Random Musings

As the US economy continues to slide, the pressure for the government to take charge becomes ever bigger.   The consensus seems to be throwing the kitchen sink at the problem.   We are now talking about a $1 trillion stimulus package, fed funds rate at 0%, complete regulatory overhaul of the financial industry, and a healthcare system reboot, among other less dramatic measures.   With such drastic increase of the role of the government, the opportunity to make mistakes is proportionally larger.   Somewhere in this frenzy, some of these well-intentioned policies will go wrong, perhaps terribly wrong.   We can already see signs of this.   Take, for example, a couple of points from the Obama economic plan.   A. “Foreclosure Moratorium:” Obama’s plan has called for prohibiting banks that receive federal bailout money from foreclosing on homeowners who are making “good-faith” efforts on their mortgage payments.   The theory is that to arrest the decline of the economy, we have to save h...

This is my very first blog, so where do I begin?   Well, the economy is first and foremost on everyone’s mind.   Perhaps befitting to an inaugural blog, I will talk about what many think brought us here – housing.  I’ve been known to be a housing bear amongst my friends.   To me, there always seems to be something weird about the fascination about home ownership.   It is only recently that I figured out what that something is – it is essentially a religion.   Or more precisely, a founding myth deeply embedded in the American psyche.  Why do I say that?   Well, you can easily tack the housing at the end of any typical phrases that represent America , and it will rhyme so well that no one will notice you changed anything.   Try it:   “Motherhood, apple pie, and a roof deck”, “2 cars and a garage”, or the Herbert Hoover version: “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage (or house)”   And lastly, “Mickey Mouse, Coca Cola and a balcony”, Or was that McDonalds?   I forget, you ge...