Showing posts with label housing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label housing. Show all posts

John Stossel: The Next Bubble

They're doing it again!      When the last housing bubble burst, politicians blamed "greedy banks." They said mortgage companies lent money recklessly, making loans to people with dubious credit, for down payments as low as 3 percent. "It will work out," said the optimistic bankers. Regulators didn't disagree. Everyone said, "Home prices  ... MORE

John Stossel: Gentrify!

There goes the hood. No matter what you do, modern liberals will tell you you're wrong. For decades, liberals complained that American society is segregated because rich, white people don't want to live in ethnically mixed neighborhoods. Sometimes, liberals had a point. From the 1930s to 1960s, as rich white people moved into New York City, urban   ... MORE

How San Francisco's Progressive Policies Hurt The Poor

by Scott Beyer.    In recent years, a contradiction has unfolded in San Francisco. On the one hand, the city continues to practice progressive economic policies. But rather than helping its poor and middle-class—as such policies are advertised as doing—these groups in San Francisco have become more unequal, downwardly mobile, and altogether     ... MORE

Elderly Man Watches New Jersey Cops Tear Down His Home

Politicians wanted the land.    An elderly homeless man watched in tears as the home he'd built in the woods six years before was torn down by police. Sam's eyes filled up as he silently watched the sturdy, wooden structure bulldozed along with his carefully tended garden trimmed with a white picket fence. Until last month, Sam lived in a woodland   ... MORE

The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less

by Anna Bernasek.      Economic inequality in the United States has been receiving a lot of attention. But it’s not merely an issue of the rich getting richer. The typical American household has been getting poorer, too. The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 %    ... MORE

Why The Cost Of Government Is Higher Than You Think

by Gary Galles.        Crowding out what matters. “Look what I did for you!” When our children were small, my wife and I got many gifts from them accompanied with those words (including most of our refrigerator art and many things that still adorn our Christmas trees), in search of approval and encouragement. While that process was an      ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: The High Cost Of Liberalism - Part One

Liberals advocate many wonderful things.      In fact, I suspect that most conservatives would prefer to live in the kind of world envisioned by liberals, rather than in the kind of world envisioned by conservatives. Unfortunately, the only kind of world that any of us can live in is the world that actually exists. Trying to live in the kind   ... MORE

Taxes More Than Food, Housing, Clothing Combined

by Caroline May.      No wonder tax freedom day falls later this year. The day when the nation collectively has made enough money to pay its total tax burden for the year is three days later this year, according to a new report. According to a report released Monday by the Tax Foundation, this year Tax Freedom Day falls 111 days into 2014, on April 21.     ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Unintended Consequences

Devastation sold as "compassion," and "inclusion."     One of the many unintended consequences of the political crusade for increased homeownership among minorities, and low-income people in general, has been a housing boom and bust that left many foreclosed homes that had to be rented, because there were no longer enough qualified    ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Busybody Politics

Politics doesn't solve old problems, it creates new ones.    It is hard to read a newspaper, or watch a television newscast, without encountering someone who has come up with a new "solution" to society's "problems." Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than there are problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of     ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Bouncing Ball Politics

Danger ahead.  If you are driving along and suddenly see a big red rubber ball come bouncing out into the street, you might want to put your foot on the brake pedal, because a small child may well come running out into the street after it. We all understand that an inexperienced young child who has his mind fixed on one thing may ignore other things that    ... MORE

Obama's 'Fairness' Economy Has Backfired

by David Harsanyi.      One of the most seductive parts of President Barack Obama's political message (and the message of progressive Democrats in general) is sympathy for the poor and a willingness to talk about the disparities of capitalism -- about the rich being too rich and the poor being screwed. In some ways, it's the predominant message   ... MORE

John Stossel: Government Handouts Foster Dependency

Section 8 recipients become comfortably dependent.    The Obama administration now proposes to spend millions more on handouts, despite ample evidence of their perverse effects. Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says, “The single most important thing HUD does is provide rental       ... MORE