June 13, 2006

FLASH: That pro-housing report issued by Harvard? Corruption at its finest and Harvard should be ashamed

So as you'll see on the following post, Harvard issued an odd report where they backed up the corrupt Real Estate Industrial Complex (REIC), reassuring folks that the real estate bubble (already bursting hard in Harvard's back yard) would not end in a crash.

HP'er Panicearly did some easy digging, and yup, Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, who issued the report? Bought and sold by every major member of the corrupt REIC. Harvard is their bitch, and the report is a big wet kiss to their donors. Don't worry, masses, there is no bubble, there is no meltdown underway. Support our sponsors - Beazer, Centex, Countrywide, the corrupt Fannie Mae, etc etc etc.

This is shameful, it's corrupt, it's wrong, and it I call on other bloggers and even the lazy mainstream media to take this story and run with it.

Here's the list, and here's the report

Policy Advisory Board- Member Companies
Andersen Windows
Armstrong Holdings, Inc.
Beazer Homes USA
Black & Decker
Boral Industries
The Bozzuto Group
Bradco Supply Corporation
Builders FirstSource
Building Materials Holding Corporation
Canfor Corporation
Cendant Corporation
Centex Corporation
CertainTeed Corporation
Champion Enterprises
Countrywide Financial Corporation
Crosswinds Communities
Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae Foundation
Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston
Fortune Brands - Home and Hardware
Freddie Mac
GAF Materials Corporation
Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Hanley Wood, LLC
Hearthstone
Home Depot
HomeStore, Inc
Hovnanian Enterprises
Huttig Building Products
James Hardie Industries NV
Jeld-Wen
Johns Manville Corporation
KB Home
Kimball Hill Homes
Kohler Company
Lafarge North America
Lanoga Corporation
Lennar Corporation
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Marvin Windows and Doors
Masco Corporation
Masonite International Corporation
McGraw-Hill Construction
MI Windows and Doors, Inc.
National Gypsum Company
Oldcastle Building Products, Inc.
Owens Corning
Pacific Coast Building Products
Pella Corporation
Pulte Homes
Reed Business Information
Rinker Materials
The Ryland Group
S&B Industrial Materials S.A.
The Sherwin-Williams Company
Stock Building Supply
The Strober Organization
Temple-Inland
UBS Investment Bank
Weyerhaeuser
Whirlpool Corporation
Policy Advisory Board
PAB Mission Statement

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

sickening, just sickening

why does this feel so much like the dot com bubble and systemic corruption all over again?

David said...

I also posted about this and linked to your blog. Good Work Keith!

David
Bubble Meter Blog

Anonymous said...

Let's face it: Harvard, Yale and other Ivu League institutions are not what they once used to be.

Today, they have two goals:

1) To make money: see hedge funds et cetera. In Russia's privatisation fraud in the 1990s, Harvard team made $100M to disappear
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=508082

2) To advance militant far-left fantasies (Taleban chief at Yale et cetera)


I would not believe anything Harvard says.

Anonymous said...

Damn! The list reads like a Who's Who of the housing industry! Kudos for the detective work.

Anonymous said...

I dunno that the Ivy Leagues don't produce some good research (e.g., in the real sciences -- which DO NOT include economics). Gotta say, though, that after our glorious adventure in Iraq, the brainchild of a host of strategic wizards from Princeton, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, etc., the prestige schools have really lost their aura, at least in my eyes.
-- sglover

Metroplexual said...

Harvard should change their motto from "Veritas" (truth) to "very sad"

Anonymous said...

Harvard sukx big time

Anonymous said...

Not only is this report disengenuous from sponsorship point, but it is full of bad analysis. Just one example:

It states that only one in about 15 loans will readjust in 2007. Of course, in over-inflated locales such as Souther Cal and AZ, that number is likely to be higher. But let's take that number for this discussion. If only one in 5 of those are forced to sell because of the new higher payment, that works out to about roughly 1.3 percent. Now, since the current inventory in Orange County, CA is about 0.5 % of all available homes, those houses coming to the market will nearly triple the current inventory. These numbers are very rough estimates, but you get the picture.

Anonymous said...

Check out the price of GOLD today....

Whooooosh (that is the sound of the Gold Bubble deflating).

