In August 2007 David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States said, I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility.
Walker also said that the American public is starved for two things, the truth, and leadership. While the economic situation has changed significantly for the worse since then, what hasn’t changed is that Americans are still starving.
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We have met the enemy, and it is liberal housing bloggers.
Couldn’t resist.
” we are mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren at record rates…”
and that mortgage is the absolute worst Pick Pay Liar Loan in history.
Hutch-
I wish I could remember who said it, but I remember reading a comment a couple of years ago to the affect, “We keep telling ourselves that we are putting a huge burden of debt on our children and grandchildren. We can’t really comfort ourselves that the little tykes will have to deal with it, WE will have to deal with it way before then.”
I agree with that statement. It has blown up in our faces and we’re stuck with the consequences.
Yossarian-
It’s worse than that. I’m actually a conservative housing blogger! : )
All right,
I feel compelled to weigh in. While I agree in the former comptroller’s message, let’s not forget that even though we were warned, it still hasn’t happened, and it’s a little early to be saying it. I hope to be in Costa Rica, living off of my well-earned social security checks by then. (I’m hoping the USA lasts that long)
The crisis we are facing now is not a crisis at all. Household balance sheets are a mess (which they have been for 15 years and getting much much much worse. The biggest problem is profligate spending without the income to back it up. Americans will need to live with a scaled back life in the short term. In the medium and longer-term, it is government that needs to scale back. For now, the rest of the world is willing to lend to the US for the relative safety of its promises to pay interest. Because, no matter what is happening in the rest of the world, Americans can still afford $4/cup coffee, which if push came to shove, could be robbed from them with higher taxes to pay the deficit. It’s a fact that at some point money will need to be paid back and cannot simply be rolled over.
The question remaining is, how can we continue to have roads and schools and defense if all we can pay is for entitlements and interest on our debt? Do we monetize the debt and increase inflation? Does social unrest become so great that the question becomes moot?
It reminds me of late 2006 when many were saying that it was “getting hard to get credit”. Wha? We’re still now in 2009 barely back to 2001 lending practices, and we could go a lot further. The problem is not the supply of credit (there seems to be plenty as far as residential mortgages for those with downpayments and creditworthiness) but with the demand side. People realize they are not able to afford a 700K mortgage or a 20% downpayment on a 800K house when they only make 80K/year.
Our government seems intent on predatory lending, ensuring people are as fully leveraged as they possibly can be. Seems ironic that an African American is condoning this kind of financial slavery. It’s just sad. Everyone needs less debt.
Chuck -
Here’s something I was saying a few months ago:
Twist:
That’s right… I keep forgetting. Anyway, the meme is ‘evil bloggers’ … so it’s still ok.
I have always endeavored to separate ‘real conservatives’ from ‘fascists’. … my wife is a Conservative, and she agrees with this liberal on many, many things.
As she says, “It’s amazing what the label Conservative has deteriorated to mean… and it’s their fault (the so-called Conservatives)”
For the record, one of my favorite authors is Chomsky… who refers to himself as a ‘Libertarian Socialist’, I believe.
Yossarian-
I’ve always felt that a conservative is one avoids debt and doesn’t want to waste money on stupid stuff, but is willing to spend on things that have a good ROI. That doesn’t just mean things like businesses, but things like education and our environment. The term has been co-opted though by by politicians like Bush, who didn’t seem to meet a program he didn’t like and embraced debt.
I agree with my liberal friends far, far more often then I did with President Bush. So far though, there’s not much that Obama is doing that I can embrace.
Hi again. I’ve been hanging out way too much at CR (actually mostly lurking) as this mess has gotton worse. Anyway, remember O has just been delt his first hand. He’s playing the cards as delt. I think he is very pragmatic in the sense that you start by changing the system within the system. Is he Honest Abe or a puppet on a string? Give him some time.
The capitalistic system is broke and maybe no one can fix it. Doing nothing is’nt a plan, unless of course you relish a Mad Max future, which we might get anyway at this point. It is all about jobs, no matter what they are. Cold and hungry people are not a good thing for societal stability.
Brucewho-
Agreed. I keep thinking though, that all these trillions that are being flushed out into the ether could keep a lot of unemployed people off the streets with basic food and shelter.
The government doesn’t have unlimited resources. I worry they will squander what we have, and it won’t be there for the people that really need it.
The libertarian in me distrusts government and much spending is ineffecient and wasteful. Too many vested interests along the way get their palms greased who don’t deserve it. We all want government to solve our problems but in the end its creates more. Not a lot of hope there and I don’t want to get fooled again. We have met the enemy and it is ourselves.
Brucewho-
More and more I find myself embracing my inner libertarian as well. I would say at this point MOST spending is ineffecient and wasteful. I wish there were a “common sense” party, but alas.
Yeah Igor, I’m “forlorn” too.
I’m not sure it matters how we see ourselves because we are all on the same boat together now, in a storm headed to a big rock in the middle of the night.
I’ve missed you guys. Here you can interact leisurely since threads last longer. CR is too fast these days and everyone seems to be trying to one up another in smugness. Like they want to write gags for the Daily Show or some right wing variant. The best posters have moved on. Sincerity is lacking and hopelessness rules.
I know many here go to CR because I recognize some bylines. I too throw out darts there but not under this alias. It was funny for awhile but it’s getting too serious now. I lost my job too. You know the saying “It’s a recession when someone you know looses their job, a depression when you loose yours” I’ve known it was coming being in the land planning business. We are overbuilt everywhere for at least a decade.
That’s why I initially came here. Apprehension about the housing situation in 2007. I’m O.K. for now but am not kidding myself that we’re going back to the way things were. There’s lots of shock coming for many other folks this year in every sector of the economy. Anyway it’s about time for LOST and a chance to escape this world for one so much more desperate.
Oh, I didn’t mean to trash CR. He runs a great site with lots of balanced economic analysis. Tanta was a great loss. But the rabble of comments on that blog is tiresome.