Looks like a CYA stroke-fest today in the Senate housing bubble hearings. Of course the Senate only invited industry insiders to come in with their spin and talking points, versus an independent analyst or economist (Shiller? Thornberg? HousingPanic?)
Here's the MSM reporting on today's waste of time. Keep in mind folks the HP November 2006 recommendation - VOTE EVERY INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE
Housing not facing bust, just normalcy: experts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While the U.S. housing market is drifting down from stratospheric levels, the sector is just returning to normal and is not poised to crash, several economists and industry leaders told lawmakers on Wednesday.
"True housing busts are a relatively rare event," Federal Deposit Insurance Corp chief economist Richard Brown said at a congressional hearing on the housing market.
In a recent study of past housing trends, the bank regulator concluded sharp drops in housing markets are most often linked to "episodes of severe local economic distress."
With wages and employment still strong, Brown said, a real nationwide housing market crisis was not likely.
Mounting evidence of sharp slowdown in the long-hot U.S. housing market prompted the Senate Banking Committee to call in experts to talk about the implications of a potential "bubble" bursting.
Sales of new homes in July were down 22 percent from a year earlier, while existing home sales were off 11 percent.
The slowdown has put a damper on home price gains, which have flattened out considerably after several years of double-digit growth in many parts of the country.
Noting the dramatic change, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York mused: "To paraphrase Shakespeare: Is there a bubble or isn't there a bubble? That is the question."
National Association of Realtors President Tom Stevens had an emphatic answer.
"Contrary to many reports, there is not a 'national housing bubble'," he said. Instead, Stevens said the slowdown reflected cooling in some overheated markets, while other regions had never even known a real warm spell.
September 13, 2006
FLASH: Corrupt REIC insiders testify to corrupt Senators during CYA housing bubble senate hearing today
Posted by blogger at 9/13/2006
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18 comments:
should we have expected anything different from this collection of clowns?
anyone got a transcript?
And in a back room, the insiders told the senators "just make sure the Fed keeps printing money, drop some out of some damn helicopters if you have to!"
Like I said! Just like the action they took on boarder security
Make that Border
Sure there are areas that have not even seen a warm up. Because nobody goes there,buys there,or wants to live there.
Where people do want to live, they won't be able to afford to stay very shortly.
whew, what a relief. everyone break it up now. shows over.
The big tipoff here was that Wayne Allard, R-Colorado Senator, was deemed by Time Magazine to be one of the five worst (most ineffective) senators.
Really, this is no different than Senate hearings on the credit card industry.
"True housing busts are a relatively rare event"
from this i read "this time is not different"
dont know what to get from that..
Let's say the banker, the realtor and the builder told the truth. That the housing bubble will burst and reach proportions not seen since the 30s. Would that make things better? NO NO NO.
We are all better off that they lied - this way we prolong the inevitable.
David Seiders (homebuilder economist)said we have 400,000 excess units. I figure the number is closer to 2 million excess units and I spend a lot of time looking into this.
Anyone have any thoughts out there?
We have Mexicans and other South Americans living in a canyon between two neighborhoods with million dollar homes! I wish those guys had the indecency to poop on the front lawns of the neighbors just like the drunk college kids who rented out a million dollar house in same said neighborhood. Looks like the illegals have better manners than the American college kids. The kids were living two per room in this house. Funny!
I have to feel sorry for the illegals, though, they seem like decent people, too bad they can't afford a house in San Diego!
The irony of this is that if these illegals were illegals in Mexico, the Federales would have beaten the crap out of them and stole their money. Then they would have been deported back to Bolivia or wherever-the-f*ck they came from.
There was a big fire started by illegals living in a canyon in BelAir Ca.
"We have Mexicans and other South Americans living in a canyon between two neighborhoods with million dollar homes! I wish those guys had the indecency to poop on the front lawns of the neighbors just like the drunk college kids who rented out a million dollar house in same said neighborhood. Looks like the illegals have better manners than the American college kids. The kids were living two per room in this house. Funny!"
At least San Diego has some fairly decent canyons for the illegals to camp out in. IN los angeles they would have to cramp 20 to a house in SCentral LA.
Liberals always say VOTE OUT THE BUMS when the Republicans are in office. NEVER A FREAKING WORD when their crappy bozo's have the majority. All praise the pervert Clintonista. What a farce are Liberals!
Anon 12:24:37 wrote,
“What a farce are Liberals!”
_____________________
It appears that your command of the English language matches that of your hero GWB.
republican presidents for the last 20 out of 28 years. 1980-2008
yeah i say throw the bums out, and am proud to be a liberal. i wear it on my sleeve, so fuck you racist, homophobic, women hating , american taliban, conservative, evangelical war mongering, corrupt ilk.
Senator Sarbanes was the biggest potential corrupter on the Seanate side.
He suggested that he'd like the heads of both the NAR and the NAHB to have more access to the Fed to discuss their concerns about interest rate rises!
Head of the Homebuilders, to his credit, said he felt they already had enough access to the Fed thanks.
Still trying to blame "incumbents"? Why is it so hard for some of you white males to admit that the greed-culture has been developed, encouraged and fed by conservatism?
I hope republicans get more control. When they give us the next Depression maybe you'll wake up.
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