Gold has gone from 720 to 560 (minus 22%) in ONE MONTH.

Housing might go down, but the national median sales price will never drop 20% in one month.

Anonymous said...

don't worry....GOLD always goes up

you can quote me on that

Anonymous said...

"large house price declines appear unlikely for now"

"long term outlook for housing is bright"

david lereah? bob toll? no! the unbiased harvard study of course.

what a absolute and total joke - good work uncovering this corrupt BS.

Anonymous said...

Keith,

HUGE fan of the blog, been reading it daily for the past 6 months. Excellent work on digging up the true sources of this report by the way.

Anway, I don't normally post comments on blogs, but I had to bring up this particulary absurd bit I came across this morning:

Don't know if anyone here listens to Howard Stern, but his guest this morning was Dustin Diamond (aka "Screech" from Saved By The Bell). The reason he was on: Screech is the victim of mortgage fraud and is on the brink of loosing his home in Wisconsin!!! It sounds like he fell for one of the "equity-stripping" bail out scams and is now scrambling to raise 250K (via T-shirt sales no less) to save his house! Behold, the latest victim of the housing bubble: Screech from Saved by The Bell.

Metroplexual said...

Screech was on Stern in 2000 bragging about his "bell" money (over a million). I will have to listen to the replay tonight.

Anonymous said...

Harvard has a great cafeteria and great beer parties

Marinite said...

Keith -

Based on what evidence are you claiming that the Harvard report is bogus? Yes, there is a potential conflict of interest. But there is no proven deception (yet, if ever). I for one am a bubble believer (go see my blog for proof) but I am not willing to dismiss this report. Time will tell. For myself, if this bubble busts then it busts.

Metroplexual said...

Marinite,

It is not that there are any outright lies just that the weaknesses in the market are glanced over and alot of assumptions about demand are offered.

Go to page 17 and add the ARM, IO and Payment option loans from 2003 to 2005. The total over 2/3 of loans issued. If that is not a worry in an interest increasing rate hike environment, well.... It is intellectually dishonest to present the loans as "innovative".

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't call it sickening. I would call it ignorance to compare the dot.com bust to a housing bubble. Most dot.com companies don't exist anymore. If you have taken the time to look at earnings, you can see that these are Real companies with REAL earnings employing a very large segment of America. Hope you dont live in a cardboard box!

Anonymous said...

... but the national median sales price will never drop 20% in one month...anon.7:58:53 PM


How the hell do you know? Did your crystal ball, realtor, broker, or daddy tell you that?

Anonymous said...

People will always tend to listen to people that speak clearly and confidently, look distinguished, and express their thoughts in a vocabulary that sounds like they know what they are talking about.

Unfortunately, some of these people should have been discredited a long time ago, and yet they are not.

There is obviously a conflict of interest in this case, and while the deception may not be deliberate, the entire report should be discredited based on the objectives of the parties involved.

Oh, and pass the Kool-Aid around. Do you have any grape?

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't any respectable institute publishing a report in June of 2006 AT A MINIMUM add a final word about recent developments?

I don't give a crap if they clearly state that their assumptions are based on old data.

If you're issuing a 2006 Housing report, and you are worth your salt, then have four possible Appendixes prepared that assume four different combinations of data, and when you issue the report in June 2006, pick the Appendix that is most up-to-date.

Sick and slovenly work.

Pat

Anonymous said...

I'm on board with ..."while deception may not be deliberate, the report should be discredited based on objectives of parties involved."

This is abuse reporting. It is funded by those who want their side reported.

Truth - stocks down, inflation too high, govt. corrupt, US $ a mess.

Keep lying NAR, it doesn't matter -we are heading straight into a brick wall. There will be no way to back track and cover your butts at that point. You might as well salvage any respect you can and start some honest market reporting.

jr

Anonymous said...

It's enough to make you lonesome for Charlie Keating.

Out at the peak said...

Great Exposé!

Anonymous said...

Congrulations on digging up the dirt on the Harvard study. The press is spoon fed and lazy. We need to look at all credit bubbles i.e. student loans, car loans, and of course credit cards bubble. I just learned about the interest only option on student loans. Clearly we are addicted to credit.

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