Post #277,506
3/6/07 8:00:02 PM
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This is probably good news, but has been proposed before.
[link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amwXJsmsW1Ck&refer=worldwide|Bloomberg]: March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest sources of money for U.S. home loans, should sell most of their $1.4 trillion in assets to refocus on homeownership among low-income Americans, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said.
The companies could destabilize financial markets should they fail to hedge their assets against risks like shifts in interest rates, Bernanke said in a speech to a meeting of the Independent Community Bankers of America in Honolulu today.
Bernanke cited data from regulators showing that less than 30 percent of the government-chartered companies' mortgage assets, or about $420 billion, promotes affordable housing.
Congress should anchor the ``portfolios to a clear public mission'' and ``require Fannie and Freddie to focus their portfolios almost exclusively on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities that support affordable housing,'' said Bernanke, who reiterated many of the Fed's views and research on the firms since 2003.
[...] It really doesn't make sense for Fannie and Freddie to have so big a stake in the mortgage market. It's unlikely that they'll shrink without a big battle, though. Cheers, Scott.
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Post #277,510
3/6/07 8:29:56 PM
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Best thing to do is to kill both Freddie and Fannie
Want to promote affordable housing? Take measures to cut housing costs for everyone (build more houses, actually underwrite loans, etc).
--Tony
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Post #277,512
3/6/07 8:32:42 PM
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And don't write loans for speculative amounts
Three-bedroom, 2k ft^2 == $150k. You want to pay more because it's in a good neighborhood? Come up with the money some other way. It makes no sense to finance speculation.
===
Kip Hawley is still an idiot.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #277,513
3/6/07 8:33:32 PM
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If you want to make housing affordable
you need to rejig how rewards are spread about in your society.
Current trends make housing trivial to afford for a privileged few, significantly expensive for a sizable minority, and damn near impossible to afford for a huge swath of the populace.
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Post #277,517
3/6/07 8:47:27 PM
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Not quite
In between "significantly expensive" and "damn near impossible" is a huge group who really can't afford what they want, but the banks are willing to write the loans anyway, putting them in crushing, unrecoverable debt from which they have no hope of digging out.
===
Kip Hawley is still an idiot.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #277,524
3/6/07 9:13:15 PM
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So, firmly in the damn near impossible camp
The main difference being that their hopes/dreams are being exploited by people in the "trivial" camp for profit.
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Post #277,595
3/7/07 11:20:18 AM
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So does Canada
Vancover, BC and other cities in Canada have significant housing bubbles too.
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Post #277,619
3/7/07 1:18:52 PM
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Yep, but at least we're not busy growing the incomes
of the one percenters at the expense of everyone else.
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Post #277,713
3/8/07 10:26:40 AM
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after spending the last 5 days up there
"Yep, but at least we're not busy growing the incomes" its not because of lack of trying, still would rather deal with columbian drug lords than canadian bidnessmen
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #277,717
3/8/07 11:18:53 AM
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I can understand that point of view
but at least our tax policy isn't completely fscked.
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Post #277,722
3/8/07 12:27:00 PM
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6% fed tax, 8% prov + income & property tax
Everyone I talk to up there sez the system is fucked and they are all trying to work off the books for cash and barter.
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #277,763
3/8/07 3:58:36 PM
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Playboy magazine had a story last year
about the growth of top quality Candian weed as a cash crop. The story said that the profit margin was great enough that people couldn't grow it fast enough.
lincoln
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the United States.
[link|mailto:golf_lover44@yahoo.com|contact me]
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Post #277,792
3/8/07 8:18:35 PM
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*Playboy* ???
Are you one of those who reads Playboy 'for the articles'? :-)
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
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Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
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-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. | · my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] · |
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Post #277,840
3/9/07 12:11:07 PM
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Been doin' it for 30 years
it's done wonders for my enlightenment!
lincoln
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the United States.
[link|mailto:golf_lover44@yahoo.com|contact me]
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Post #277,802
3/8/07 10:25:48 PM
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BC Bud is way too popular in my area. :P
Odoru aho ni miru aho!
Onaji aho nara odoranya son son!
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Post #277,812
3/9/07 3:04:34 AM
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You should try some Quebec Hydro. Ontario's got good stuff
too. All very powerful; thank ghod for Guelph's agricultural program.
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Post #277,844
3/9/07 1:04:03 PM
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I'm messed up enough already, don't need any herbal help.
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Post #277,913
3/10/07 4:07:09 AM
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So tell your friends! :D
There's more to Canadian weed than the stuff in BC.
Not that I would know from direct experience or anything.
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Post #277,523
3/6/07 9:12:28 PM
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Cities and counties could do more, too.
One of the surest ways to lower home values in suburbia is, oddly enough, build a railway line (the other is build a freeway). Yet a railway actually *helps* with the urban growth. So it kills two birds with one stone: improves public transport and lowers house prices. :-)
Wade.
"Don't give up!"
[link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] · [link|http://yceran.org/|website]
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Post #277,535
3/6/07 10:25:13 PM
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Not quite
Commuter rail kills the value of the homes that can see it, but significantly increases all those within walking distance.
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Post #277,537
3/6/07 10:34:47 PM
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Swings and roundabouts.
But noted. :-)
Maybe they just need to build 'em close together...
Wade.
"Don't give up!"
[link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] · [link|http://yceran.org/|website]
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