Anybody going to watch the president’s speech tonight?
UPDATE: If you missed the speech, you can read the transcript here.
47 thoughts on “Bush-watching”
Comments are closed.
Anybody going to watch the president’s speech tonight?
UPDATE: If you missed the speech, you can read the transcript here.
Comments are closed.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Naomi Kleine has written a book that basically states that the present adminstrations tactics are to allow (or even create) a crisis so they can step in an impose a promise of rescue or saftey in the form of say…The Patriot Bill or money to bail out our failing economy. By doing so, they get things done that normally wouldn’t past muster. Don’t we understand, it is by their processes and our greed and apathy that we are all here. We, have been negligent for too long. And now, as some folks are apt to say, “The chickens have come home to roost” Viv, you and your friends are so right. We are in trouble. I for one, when I get a chance, will demand an explaination from the very next Senator or Congressperson I get the chance to meet. I would expect the same from the rest of you. Just because we have lost this country doesn’t mean we can’t take it back. We need to let them know.
I may not have been clear, but I don’t think I ever advocated eliminating the deduction for mortgage payments, and if it looked like that was implied somewhere I apologize. I don’t want fewer tax duductions, rather I’d suggest more short-term tax relief for homeowners who are losing both equity and what is in all likelihood their single largest income tax deduction, so that they can take a couple of years to get their finances back in order and improve their credit scores before coming back to the housing market as more-realistic buyers.
You’re correct about the relative price of homeownership and renting, incidentally, that’s the benchmark I frequently use. I think it’s important to bear in mind, however, that in the event of a market correction, there will be a lot more people moving into the rental market as they finally get out from under homes they can’t afford, and the increased demand will lead to increased costs. How much those costs will increase will vary a lot regionally (the three rules of real estate are, after all, location, location, location!) but I think it’s fair to say that in any given market the current rental costs don’t completely and accurately reflect the full costs of transitioning from ownership to rental.