"The 19th-century version of containers manufactured in China and bound for Wal-Mart consisted of produce from farmers in the American Midwest." A distant mirror indeed.  Remember that bit about Northern Rock having been the first British bank failure in 141 years?   Many thanks to Doomer V for this dig.  Doom rarely finds American academic historians helpful in putting the present crisis in perspective, but this guy from Virginia’s W&M recently hit one out of the park.[1] I’ve often reflected on how the American Century (1945 – ????) has been unfolding much as did the British one (1815 – 1914). …
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"Reporting involves the gathering of information through interviewing and research, the results of which are turned into a fair and balanced story for publication or for television or radio broadcast." – What is Journalism? UWO [my emphasis] NAR is presently at Disney World making some modest suggestions [1] for the new Administration:   An interest-rate buy down, in which the government would subsidize a portion of a home buyer’s mortgage interest rate. A recent analysis by NAR found that a reduction of interest rates by 1 percentage point could result in 840,000 additional home sales and reduce the inventory of…
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"The Queen asked me: ‘If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them? Why did nobody notice it’?"  

"While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as corporate entities may not be needed, their exclusive function as dedicated investors is needed to create and maintain the United States secondary mortgage market." When I started looking at Fannie Mae back around 2002 or 2003 it was usually described as America’s largest non-bank financial institution. Perhaps that’s true in some ways even now, but it and its sibling Freddie Mac are on life support under new regulator FHFA’s conservatorship. To get an idea how extreme things have gotten, consider that Fannie’s market cap is now a bit less than a quarter of…
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Here at HousingDoom, we generally try to stay fairly apolitical – we point out stupidity regardless of which side of the aisle it may be on.  We also try to avoid endorsing specific candidates. This election will affect a number of things over the next 4 years; it is vital that people understand their candidate, and what they are voting for.  It is in the spirit of disclosure that I post this video. On July 2nd, 2008, Obama made a speech in Colorado Springs.  There were a number of things said which are deeply concerning.  Of further concern, the officially released…
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Paulson may be confident that housing legislation will be passed this week, but he’s not waiting: July 21 (Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, aiming to create a new source of U.S. mortgage financing, wants banks to start issuing covered bonds without waiting for legislation from Congress. Regulators can provide the guidance that lenders are asking to be set in law, said a Treasury official working on the issue who declined to be identified. Banks want a standardized definition of a covered bond, which requires the lender to make good on payments if homeowners default, and guidelines on bondholder protections….
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The next 48+ hours are shaping up to be a real fur-ball. North America’s rapidly fading troika of government leaders was planning to spend a couple of quiet days advancing their Security and Prosperity Partnership,[1] accompanied only by the traditionally ineffective anti-globalization protests,[2] but events seem to be conspiring to overtake them.

“Can We Afford the Military We Need?” was a seminar held at the American Enterprise Institute on June 26, 2007. This is an unauthorized, unannotated transcript covering the last 36 minutes (the Q&A session) of the 2 hour AEI event. For background and interpretation, please refer to the Housing Doom post “A Serving of Profound Reordering Please, Waiter” (August 6, 2007). ________________________ Kevin Hassett [1:22:10]: Interesting, well we can now turn to questions. Please raise your hand and I’ll point to you. State your name and make your statement in the form of a question if you would. And hold…
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“Can We Afford the Military We Need?” was a seminar held at the American Enterprise Institute on June 26, 2007. This is an unauthorized, unannotated transcript covering the first 82 minutes of the 2 hour AEI event. For background and interpretation, please refer to the Housing Doom post “Can We Afford the War We Want?” (July 30, 2007). ________________________ Kevin Hassett [0:00:00]: If folks could finish grabbing their muffins and take their seats we can begin the program. This is … we’re gathered here to discuss “Can We Afford the Military We Need.” I’m Kevin Hassett, Director of Economic Policy…
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