Housing market on upswing - good news!
Posted By: Bridger on 2009-03-17
In Reply to:
Part of an interesting article on housing market upswing - inflation slowing down. Good news if it stays the course!
www.truthout.org/031709C
Tuesday 17 March 2009
by: Lucia Mutikani | Visit article original @ Reuters
US housing starts rose sharply in February, providing some good news for the struggling housing industry. (Photo: AP)
Washington - New U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly rebounded in February, according to data on Tuesday that provided a rare dose of good news for the recession-hit economy and fractured housing market.
The Commerce Department said housing starts jumped 22.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 583,000 units from 477,000 units in January. That was the biggest percentage rise since January 1990 and also marked the first increase since last April.
"That is an encouraging sign for the U.S. economy. It is good signal of what is to come. With the rally in equities we hopefully have seen a bottom for the economy here," said Matt Esteve, foreign exchange trader at Tempus Consulting in Washington.
U.S. stocks have been on the rise over the last several days and the major indexes opened flat on Tuesday. U.S. government bond prices trimmed gains after the data and the U.S. dollar fell against the euro as risk aversion eased.
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These things are on upswing because they had
nm
The good news is
Now that O is changing the constitution to allow a foreign born like himself become the next president I think Arnold might have a good shot at it next election. Or is the O only going to change it to allow only himself be allowed to be president.
A bit of good news....(sm)
![](http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Sources/Art/APTRANS.gif")
updated 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
TEHRAN, Iran - The lawyer for an Iranian-American student detained in Tehran said his client has been released on bail.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said Tuesday that Esha Momeni was released Monday evening on $200,000 bail.
The lawyer said the 28-year-old student at California State University planned to leave for the U.S. as soon as possible.
He said authorities had not imposed a travel ban on Momeni. But, he said, she could still go to trial on unspecified "security charges."
Momeni's father said he put up the deed to the family's Tehran apartment to cover the bail.
Momeni was detained on Oct. 15. Activists believe she was arrested for her involvement in a women's rights campaign.
Well that's good news
Glad you liked my rant. Man was I hot when I wrote it. I'm so sick of politics being an "aristocrat thing". How many good politicians go unnoticed and don't have a chance just because they don't have tons of money or a "name".
Where can I just get some good ol news
I'd like opinions of where you get your news, what stations do you find give an equal balance. Please don't bash other stations because as for as many acronyms as I have heard about one news station, I've heard equal many about the others.
I don't watch Fox or MSNBC - those two are so blatanly biased. I used to watch CNN until the Clinton's got in, then they became the Clinton News Network, never reporting the truth about the goings on of that administration. Today I thought I'd go back to them to see if they calmed it down a bit with the love affair with the Clinton, but sure enough today I heard Wolf Blitzer say "Is the decade of Clinton bashing over". I'm just flabbergasted and astounded at the complete ignorance of that station. Ever since the Clinton's came into action the media has fallen over backwards with their love affair for them. So, this morning I realized that all three stations, Fox, MSNBC, and CNN won't do it for me.
Where do you all get your news and why do you like it.
This would only be good news IF the.....
job market were progressing upward at the same rate; otherwise, these new houses will sit empty along with foreclosed ones. You don't think this information is manipulated to make you "feel" better about something - after listening to O talking about "crisis" for so many weeks in a row? This won't last, I assure you!
well then that's good news for us liberals!!!
x
Good news - 2 things
Item #1 is that Michelle Obama has strongly stated she does not want HC picked as VP. (Am sure she is thinking the same thing - she wants to see her husband live through his term).
Item #2 in a poll of 80% of 550 major political figures, 43% say Barack will be the next president, 38% John McCain & 19% HC.
Good news if you want to believe a liberal
x
About time we got a little good news! nm
x
Good for Fox News...they refused to run an ad against Obama...
put together by a private citizen (not the McCain campaign), the same guy who was behind the swift boat ads against Kerry. They could have run it and they chose not to. Good for them! I admit, there is cause for concern about Obama's connection to Ayers, but that kind of ad where it is mean accusation and innuendo with no real proof shouldn't be run, in my opinion. Good for them for stepping up.
Good Source for (more) objective news
http://www.democracynow.org/
North Korea: This is not good news
I was surfing a bit this morning and found this news article from N. Korea. I doubt things will cool off for a long time, if ever. The article headlines state: "Lee Myung-Bak's Group Military Provocations Blasted. From there, it calls him a puppet war monger and states how Myung-Bak outbursts "over the non-existant provocation (my emphasis) by the North."
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm
Good discussion on PBS' Lehrer News Hour
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/political_wrap/july-dec05/bop_9-2.html
Very good discussion of the political ramifications of the current governmental failure in this emergency - includes New York Times columnist David Brooks, a Republican with some rather surprisingly accurate statements.
