Seattle Bubble on Google News, NPR

[The Tim]

[Ubersalad]

attention whore...

[The Tim]

I think I prefer "attention slut."

[Alan]

Not when you are getting paid for it.

[The Tim]

Heh.

Anyway, the P-I REP blog has been on Google News for quite some time, so it's nice to be included here finally as well.

[sniglet]

Here is the link to the NPR piece Tim was on:



As much as I am against a bail-out myself, I think the economist from UW made a good point. A major recession will hurt all of us, including renters. Frankly, I suspect we are going to see one of the deepest recessions in living memory, and there will be a lot of pain for all due to the economic contraction. Sure, it might be great to have housing prices decline, but if you are laid off those cheap homes are still out of your reach.

That said, I still think a bail-out is a bad idea, but not because it will prevent housing from becoming afordable. The problem with a bail-out is that it will prevent the economy from properly re-balancing itself and clearing out mal-investments. The last thing we need is further incentives for investments in real-estate rather than productive economic activity. Unfortunately, a bail-out will just convince everyone that real-estate is one of the best investment options there are: after all, the government has your back.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[SeattleMoose]

Congratulations Tim!!! You deserve the added exposure as you are doing a great public service with this blog.

If the world were "fair" people like you would become millionaires doing public good as opposed to the "suit and tie maggots" infesting Wall Street & banks....who provide zero value to the public good.

[mukoh]

I think the bail out needs to be done in a fashion of looking forward to better regulation in the lending industry, which is exactly to fault for the sudden impact on 40% of the people who were not able to buy, rushing out and buying.

If the bail out and regulation hand in hand however would not happen, we would all be looking into more severe issues then just a 30% drop in prices from the peak. We would all be sitting on a brink of your money in your banks being devalued, no jobs to accomodate the population, and everyones value wiped out.

[sniglet]

[mukoh]

Sniglet, agree with some parts on your behalf, but if there was no bailout a few weeks ago of bear sterns, or behind the scenes bail outs going on right now before they hit the public, all of us would have real issues if you have a portfolio of any diversification in any assets out there including bonds, stocks, money markets, funds and most importantly cash.

[The Tim]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[sniglet]

[CKT]