Has Obama Made the Housing Market Worse than Bush Did? »
Posted By ChangeToday 5 months, 3 weeks ago in News
Reading the title of this article will immediately infuriate many of you but let me play devils advocate. When Obama came into office, mortgage rates were trending lower and he did everything in his power to give every American citizen a chance to have access to those rates. For the first few months of his presidency, rates hovered around 4.9% and all was well in the housing market, right? With rates that low, surely there would be a sparked interest in real estate and home prices would bottom. Well, for the months of February and March, home prices did not bottom! In fact, 27 of 30 major markets were down month over month from February to March (this is the latest data we have).
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not2needy5 months, 3 weeks ago
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What's happening in the job market, the stock market and the housing market today is residual garbage from the Bush admin.. We can't expect that things are going to make a complete turn around in 4 months, it took a lot longer than 4 months to get us here, and it's going to take more than 4 months to get us out.
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What i don't understand is the impatience of the American people and how they expect Obama to undo everything Bush did in such a short time. I can understand conservatives bashing him, that's just what they do. But Liberals should have more sense than to expect overnight miracles. -
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mesodude5 months, 3 weeks ago
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"Rates are up due to fears of inflation coming with the huge deficits coming from this administration."
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--Thanks. We all trust that your judgment is sound. I mean, consider who you've supported over the last 8 years. Very compelling. ;-x -
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Endoscopy5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Listen to the liberals make excuses and blame Bush. The housing bubble that burst was the direct cause of this mess. That was set up by the Democrats over many years. Creating the GSE's that gave out mortgaged backed securities has their beginnings under FDR. The Bubble had its beginning with the CRA and other banking changes created by ACORN lobbying for changes. They were blocked by the 10% down requirement for Fannie and Freddy.
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Of course it is easier to blame Bush for what they did than own up to what they caused.-
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Will13135 months, 3 weeks ago
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you keep telling the same lie.. over and over and over..
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if as you say there was a housing bubble caused by democrats. why didn't republicans who were in charge of both houses of congress from 1994 - 2006.. simply fix the problem.. explain that one... I know Barney Frank.. the most powerful gay liberal man on the face of the earth... SuperBarney able to stop speeding republicans with a single swish of his cape..
GET REAL.. -
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ChangeToday5 months, 3 weeks ago
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yeah, it is interesting that all the blame is on bush no matter what. even barney frank came out the other day and said he tried to stop the subprime mortgage crisis. yes, the same barney frank that said the fannie and freddie books were fine and that americans should invest in these companies
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quackpot5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Endo,
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why do you keep spewing this garbage about CRA and ACORN being a substantial part of the housing crash when you have been called on it so many times? Once again, the data shows (and you can go bach to many-a-post where links to this data were presented) that CRA loans have been well performing and profitable for the banks.
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mesodude5 months, 3 weeks ago
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"Reading the title of this article will immediately infuriate many of you but let me play devils advocate. "
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fta:
--I might be infuriated if the question wasn't so ill conceived.
"For the first few months of his presidency, rates hovered around 4.9% and all was well in the housing market, right?"
--Um, actually, no...and what planet have you been living on that you would ask that? The question is, what have banks done in response to being bailed out? Have they been eager to loan money to Americans?
"With rates that low, surely there would be a sparked interest in real estate and home prices would bottom."
--But Americans didn't need to have their interest sparked. They needed banks to loosen their grip on the pursestrings. Did that happen?
"Well, for the months of February and March, home prices did not bottom!"
--Okay! But! By the end of March Obama had been our President all of 60 days!!!
"In fact, 27 of 30 major markets were down month over month from February to March (this is the latest data we have)."
--What does this prove?
"As we fast forward to today, mortgage rates are now following the 10 year treasury rate and are trending higher QUICKLY."
--PERHAPS, but you already told us in your first paragraph that we don't have market data beyond March. Why are you mongering fear when you yourself have admitted you don't have a lot of meaningful data?