This is good news. It is a reflection of public opinion of the..sm
republican party and how they are running the country. Hope this tide keeps on rolling.
Good. I hadn't heard the news yet that he's finally
going up for trial. I've listened to all the stations but haven't heard it yet. It's about time. There's plenty that crowd needs to be held responsible for. However, this post was not about Bush is was about the messiah. How convenient for you to switch the subject.
Very good point!!! The world doesn't see any of that on the news! Thanks for posting that! nm
x
Hurricane housing, a way to help!
Just got this email from my brother:
We are forwarding this information about hurricanehousing.org - it was assembled by the progessive people of moveon.org and has been publicized by local mainstream media. While we are unspeakably upset by the lack of timely federal emergency aid, we are gratified by grassroots caring and hope that this disaster will serve as a moral reawakening beyond its terrible pain and loss. Please consider the following....
We're sure you've seen the horrifying images on TV of destruction left by Hurricane Katrina, and the many, many people left with nowhere to go.
You can help. MoveOn.org just launched a website, www.hurricanehousing.org, to connect your empty beds with hurricane victims who desperately need a place to wait out the storm.
You can post your offer of housing (a spare room, extra bed, even a decent couch) on http://www.hurricanehousing.org or search there for housing if you need it.
MoveOn will pass requests from hurricane victims or relief agencies on to volunteer hosts, who can decide whether or not to respond to a particular request. The host remains anonymous until they reply to someone looking for housing.
The ______(this was my brother's name) just posted an offer. We hope you will too, or pass this on to people you know in the Southeast:
http://www.hurricanehousing.org
Housing is most urgently needed within reasonable driving distance (about 300 miles) of the affected areas, especially New Orleans.
Thanks!
Housing people
People all over this nation are opening up their hearts and homes to try to help these people.
I wonder how many people could be housed in a certain ranch in Crawford.
But what has that to do with affordable housing?
/
The truth about the housing crisis...
I will warn you this is long, but if your interested in the truth this is a good place to start.
|
Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
By Orson Scott Card
Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist,
and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current
state of journalism.
An open letter to the local daily paper - almost every local daily paper
in America :
I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's
journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before
the public, because the public has a right to know.
This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague
emanation of the evil Bush administration.
It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late
1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more
accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized
to approve risky loans.
What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to
be able to repay.
The goal of this rule change was to help the poor - which especially
would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these
people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a
house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house -
along with their credit rating.
They end up worse off than before.
This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it.
One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried
repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such
attempt and tried to loosen them.
Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political
contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to
make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were
allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to
contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support
increasing their budget.)
Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who
produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a
position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700
billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which
politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage
lending?
I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party
or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a
vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."
Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank,
both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused
Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these
agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost
up to the minute they failed.
As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts
Matter?" ( ]" target=_blank>http://snipurl.com/457townhall_com<http://snipurl.com/457to>]
): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of
the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's
Secretary of the Treasury."
These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The
party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic
Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.
Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican
deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to
account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took
offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!
What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?
Now let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who
is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.
And after Freddie Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million
while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one
presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on
housing.
If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have
called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper
every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.
But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried
this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an
"adviser" to the Obama campaign - because that campaign had sought his
advice - you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain
of lying, merely because Raines wasn't listed as an official adviser to
the Obama campaign.
You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican.
If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles,
you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all
Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically
selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including
Obama.
If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you
would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow
Republicans were to blame for this crisis.
There are precedents. Even though President Bush and his administration
never said that Iraq sponsored or was linked to 9/11, you could not
stand the fact that Americans had that misapprehension - so you pounded
us with the fact that there was no such link. (Along the way, you
created the false impression that Bush had lied to them and said that
there was a connection.)
If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American
people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they
tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama
because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as
hard to correct that false impression.
Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim
you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your
paper.
But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie
- that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and
the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame
everything bad - even bad weather - on Bush, and they are responding as
you have taught them to.
If you had any personal honor, each reporter and Editor would be
insisting on telling the truth - even if it hurts the election chances
of your favorite candidate.
Because that's what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth
even when they don't like the probable consequences. That's what
honesty means . That's how trust is earned.
Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He
has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time - and you have
swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.
Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin,
reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried
daughter - while you ignored the story of John Edwards's own adultery
for many months.
So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know
what honesty means?
Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will
throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?
You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women
threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his
well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women. Who
listens to NOW anymore? We know they stand for nothing; they have no
principles.
That's where you are right now.
It's not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and
the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven
and earth to get the true story out there.
If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list
of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been
getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with
its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its
lending practices.
Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories
will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which
put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about
helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.
You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a
Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the
truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once
to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.
This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton
administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and
blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.
If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe -
and vote as if - President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis,
then you are joining in that lie.
If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats - including Barack
Obama - and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants
were Republicans - then you are not journalists by any standard.
