Changes

:::The housing problem, precipitated by Congress, in particularly Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chris Cox, ACORN and others, pressuring lenders, banks, Freddy and Fannie, to approve loans to otherwise unqualified applicants, the Real Estate and Building industries, alway greedy, encouraged buyers to believe the markets would go nowhere other than up, all are the cause.  Banks overvalued homes. People treated their homes the same as they did their brokerage accounts, buying, selling, buying again, each time stepping up another 100K.  All madness. That key fact, and as Jensen said, the media, invested in Bush-bashing and getting Obama elected, repeatedly saying we were in a recession, or worse, over and over again, did indeed, eventually, months later, lead people to believe their false assertion.  As inevitably as day follows night, they cut their spending, put off big ticket items, and we were off to the races.  Our "problem" led to an over-all lack of confidence, not only by consumers, but a lack of confidence between banks and investment brokers, retirement groups like CALPERS, which in turn started causing the same lack of confidence in the UK, and then it was a world-wide crisis. --<font color="#1E90FF" face="Comic Sans MS">[[User:TK|₮K]]</font>^{<font color="DC143C">[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]]</font>} 13:52, 2 December 2008 (EST)

:::The housing problem, precipitated by Congress, in particularly Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chris Cox, ACORN and others, pressuring lenders, banks, Freddy and Fannie, to approve loans to otherwise unqualified applicants, the Real Estate and Building industries, alway greedy, encouraged buyers to believe the markets would go nowhere other than up, all are the cause.  Banks overvalued homes. People treated their homes the same as they did their brokerage accounts, buying, selling, buying again, each time stepping up another 100K.  All madness. That key fact, and as Jensen said, the media, invested in Bush-bashing and getting Obama elected, repeatedly saying we were in a recession, or worse, over and over again, did indeed, eventually, months later, lead people to believe their false assertion.  As inevitably as day follows night, they cut their spending, put off big ticket items, and we were off to the races.  Our "problem" led to an over-all lack of confidence, not only by consumers, but a lack of confidence between banks and investment brokers, retirement groups like CALPERS, which in turn started causing the same lack of confidence in the UK, and then it was a world-wide crisis. --<font color="#1E90FF" face="Comic Sans MS">[[User:TK|₮K]]</font>^{<font color="DC143C">[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]]</font>} 13:52, 2 December 2008 (EST)

:::The GOP ran Congress and the White House so they get the blame. (the community loans were less than 3% of the problem--they do not amount to much) Note that the toxic problem is heavily concentrated in 4 states where the bubble mostly happened--Calif, Florida, Arizona, Nevada.) The bubble was real as prices doubled in 2 years. the rule was "Buy high and sell higher!" people at all income levels refinanced their homes and spent the money. About 40% the foreclosed mortgages are speculation--the houses have always been empty and the owner had a 0-down, low payment mortgage that was "certain" to produce $100,000 profit in a year. Brokers called every week begging to make BIG $$$ for you. I was in Phoenix this summer and Miami last month and you can see thousands and tens of thousands of new, empty houses and condos.  I attended a history convention in Miami last month and stayed at one of those new condos, which they are renting out by the night like hotel rooms. I had a beautiful one bedroom apartment near the main hotels, with maid service, for $80 a night! (the hotels charged $250 a night).  We have millions of these empty houses and condos and they are forcing down prices for everyone else. The problem is global. It's about as bad in parts of Europe and Asia. I remain very pessimistic about 2009. [[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] 14:31, 2 December 2008 (EST)

:::The GOP ran Congress and the White House so they get the blame. (the community loans were less than 3% of the problem--they do not amount to much) Note that the toxic problem is heavily concentrated in 4 states where the bubble mostly happened--Calif, Florida, Arizona, Nevada.) The bubble was real as prices doubled in 2 years. the rule was "Buy high and sell higher!" people at all income levels refinanced their homes and spent the money. About 40% the foreclosed mortgages are speculation--the houses have always been empty and the owner had a 0-down, low payment mortgage that was "certain" to produce $100,000 profit in a year. Brokers called every week begging to make BIG $$$ for you. I was in Phoenix this summer and Miami last month and you can see thousands and tens of thousands of new, empty houses and condos.  I attended a history convention in Miami last month and stayed at one of those new condos, which they are renting out by the night like hotel rooms. I had a beautiful one bedroom apartment near the main hotels, with maid service, for $80 a night! (the hotels charged $250 a night).  We have millions of these empty houses and condos and they are forcing down prices for everyone else. The problem is global. It's about as bad in parts of Europe and Asia. I remain very pessimistic about 2009. [[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] 14:31, 2 December 2008 (EST)