--To compound matters, many of the home owners who were trying to refinance at lower rates or modify their mortgage are now stuck. The rate they were quoted at just two weeks ago has increased almost a full percentage point.
--LMAO...Ok, now you're just making stuff up. Why would they be "stuck" if they were quoted a lower rate only two weeks earlier? No, wait...Let me guess...Because now that Obama is leading the country, rate quotes expire the moment the consumer walks out the door. Right? lol
"Had Obama and Bernanke let free markets work, mortgage rates would have inched higher since March. Unfortunately, they tried to hold rates down which has caused them to shoot up almost a full percentage point in just two weeks."
--I guess but rates are still lower than they were a year ago. The only thing that changed is that banks are lending less.
"This is horrible news for the housing market as prices are sure to fall even more. So, has Obama made the housing market worse than Bush did?"
--It's devastating news. None of this would have happened if we'd only voted for McCain. We're doomed. All is lost. Why, Obama? Whyyyyyyyy?!!! ;-( -
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rhyannon385 months, 3 weeks ago
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The financial collapse of the housing market was caused by the democrats policy of rewarding sloth and irresponsibility resulting in a flood of bad mortgages. The banks were lied to by Fannie& Freddie,that their money was safe all the way to the end,when Chuckie Schumer blew the whistle signaling all his blowbuddies to get their money and cover their ass.
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oldslowjim5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Actually the Fed isn't printing the money, the Treasury is. They then give it to the Fed so they can purchase T-Bills to finance the deficit thereby increasing the money supply and driving up interest rates. In the end, it also creates inflation which also adds to the pressure to increase interest rates. When other countries decide enough is enough and refuse to buy T-bills we'll be at the decision point of whether to have the Fed buy all the debt and create hyper-inflation or to set our house in order.
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It's all a big circle jerk by the politicians so they can "budget" and spend whatever they want. It has gotten to the point where both Republican and Democrats are to blame for the problems. They should all be kicked out and new "financial conservatives" put into office. -
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nostalgia5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Obama can't control the Federal Reserve but he can control Geithner
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Here is good article from back in March about what is going on between the Fed and Treasury
Federal Reserve to buy up some Treasury bonds
Relatively lost in the frenzy over $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG employees last week was an announcement by the Federal Reserve that it would take the highly unusual step of buying up to $300 billion worth of long-term Treasury bonds.
Although the Fed regularly buys and sells short-term Treasury bills to set the overnight federal funds rate, it generally does not intervene in long-term Treasurys, allowing the market to set long-term rates.
Except for a small episode during the 1960s, known as Operation Twist, the Fed has not bought long-term Treasurys since 1952. And for good reason.
"It's as inflationary as hell," says Howard Simons, a strategist with Bianco Research.
When the Fed buys Treasurys or other securities, it can pay for them by creating new money, which goes out into the economy. If you have more money chasing roughly the same amount of goods and services, prices go up.
Some worry that having the Fed buy Treasurys could encourage the government to spend even more money if it thinks it has a new, ready buyer for its securities.
The Fed can create money, but it is supposed to be the independent, sober-minded guardian of our nation's monetary supply. It is supposed to make sure the money supply is generous enough to encourage growth, but not so generous as to cause inflation.
It is supposed to "take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going," as former Fed Chairman William McChesney Martin famously said.
Simons fears that if members of Congress come to believe that the Fed will buy whatever the Treasury wants to sell, "There will be no limit on what they can spend. When Nancy Pelosi figures this out, 'Whooo, my lord,' " he says.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2...
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chuckusaret5 months, 3 weeks ago
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QUOTE "What's happening in the job market, the stock market and the housing market today is residual garbage from the Bush admin.. We can't expect that things are going to make a complete turn around in 4 months, it took a lot longer than 4 months to get us here, and it's going to take more than 4 months to get us out."
