Bernanke's (Greenspan's heir apparent) alternate universe housing bubble

[shireen]

I'm no financial or real estate whiz .. but even I found this WaPo story hilarious!!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102602255.html

Bernanke: There's No Housing Bubble to Go Bust
Fed Nominee Has Said 'Cooling' Won't Hurt

"Ben S. Bernanke does not think the national housing boom is a bubble that is about to burst, ... U.S. house prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years, noted Bernanke, currently chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, in testimony to Congress's Joint Economic Committee. But these increases, he said, "largely reflect strong economic fundamentals," such as strong growth in jobs, incomes and the number of new households."
In China? :rofl:

"Greenspan has said recently that he sees no national bubble in home prices, but rather "froth" in some local markets. Prices may fall in some areas, he indicated. And he warned in a speech last month that some borrowers and lenders may suffer "significant losses" if cooling house prices make it difficult to repay new types of riskier home loans -- such as interest-only adjustable-rate mortgages."
:rofl: FROTH! I just love this new financial terminology! :rofl:
And, uh, remind me again why interest-only mortgages have become so popular and acceptable?

But if Bernanke is confirmed as Fed chief, and if the housing market slows more than he expects, he would be unlikely to use the central bank's power over short-term interest rates to prop up falling housing prices for the sake of individual homeowners, according to comments he has made in numerous speeches and statements in academic papers.

Translation: tough shit, you middle-class suckers! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

He (meaning Greenspan) and Bernanke have both said it is unrealistic to expect the Fed to identify a bubble in stock or real estate prices as it is inflating, or to be able to pop it without hurting the economy. Instead, the Fed should stand ready to mop up the economic aftermath of a bubble.

:wtf: does that mean, jackasses?! Mop what up? The middle class? And throw 'em out like a bucket of dirty water?

And in words that might come to mind if housing tanks, he said the economic effects of falling asset prices "depend less on the severity of the crash itself than on the response of economic policymakers, particularly central bankers."

He wants banks to save us all? Is he fuckin' kidding? :mad:

As someone who wants to become a first-time homebuyer in the insane Baltimore-DC real estate market, i just keep getting more and more discouraged in my Bush-country where rich keep getting ridiculously richer while the rest of us feel the ground starting to drop below us.

[tanyev]

1. That wasn't froth in the market.

He just spilled his cappucino on his paperwork.

[emald]

2. And throw 'em out like a bucket of dirty water?

Already happened. What middle class.