The one thing I do disagree with you on is the LOW interest rate on your mortgage. Based on your caps, I’m assuming this is very low. This is more thanks to Greenspan than Bush, it was him keeping the fed rates so low that created the opportunity for banks to give such a low rate. It may seem good for you in the shortrun individually, as obviously your mortgage payment is now lower. On the downside, it created artificially high home prices throughout the country, leading to the current real estate bust and credit crunch, which is obviously bad for the economy as a whole.
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Perhaps it would be a stretch to give our elected officials credit for the low rates. I guess we probably shouldn’t give Al Gore credit for the tech boom of the 90’s either, even though he did invent the internet. For that matter, why do so many Dems attribute the tech boom of the 90’s as something that Mr. Clinton accomplished. Hell, we should put Bill Gates up for president. He likely did more for the world economy than any government official ever has.
As for the real estate bust, that doesn’t seem to be the case where the conservatives live. Is there a real estate bust in Kansas? Nope. My home increased it’s value by 5.5% last year. Sales slumped in the KC metro area for the last few months, but they’re back up, as are the home prices. Even in middle KS (Hays, KS), home prices remain high and sales strong. The major “bust” is where the liberals live (coastal). The fact is, stupid people spend WAY more money than they have and are dumb enough to be suckered by crappy ARM loans rather than doing a smart conventional. Conservatives generally spend wisely when it comes to these matters. Oh, sure, I COULD go out and purchase a $400k home based on my income and credit standing (wife is a stay at home mother), but I’m just fine in my humble abode that’s only worth about $200k.
In short, these lender issues have little to do with anything our President has done.
[quote]jackzepplin wrote:
Perhaps it would be a stretch to give our elected officials credit for the low rates. I guess we probably shouldn’t give Al Gore credit for the tech boom of the 90’s either, even though he did invent the internet. For that matter, why do so many Dems attribute the tech boom of the 90’s as something that Mr. Clinton accomplished. Hell, we should put Bill Gates up for president. He likely did more for the world economy than any government official ever has.
As for the real estate bust, that doesn’t seem to be the case where the conservatives live. Is there a real estate bust in Kansas? Nope. My home increased it’s value by 5.5% last year. Sales slumped in the KC metro area for the last few months, but they’re back up, as are the home prices. Even in middle KS (Hays, KS), home prices remain high and sales strong. The major “bust” is where the liberals live (coastal). The fact is, stupid people spend WAY more money than they have and are dumb enough to be suckered by crappy ARM loans rather than doing a smart conventional. Conservatives generally spend wisely when it comes to these matters. Oh, sure, I COULD go out and purchase a $400k home based on my income and credit standing (wife is a stay at home mother), but I’m just fine in my humble abode that’s only worth about $200k.
In short, these lender issues have little to do with anything our President has done.[/quote]
I don’t disagree with any of this, but the fact is that any time you make money that easily available, you are going to have people making poor decisions, raising demand, and creating the bust. In a perfect world, we would all have common sense, but in our world there will always be people that ruin it for the rest. Granted, I think the problem would have taken care of itself in the long run without government intervention, but that’s another topic.
Don’t pretend that the real estate problems don’t affect us in Kansas. While there are enough foreclosures in my area to have a slight effect on my home’s value, the biggest problem is within the financial sector of the economy and how it has affected my portfolio. I’m sure yours has probably taken a hit this year, too.
Don’t pretend that the real estate problems don’t affect us in Kansas. While there are enough foreclosures in my area to have a slight effect on my home’s value, the biggest problem is within the financial sector of the economy and how it has affected my portfolio. I’m sure yours has probably taken a hit this year, too.[/quote]
It took a slight hit over the last four months, but it’s back up. It probably wouldn’t have taken even a subtle hit if I’d been a little more proactive and made a few changes, but I didn’t want to jump the gun on a few thousand bucks. I figured I’d ride it out. The biggest his KS has likely seen is in prosperity. Our Democratic governor has run away any business prospects we had by vetoing the coal plan in western Kansas. Top that with the major drop in Sprint Nextel stock, then it adds up to some long-term challenges. We’re currently about 5 votes short of overturning Governor Kathy’s veto, so I’m hopeful that business will start to pick back up. Once we get her out of office, Kansas will be a place of solid prosperity again.
As for the foreclosures, I’ve been toying with the idea of picking up a few and flipping them. I have a KS real estate license, as does a good friend of mine, and he’s been having some great luck with flipping. Just need to get off my a$$ and do something before the government does anything further on the “housing crisis”.
[quote]jackzepplin wrote:
It took a slight hit over the last four months, but it’s back up. It probably wouldn’t have taken even a subtle hit if I’d been a little more proactive and made a few changes, but I didn’t want to jump the gun on a few thousand bucks. I figured I’d ride it out. The biggest his KS has likely seen is in prosperity. Our Democratic governor has run away any business prospects we had by vetoing the coal plan in western Kansas. Top that with the major drop in Sprint Nextel stock, then it adds up to some long-term challenges. We’re currently about 5 votes short of overturning Governor Kathy’s veto, so I’m hopeful that business will start to pick back up. Once we get her out of office, Kansas will be a place of solid prosperity again.
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Actually, you bring up an interesting topic here. I predict Sebelius will be the first woman president of the US. She’s very popular amongst Dems, and doesn’t bring the hatred of Hillary. If McCain wins in November, I think we are very likely to see her in 2012 or 2016.
[quote]tedro wrote:
jackzepplin wrote:
It took a slight hit over the last four months, but it’s back up. It probably wouldn’t have taken even a subtle hit if I’d been a little more proactive and made a few changes, but I didn’t want to jump the gun on a few thousand bucks. I figured I’d ride it out. The biggest his KS has likely seen is in prosperity. Our Democratic governor has run away any business prospects we had by vetoing the coal plan in western Kansas. Top that with the major drop in Sprint Nextel stock, then it adds up to some long-term challenges. We’re currently about 5 votes short of overturning Governor Kathy’s veto, so I’m hopeful that business will start to pick back up. Once we get her out of office, Kansas will be a place of solid prosperity again.
Actually, you bring up an interesting topic here. I predict Sebelius will be the first woman president of the US. She’s very popular amongst Dems, and doesn’t bring the hatred of Hillary. If McCain wins in November, I think we are very likely to see her in 2012 or 2016.
Scary.
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She’s done so much damage in KS, she’d likely be easy fodder for any Republican up against her. Not to mention, her State of The Union response was like watching paint dry. It truly perplexes me how she was elected in KS, so I have a hard time seeing how she’d do much on the National stage. I know the Dems are salivating over the idea, but I don’t think she gave a good show the first time they strutted her out (referring to the Dem response). I don’t know, we’ll have to keep our eye on her.
I apologize for hijacking the thread, but in a sense, this all contributes to more mess for the Dems.