"Survivor": Millennials vs. Gen X

[Ragnarök_62]

Eric The Green [/quote Wrote:   No, the housing bubbles depend on location, as you said. And 2nd mortgages still get tax deductions, for one thing.

Yup.  I agree and I also think 2nd mortgages should not be subsidized by tax dollars.  2nd.... OK, here's another thing to nuke:


2nd mortgages are also  tax deductible.                  

Quote:And free trade > China boom > rich Chinese buying up houses.

I agree with that.


   But if interest rates were higher, mortgage rates would be higher too, and it would be even harder for millennials to get a start than it is now.

Not if bubbles pop......

   :: Rags rubs hands together :: Actually, that's part of my master plan to pop all housing bubbles.
   1. Raise interest rates to 5% which is normal.
   2. Destroy foreign speculative demand.
   3. Destroy demand for 2nd houses

   4. Once all of those bubbles pop, I then plan on letting TBF banks, you know, fail. The FDIC can make depositors whole, so no biggie.

   5. House prices should crash enough that we'll have lots of happy Millies.
   

Quote:The Fed is useful, up to a point. Lower interest rates are needed when the economy is slow, higher rates when it is high. I think the conventional wisdom is right on that; no sense in going conspiratorial-theoretical on that.

There's one problem.  It hasn't worked dude.  The FED has a problem. It can make $ available, but can't direct where it flows. So far it's gone to excess reserves [dead money], stockie market bubble, housing bubble, frakking bubble, and the like.

Quote:   I don't see the connection between housing prices and QE either.

1. It does because the FED is buying mortgage debt that artificially depresses the interest rate.
2. QE also caused a frakking boom here. So in Oklahoma we had QE -> [frakking boom] ->  EQ
QE = quantitative easing
EQ = earthquakes
So,  QE causes earthquakes in Oklahoma!

Quote:   More bank loans does not necessarily mean high housing costs, unless the banks are making dangerous loans to home buyers again. Are they?

The law of supply/demand?


Dangerous home loans: yup.  Nothing changes.






[url="http://nypost.com/2016/03/12/obama-is-setting-us-up-for-another-housing-crash/"  Oh, but they are. [/url]

Quote:   Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae existed and still exist to make it easier for people to get loans. But like so much else, they had abusive and greedy leaders in the 00s.

Sorry, I do not think any government should be subsidizes house purchases. That's corporate welfare for house builders, real estate agents, banks which get fees, landscapers, etc.

Quote:   I got a better idea. Let's just blame everything on Taramarie.

   (that's better than blaming everything on Hillary, as Trump did in the debate)

I have no dog in the Eric vs. Taramarie kerffufle.