"Homeownership was a great American success
story."
i'll pass on that
" It rose for 60 years peaking around 2004 - and for
most of those six decades it was an honest business, more or
less."
i'll pass on that too
though i prolly shouldn't
" But in its last five years, the long boom was kept
alive by the greatest financial swindle in world history."
fine but here it comes folks....the major blooper meme
" In the collapse that followed, an enormous amount of middle-
class wealth was wiped out. "
wealth ???
lot values my dear jaimie are not wealth
they might be a very precarious store of purchasing power
but not wealth not real wealth
houses are wealth but not lots
gardens are wealth even lawns
land itself is wealth but not that land's location
construction and reconstruction that adds wealth
level the land build roads thru it add street lights pipes and drains
that adds wealth
in particular owning a house and a house lot it sits on
is a very solid store of wealth
even after a lot pop it is what it is and worth the cost of its reproduction eh ??
"Homes were once a source of
pride, safety, and collateral. "
well the homes were jaimie
but the lots sure should not have been
and that throws a light back on the whole process since the first GI bill
a proper national george tax set up
back in 1946 or so
could have supported home ownership
and kept the store of real wealth intact
the wealth that is a house of a certain sort and a lot of a certain size
a free and clear home represents a part of the american dream
"Now they're often a burden"
the mortgage is the burden and its underwater because the value of the lot under the home ...sank
if house building has stopped
that is not because
we have a glut of houses
hardly
we have a market in houses so straight jacketed by underwater mortgages
so over loaded with excess supply up for sale
that the resale market today can't get the credit to clear itself
and the new home market can't justify the risks of construction givewn lot values that are still falling
hey its possible the correction in lots is so over corrected
existing houses and lots are going of at less then replacement costs
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