The Economy and Politics

For the last year we have been concerned about the housing market. Today, the hot word is sub-prime, although this buzzword isn't telling the whole story. It can be seen that new Real Estate projects are taking longer to absorb into the marketplace and new projects are still being built. This happened in the late 80's with the S&L's being the home for all the risky loans and junk bonds packaged by Michael Milken & Co. Today, this same process has taken place with hedge funds and European banks being the home for all our risky loans and junk. The Real Estate market still has a way to go before prices make sense and the impact on the economy might actually be pretty large. We see vacancies in our Malls rising to levels not seen since 1992. The Fed is the key to this dilemma but lower rates will not prop up prices. Our Real Estate problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Politically, we have even bigger issues. Iraq is costing over $1 Billion per month. My concern is that Iraq and other external political problems have taken our focus away from terrorism and corporate responsibility. As we approach the elections next year, we should note that having another Clinton in office would make our country much like a Monarchy. Having the Bush's and Clinton's running this country for 20+ years seems a bit too much. The electoral college must go and the popular vote should be used. These are just a few thoughts about the economy and politics.