You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and
it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we
can actually have a news paper in our city.
This article first appeared in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro ,
North Carolina , and is used here by permission. |
Hey there! I like it, but what about clothing, housing, medicines......sm
baby products (I nursed all three completely so THAT was cheap, but not an option for everyone), I don't think the MREs were meant to nourish little children, so I would worry about that. You still need utilities of some kind, because we all can't go out and cut down trees, so there is a lot to think about. I think if they INVESTED in hiring more social workers who were monitored to really do their jobs and fish out all the bogus welfare claims, get those people jobs or job training and paying back into the system, that would be wiser, because let's face it, there are some families that spend their welfare money on wasteful or indulgent stuff, but with this economic depression the Welfare is going to go more and more to unemployed families who were "let go," and I do worry about the nutrition and health of the little ones.
And did you know there are waiting lists for subsidized housing? Why do you think there are....sm
so many newly-poor families on the streets? Getting on the rolls these days, cutting through the red tape, can be a daunting and long task, but what about the families in the meantime? The shelters are overflowing. In my state, the food banks actually have to close now from time to time because times are hard, less people are able to donate, more people need the help, and there is just not enough to go around.
I just want DESERVING FOLK to get their needs met while they get back on their feet, and the kids do not have to live a nightmare. Yes, I, too, have seen some welfare folk buying inappropriate things, but perhaps if we had a voucher system that monitored purchases, if they only got reimbursed on the back end after submitting their receipts to make sure they were buying needed, healthy, appropriate goods....I don't have the answer, or I would be applying at the White House, but we need social safety nets so badly right now.
They did not cause the housing crisis. They did, however, fail acknowledge the problem
and they most certainly failed to tackle the problem in a timely and effective way.
One of the major factors in the housing crisis was the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the implementation of Graham-Bliley Act. The lack of oversight, the deregulation that allowed lenders to lend without being subject to oversight rules because the type of financial institution they were doomed us.
The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents. "Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories," California mortgage lender Paris Welch wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006, about one year before the housing implosion cost her a job.
I am not a fan of Frank, Dodd, or Pelosi. I am not a fan of TARP, especially because there was/is no built-in oversight or accountability. Shoot, the some of the same predatory lenders that were put out of business by their own practices are up and running again, passing out toxic loans to desperate people, because they managed to get their hands on bailout money.
Obama Administration Launches Housing Plan
Hope this helps those of you that need help.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123617623602129441.html
Hate to dampen the spirits but housing upswings
always take place in the beginning of spring. They usually don't do house construction in the winter unless it's a year round warm climate. You have to look at charts and/or info for housing starts in those states to see if it's true or just wishful thinking...and as you said, they will still sit empty.
huh, what does that have to do with the market
going down while the O's been in office.
Your attempt at a joke is lame.
stock market
Everybody was playing on the fear factor. Panic sets in and everybody starts selling. According to what I have heard, there are now great stock buys and that is what they are seeing.
Everybody gets so wrapped up in this "sky is falling" mentality and that is what the government hopes.
All their little nay sayers trying to scare the sense out of everybody but what they are hearing from their constiuents say do NOT say yes to the bill. The people do not believe that everything is going to h@ll in a hand basket if they vote NO to the bill.
I'm sure a lot more votes would have been yes yesterday if it had not been for their constituents faxing, calling, and e-mailing telling them they oppose such bailout.
I think a lot of people will do that and the market will
.
Who knows, funny how the market went
out of control when the race was within a few points, which only helps the dems out. The market can easily be manipulated by anyone with money (the Warren Buffets and George Soros' of the world) not to mention other countries.
My take on the whole election though is white guilt is going to push O into office. This is an historic election, people get caught up in the frenzy and emotion of it all, want to be a part of history in some small way, and voting for O seems not only politically correct (did you know you're a racist if you don't vote for him?) but eases a little of the white guilt some people have (another touchy-feely, PC thing to have). A man who has not had to answer tough questions, has little to no experience, has associations with radical tendencies, flip flops on most issues and is willing to wave the white flag is most likely going to be our next president. My only questoin is, what are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and all the other lefties going to talk about for the next 4 years? I have a feeling the real truth about O is going to come out in the coming years.
Well here we go. Stock market -411.30 plus
Barney Fife writing proposal now to bail out the automakers with $25B stipulating GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP.
The government is backing away from buying troubled mortgages and now are going to put it in an investment program taking capital. The facts changed. His approach is to give banks enough cash to keep homes on the books and keep cash in the banks.
They will not bail out those people who shouldn't have taken out the loans in the first place.
American Express is jumping on the bailout wagon requesting $3.5B.
They really opened a can of worms here.
So the stock market's down.... sm
How bad is it? According to the article linked below...........
With Thursday’s rout, $8.3 trillion in stock market wealth has been erased in the last 13 months. 
