…And Now Housing
The Times is reporting that Congress is requesting President Obama to start developing a plan to replace Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Does this scare the crap out of you?
Quoth the Times:
On April 15, the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will publish a list of questions seeking comment on the appropriate role of the government in housing policy and housing finance….
How about none?
HUD is a failed throwback to the social engineering experiments of the 1950s and 1960s, which resulted in catastrophic crime and urban blight (at least in Chicago); the last vestiges of this abomination are being torn down in Chicago to make way for Starbucks, condos, and Walgreens.
Of course, that won’t be the answer given by Democrats. Just as healthcare miraculously became a god-given right, so too will housing.
But not so fast: even Tim “My first day on the job never ends” Geithner is correct in suggesting that (a) the real estate market is in the crapper right now, (2) you would not want to rush into this in the best of times, and (π) nationalizing them Europeanly would not work. In fact, Geithner is wondering whether a Bush-era concept of making them act like a public utility (some regulation but otherwise act as a monolithic free market entity) could work.
The best idea, the Czar found, was the National Association of Realtors’ suggestion that the federal government charters them into a low-profit entity and then get the hell out of the way. And an additional great comment—worth of memorization by Republicans and Democrats alike in politics—is by Robert Dewitt of the National Multi Housing Council, who simply wants “a balanced housing policy that doesn’t measure success solely by how much homeownership there is.”
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.