent flipping schemes to people who were truly victims of forgery, etc, and every shade in between, including ordinary people who were blinded by snazzy window dressing and greed.

But, no doubt in my mind the industry insiders who contibuted to the bubble and bust knew what they were doing and invented the schemes. Many in the industry and certainly govt knew this could result in damage to the U.S. economy, too. Nevertheless, warning signs issues years in advance were ignored while crooks made money hand over fist and are largely going to get to keep it, while tax payers pick up the tab.

How much faith do you have that our govt can sort out who's a victim and who's a crook, and what level of deceit is required to fall in the victim category? Do you believe our govt will jail any of the real perpetrators in the industry?

The industry that created and pushed toxic loans, coerced appraisers to meet the number, and built shoddy new homes in many cases, too, is asking for a multi billion dollar bailout from congress. The longer the politicians debate it, the more provisions for homeowners go away, and the more benefits to the industry are kept. As predicted, the housing industry's whining for a bailout was packaged as being "for the homeowners," but ends up being corporate welfare for builders, etc. Seems like plenty of online news and commentary gets the hypocrisy of this...that the industry was in favor of capitalism when they were making money, but now wants a govt bailout. But sadly, little is said in mainstream news, where most people still get their info, about what is really going on.

I remember reading a Wall Street JOurnal Article a few years ago.. when the mortgage rates were uber low. Basically what people were doing was buying a House (a BIG house mind you.. probably one built only in the 80's! although i think they said most were no more than 10 years old!) and RAZING THEM to build these UBER mcMansions.

I was appalled!!! The waste,!!! Not just added on.. but RAZED the entire property!!! THat is disgusting!!

THis is the FALL OF ROME most certainly! and our POlitical elections is the equivalent of watching the Roman spectacles of lions eating people!

Matti and Kathy: thanks for the balanced comments on this topic.

Many comments on the subject of foreclosures suggest that all struggling homeowners were "greedy" and looking for ego gratification. On the flip side, renting isn't cheap, either. Landlords raise rents (to offset their operations costs). Plus, you can't pick your neighbors and there are no tax benefits to giving your money to the landlord. Before we hit the economic iceberg, owning a home was a practical investment. True, many people have used their homes as ATM's, but many haven't.

Fortunately, I knew about the impending financial meltdown before I lost my job, but I've still struggled over the last five years. With skilled jobs disappearing overseas, many of us have had to take pay cuts, extend our commutes and change fields altogether. I've been unemployed now for over six months, along with many other professionals. And every week, more people join those of us who were laid off.

IMHO, the next step will be a community-based effort to revive industry in the U.S. I believe that out of this mess will come entrepreneurs with fresh ideas and new ways of doing business - out of absolute necessity. It will be a grass-roots effort, probably beginning with cooperation and bartering. It will be a battle to overcome apathy and years of social programming. But I see in our weekly professional networking meetings in Northern Colorado that the distaste with being dependent on others for table scraps is rousing people from their slumber. Cutting down on unnecessary "stuff" - again, out of necessity - will remind people how they give their power away to the elites and hopefully it will help people refocus their priorities from inanimate objects to people.

The picture isn't rosy by a long shot, but there is some change in the air. And it's not a moment too soon.

Kem Patrick; 88,000 people who will not be going to Home Depot or buying a new car. It takes one
who is living on a social Security check to realize this, but there are now 88,000 people who
are no longer paying into the Social Security Fund. This will efect everyone who expects to get
something out of this someday or are on it now. Not getting a S.S. check someday doesn't matter
much to the super rich, but like most things, it's the little guy who will suffer to pay for the
screw-ups of the greedy.

We are now living in "The New World Order", Those are the preaching words of Bush Number one, and Clinton
bought into it. The Mega Corporations are taking over and buying the universe, and making us slaves, without
a word from our elected officials. The Clintons who made some $9,000,000 in a few years still want to control what's left of the empire, and the Democratic party
is to scared to oppose this corrupt group.
The Political machines have become slaves to the
Corporatists..When Hitler killed millions of jews,
the German population claimed they did not know.
What does our population know?

Silly people who are buying houses right now are in for a surprise. This downward trend is just beginning and that 'so called' deal you think you just landed won't be worth the price you paid.

Don't listen to your neighborhood realtors they are just as guilty for causing the sub-prime implosion because they knowingly inflated the prices of the homes. Realtors (not all of course, some are not quite like greedy lawyers) only working with appraisers that were willing to inflate the price of the home was one of the many problems we are seeing now. Inflated prices get bigger commissions. We need to push to make the MLS database public! Regulation of appraisers (like building inspectors) would not be a bad idea either. We can not expect the realtors to regulate themselves anymore.

The market is still undergoing a correction and by the time it is over homes will be almost reasonable. How will you know when the market hits bottom? At about the middle of the America's current long term recession... Or, when California has only half of its 500 thousand licensed real estate agents.

If the poor are so stupid that they can not be trusted to make their own financial decisions, then maybe they should be taxed at 100% and the government should provide all their needs? Sounds like communism to me and we all know how well that works. In a free society, people are free to be stupid, but don't punish everyone for the inability of a few to delay gratification. Bail them out and that will prove that they are not so stupid. We pay for their need for immediate satisfaction. What a great lesson to teach their children. No wonder we have multi-generational welfare families.

Time to start buying bicycles and dump the gas-guzzlers. I wouldn't be surprised if, before long, we had a "role switch" with China, where they will be commuting to work in gasoline-powered automobiles while we will be pedalling our bikes while looking for work.

I agree that people ought to live within their means. Clearly the people who own(ed) McMansions knew the risk they were taking. Thinking they could cruise to retirement, instead of landing on red, the roulette wheel landed on black, and the dealer gladly took their money. I do not mean to sound callous, but I cannot sympathize with these people. And what angers me is the government is trying to bail them out, which is unfair to the rest of us who live within our means. They obviously sought to live the high life, but it came crashing down. Get used to eating bread and soup with the rest of us. Sometimes if you include the right spices, the soup tastes better than the Porterhouse steak.