Stimulate demand, no matter how well-intentioned the original legislation might be, and you stimulate price. I think Adam Smith had that figured it out awhile ago. I don’t look at the recent high percentage of home ownership in this country as a sign pride and confidence but rather an indication of how terrified young buyers were of being priced out forever.

I think, socalwatcher, that you are on to something here.

The herd mentality as practiced here means driving a statment to work, sleeping in a lifestyle environment, exercising with state-of-the-art, eating upscale, and being seen with trendoids so they TOO can be identified as such.

As a person who has struggled with depression his entire (long, long) life, I think I can say with a certain amount of exactitude that it isn’t me that’s off, it’s…. them. The rest of the louts who make believe but whose lives are lived in something of a bubble that they strive very hard to steer away from sharp objects.

I say, call a spade a spade (erm, that’s not politically incorrect is it)(who cares, it’s that sort of thinking that got us here in the first place).

By Ged, Dr. HB, I love yer blog.

PS I really despise word verification. Why can’t it be more legible? I’ve attempted six times to get this !#$&$ right, and my vision isn’t faulty. It’s a pet peeve, I know, and a necessary evil, but I’m too lazy to start a Blogger account (I am Wordpress man).

LOL! As someone with clinical depression and looking for a home in the ridiculously-overpriced Baltimore Co., MD, area, I got a chuckle out of that comment.

It’s been a depressing process, and I mean that literally. So much for irrational exuberance….

Think about it: Seeing stripes on a zebra as stripes on a zebra is called being depressed. Living in lala land and seeing things not for they really are, but for what you want them to be is called normal. With the attitude of SoCal people, does this ring a bell?

“Everyone wants to live in SoCal!”
“Housing in SoCal NEVER goes down!”
“I will get whatever selling price I want for my house!”

And so on. That is why Southern Californians have this reputation because they are seen as living in the clouds by the rest of the country.

Thus, through the wonders of Television and media, everybody sees this mystical world called California and try to emulate it.

I agree with the theory that this whole scenario by banks and lenders was planned. Figure this: get everyone locked in to debt for long periods of time. Then, you have GUARANTEED profits of enormous proportions for many many years to come because they get so over their head that they are locked in. What a wonderful plan! America does indeed eat the stupid for breakfast.

I also agree that the subprime meltdown is similar to Chernobyl in error. Shut off the spigot, everything overheated and KABOOOOOM!

Glad I have no debt, cash in the bank and discipline after making my mistakes…

Just as an aside: remember how President Bush was amazed to see a bar-code laser scanner at the grocery store check-out a few years ago? His existence has been so detached from a normal existence (e.g. going to the grocery store) that a laser scanner seemed novel to him.

This is the type of person who is directing policy concerning the lives of Americans…