How can Amercians, whose real wages have stagnated since the end of the 1970s compared to economic growth and inflation, continue to pay inflated prices for the nation's housing stock?
Thanks for bringing that up; I've been trying to understand that for a long time (long before the current crisis)
I'm no economics or financial expert, but I've always found it strange that our society looks at houses like some kind of magic money machines--as if they can repeatedly be bought and sold with the prices growing far faster than the salaries of the people purchasing them. How could that possibly NOT lead to a situation where no one can afford houses anymore (or, more likely, everyone buys houses with loans they can't afford to pay back)?
And yet our politicians talk about it as if we just need to fix up the economy with some stimulus and once it's all over we can go back to things the way they were. WTF?! I just want to hear Obama or one prominent senator stand up and say, "Look, houses can no longer be, and can never again be, treated as magic money machines."