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The democrats had the majority vote when the republicans attempted to put controls on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the democrats voted them down. Do your homework stupid or keep your mouth shut. How long are you liberals going to blame Bush. When Bush took office he at least took the responsibility of the office and did not beat on Clinton everyday after he took office. Obama is going down the same road as Jimmie Carter did when he took office and did so until voted out of office. Jimmie is presently refered to as the worst president ever but that title is soon to change to Obama.-
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Bopi3655 months, 3 weeks ago
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Actually Chuckie, Bushco is commonly referred to as the worst president ever.
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"When Bush took office he at least took the responsibility of the office and did not beat on Clinton everyday "
No, Newty did that for the duration of Clintons term.
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bewckw5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Oboma was elected Present. He has assumed the office. When will he take Responsibility of the office. Bush did not run and was not reelected. When will Obama allow him give up the office and he become president? That is the big question.
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We have been without a president. If he recieved so much from the previous administration when will he take charge? when will he start administrate, when will he become president? Whjen will our future become his responsibility?
Are we for ever going to be under president Bush's presidency? When? -
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Bopi3655 months, 3 weeks ago
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So lets see if I"ve got this revisionist history correct...
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The Dems are responsible for the recession because they wanted to give loans to poor people thru the community reinvestmnt act and that is what caused the sub-prime crisis even though those loans account for a small percentage of the actual sub-primes.
The fact that deregulation of the securities industry and subsequent greed of the financial markets is just the free market at work and should be allowed to do as it pleases because the market is self correcting and
none of this or the years of deficit spending is Bushco's responsibility and/or fault and Obama should well have fixed things by now ( he's had more than enough time)
Does that about cover it Cons.
if you say it over and over and over ...does that make it true -
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Bopi3655 months, 3 weeks ago
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Could it really be that Obama did everything he could to lower rates thus giving people the opportunity to re-finance their overpriced mortgages as well as offering incentives to first time buyers to spur growth as well as bailing out the banks to free up the money supply so that those mortgages could be refinanced in the first place.
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Mortgages that had become overvalued as a direct result of a deregulated free market. -
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willottica-245 months, 3 weeks ago
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I don't think the blame for current housing market problems can really be placed on either President.
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Manual labor jobs have been decreasing in wage (relative to home prices) for quite some time now. They certainly haven't been keeping up.
So what's a hard-working American with basic (but not advanced) education supposed to do? Well, some were creative. Some turned to real estate speculation. In a market that was constantly going up, it was one of a few ways that someone without a high level of education could attempt to earn some pretty good money.
To support all the speculators (resulting in more houses changing hands), more mortgage specialists and real estate agents were needed. Again, both jobs that don't require huge amounts of education in order to achieve modest success. Deregulation and credit-default-swaps meant that mortgage brokers didn't have to understand nor face risk, they just had to be able to use a calculator (in some cases creatively).
And then a hiccup caused a re-evaluation of the housing market. Finally someone wondered how, with wages stagnant, the market could have gone up so much. And the market stopped going up. Speculators started to leave the market because the money wasn't there. Prices went down a bit. And then, because fewer sales were being made, real estate agents, builders, and mortgage brokers started to feel pinched. So prices came down a little more. And then there was panic. Noone wanted to buy an over-valued house. Especially when the only way they could have afforded it in the first place was contingent on increased earning power, quickly looking to be a pipe dream to many.
How could Obama have fixed this? How could Bush have fixed it? The jobs have been going overseas (or to cheap immigrant labor), and those that remain have paid less and less to remain competitive. -
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Bopi3655 months, 3 weeks ago
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What Willottica forgot to mention was that despite the investment opps for middle America,as he does mention, Someone had to enable this ponzi scheme thru various mortgage "products" and other creative investment ventures. Some a bit too creative.
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wesxauto5 months, 3 weeks ago
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The movers and shakers I have talked to said they are not going to do anything until they know what this circus of a goverment is going to do next. NO CONFIDENCE in the goverment is the problem.The latest concern is the goverment shutting down good car dealerships.
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