Housing Market at 50 Year Low

If you are interested in the current housing market and wish to read more, an excellent place to look is Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which just this week came out with the best study that I have seen. The study says that the housing market has not been this bad in fifty years. Again, the report addresses the national problem.

It is a little stunning to see the map showing areas where permitting is down by more than 50%.  Nonetheless the report notes the historic ability of this market to spring back and lead economic recovery.  It says the forecast over the long term remains very good.

Pundits and Advisers, Bill Krystol and Charlie Black

Today and yesterday a couple of statements by political gurus struck me as both repugnant and reflective of the brutal calculations that make up national politics.  Fist Sunday morning Bill Krystol said that, if Obama is ahead, Bush is more likely to invade Iran.  This among other things would be an :”October surprise” of the sort that could cause major voting shifts.  Krystol suggested that if McCain is ahead Bush might go from office quietly, confident that McCain would attack upon taking office.

The facile way these words tumbled off his tongue (and dribbled down his chin) shocked me.  He was talking about a decision that would cost hundred of thousands, perhaps millions, of lives.  A cloud of mystery remains on the question of why an attack in violation of international law is necessary.  The  2007 National Intelligence Estimate of course said that Iran had discontinued objectionable nuclear activity. making this talk disturbingly similar to the talk in 2003.

Today Charlie Black a very prominent adviser to McCain apologized for saying the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was an “unfortunate event” that had “helped” Mr. McCain’s presidential bid.  And that a terrorist attack on U.S. soil would be a big advantage to McCain.  It is probably just me but I find it unsettling to see how life is ground through political calculations.

This is not a Republican methodology; it’s a bipartisan approach.