Peter Schiff attacks the corrupt David Lereah - let the tar and feathering begin

Nice to see somebody, anybody, attacking the corrupt David Lereah besides the bubble bloggers. We'll know we're making progress when your standard-issue MSM (think Kalamazoo Gazette) leads an article with "The corrupt and discredited Chief Economist of the NAR, David Lereah, said today...."

Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, this week, in response to the first national year-over-year decline in housing prices since 1995, David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors said “We've been anticipating a price correction and now it's here. The price drop has stopped the bleeding for housing sales. We think the housing market has now hit bottom.''

First of all, when did Lereah ever predict a price decline? Isn’t he the same guy who constantly assured us that real estate prices would never fall? That all that would happen to prices is that they would rise more slowly.

Second, what makes him an economist? Is he really employed to give an honest assessment of the future prospects of the housing market and real estate prices? Lereah is no more an economist than Henry Blodget was an analyst. Despite their titles, both were hired to help salesmen move inventory. For Blodget it was internet stocks, and for Lereah it is houses. Realtors cannot convince as many people to over-pay for houses if their own economist forecasts prices to drop. Why this man still gets taken serious by the media is beyond me. Anything he says should either be printed in the classified section or as part of a legitimate display advertisement for realtors.

Finally, what the hell is he talking about? How can he say that the bleeding has stopped, when its barely just begun? It reminds me of the Monty Python skit where the Black Knight claims his severed limb is “just a flesh wound.” Does it seem feasible that the biggest real estate bubble in U.S. history would bottom out after a mere 1.7% price decline?