For more info...... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/21markets.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Thank goodness we got out of the market
in September. Heard Jim Cramer at that time say the economy was going to tank soon; heeded the advice and pulled out that day. O is certainly bringing hope and change to the masses, isn't he? You better hope you have some money to retire on and change your retirement plan!
So what!!!! Where were you when the stock market went down
Haven't you learned your lesson yet. You only comment on a good day and remain silent with the rest of the crats on a bad day.
How many people on this board have been telling you to quit commenting every time the market hiccups. But you feel this need to only comment when it goes up.
Your post is not worth the time reading.
The right has the market cornered on disrespect ...sm
to soldier's families. Hands down they win that award.
Especially if the family has anything contrary to say about this administration. Yeah, and we are the ones who don't support the soldiers.
Hm-m-m. Anybody notice the stock market is up, and
financial gained 16% today. That's curious. Can someone explain why?
I just think it's because the stocks were so low yesterday that it was a buyer's market.
There are tons of homes on the market.
More homes for sale would bring the price down. The house would be appraised at a reasonable value. Only the sincere folks should be eligible.
Many were owned by private investors who bit off more than they can chew, trying to get rich fast.
My home went up in value by 120,000 from what I paid for it, to settle at $250,000. The guy across the street sold his for that and ours are identical. Now, it is back down to about 150,000. But that is cool cuz I got it for 80,000 (fixer upper). This is calif which means a lot.
I did try to refi twice - Central Valley Mtg offered me nothing but an ARM. He wanted me to take 20,000 of equity out (He said I needed a vacation). I turned it down. (I'm a Suze Ormon fan). He actually threw his pen across the desk when I told him.
Second time, the mtg broker offered me tiered payments, just principal first year, then a low interest rate the next and over 5 years, the interest rate sours. He wanted me to take 20 grand more out to invest in the stock market (lol). Then, refi before the huge interest rates kick in. I walked away on that. He did not even offer a fixed rate. When I requested it, he made it sound like it was out of the question.
Finally, went to WAMU (which is now JP Morgan...) and they refi'ed me with a fixed rate.
Predatory lending at its best.
The stock market went from +250 to -150 after the vote. nm
.
Privatize SS, as in play the market with SS tax $.
and see what you come up with.
How low can she go? No lower with frozen market.
can they stay frozen? Russian markets closed until Tuesday. What does it mean with futures are "bottomed out?" What happens when they do open? Boy oh boy. What's up with that?
and here I thought conservatives had the market on
x
Have you noticed how the stock market goes up
or how the media has been fueling that engine by pushing and pushing and obsessing over the cabinet appointments in search of dirt to dig up on them?
Obama has been trying to give voters a little reassurance, but I supposed lots of folks will find something wrong with that too.
Let the free market work.
x
The stock market will never, ever, see another dime of
Just because the market is up today doesn't mean
everything is hunky-dorrey. Let's not get over enthusiastic here. The market has been down more than up lately. I would rather wait 6 months to see what's happening before I touch that subject.
As for O laughing in the 60 minutes interview, it doesn't bother me that much. It could be a way for him letting off steam. I, myself, when stressed out (as in federal jury duty), was so relieved the trial was over, I burst out laughing after we left the courtroom. This could be his way of relieving stress.
There's just too much going on in this government that turns me off especially with the bailouts and the so-called stimulus package, and I'm not too happy right now. I don't like the thought that every taxpayer, including my grandchildren or great-childen should I have any, are in debt to the government to the tune of ???, (all different figures thrown around on that).
As for posting, I only post when I have something to say. The news is the same old, same old, nothing interesting or new, so why post garbage like some on this board do. Right now, nothing on the news is piquing my interest.
One question I have.....how can O NOT accept the resignation of someone in his cabinet? That one has me stumped. Anyone has the right to resign from a job. Since when can you not quit a job? You want to answer that one?
I think this board has the market cornered on trolls. NM
You hold the corner market on derogatory
nm
Any word about money market accounts?
Wow. In the time it took me to post, market lost another
with no end in sight, wiping out just about all those gains on Monday. Bush and clones are not exactly the best choice of spokesmen when trying to restore confidence in the economy. Change is in the air. Can you feel it?
Bush is NOT in charge of the stock market
Wall Street,. Nancy Pelosi, Barney Fife, and the others are making it worse with all their stupid ideas.
They WANT this to happen and give more stimulus checks to people so the people will think they are the greatest since apple pie.
I don't see any of them trying to figure out what to do that will help us except throw money away to the groups that are keeping the money to pay their bonuses and take trips.
who cares about the stock market anymore? it's
my stock-based 401K is all but gone, and even if i had the money next year, or ever, not a cent of it will ever go back into the stock market's house of cards. so i personally dont give a rip what happens to it from here on out.
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