Conservatives are always bragging about how much better the economy is since Bush took the White house. Why .

Question

did US mortgage foreclosures rise 90% in May?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=av3bqU7edFDs&refer=home

The median price for a U.S. home slid 1.8 percent the first three months of 2007 as the housing slump entered its second year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The filings rose 19 percent from April.

This does not look like a booming economy when people cannot keep their homes, does it?

Answer 1

Because everything else is such a mess. No one is really focusing on the house of cards we call economic figures. When ever this whitehouse puts together any economic figures, they simply omit the costs that have skyrocketed. Why, you might ask? Because Socail Security check amounts are influenced directly by the rise in inflation. If they show inflation number at a flatline, our the old people don't get a raise.
Drugs are up 39 percent and this is after the new plan the seniors were forced to buy, once again by whitehouse propaganda.


BTW, nice avatar.

Answer 2

You know, like everyone else, that there was a huge increase in realestate. People were buying and selling, prices were way up, and people were investing. Some folks went out on a limb trying to make big money on housing, then they were stuck with a second or third house that they could not afford once the market cooled. Stop already with the propaganda..."housing slid 1.8 %"...sheesh...give me a break.

Answer 3

The only thing keeping the false economy going was people using their houses as ATM machines. Those days are coming to a end. You can already see the GDP in severe
decline. All the more reason to pass it off to the Democrats now. The economy is a house of cards.
Thank god the ten year bond went up and took some wind out of all of this M&A activity. But I was shocked when I heard this figure today. I love the way the NAR keeps calling the bottom. I think we are not anywhere near the bottom.

Answer 4

Alot of people weren't in any financial position to be buying the home they did and getting them on balloon mortgages. All those people saw was the initial low interest rate, and little or no down payment. They screwed themselves and then cry about it.

Houses went way up and people felt like they had to get on the streetcar while it was going by without considering what they would do when finances changed.

Now there will be some good deals for those that waited or know how to handle money. They will get the houses selling at prices below what they could get before.

You have people going to the gambling cassino's and losing their houses. That isn't the government's fault or any President. It is their own fault. I don't see any victim here, just people that screwed themselves.

Answer 5

It's part of the cycle. You can pick apart ANY kind of trend. The real estate trend has been amazing. The uptrend went on for ages...but now it's time for an adjustment. That's the way it works. Those who over extended, went sub-prime or simply gambled with the interest only loans are paying the price now. They made some VERY poor and short-sighted decisions.

The people who are forfeiting on their mortgages here (suburban DC area) are typically those who moved into the "mc-mansions" in various gated communities and country club areas. They sold their houses for profits, took those profits and rolled them into houses that were beyond their means---gambling that house prices would continue to rise and that they could refinance and capitalize on the equity. Foolish.

Answer 6

perhaps you would rather not have a job. if you understood economics, you would understand that inflation would need to occur to get businesses to hire people, which leads to decreased interest rates, which leads to a housing boom and more mortgages.

it doesn't last forever though. eventually you have to balance that out by raising interest rates (leading to higher mortgage rates and less desire for people to buy homes, thus a slump in prices).

IMO, people who were stupid enough to do adjustable rate mortgages when the average mortgage rate was 5% deserved to see their home foreclosed as rates go up.

Answer 7

Foreclosures rose because most people are trying to live beyond their means and have brought themselves to the brink of financial ruin pursuing things they cannot afford, but to which they feel entitled.

Personal responsibility is a great thing.

Answer 8

This is a direct result of the games that have been played with mortgage rates. See interest only, etc.

People cannot keep their homes because they bought more than they could afford. That is their own damn fault. Too many people live above their means.

Answer 9

In 2000, the US economy sort of hit a recession. The tech bubble was about to burst, and there was a whole lot of problems.

The housing market does not solely control the US economy, although it is an indicator. Alan Greenspan recently warned of a possible recession in the near future.

Answer 10

I think, the democrats are not angels either. Clinton used to bragg about his double digits economy growth. They are all the same. For example, the democrats pretend as anti war. But it was during Clinton era who started the war by bombarding the Sudanese. It is not to say that their action is right or wrong. That is simply to say, both speaks the same language. In other words, the form could be different (the way they say it..) but the content is always the same. The same "dirty game" of the usual politics.