The following is a comment on this financial blog: http://seekingalpha.com/article/241753-on-homeowner-risk-and-return
A culture of instant gratification, entitlements without responsibilities, rights without duties and payment without work by definition will seek effortless rewards without contemplating risk or worse demanding that the "other" bear the risk. This is a culture that the ruling elites gestated and nurtured since the Woodrow Wilson years. It metastasized about a decade ago.
Housing went from shelter, forced savings and a family anchor to mass speculation( a naked, hugely leveraged bet on price increases) by the greed, the ignorant, the deluded and the merely foolish: aided, abetted and amplified to maniacal levels by Wash Dc, Wall St and the MSM.
In 2010, most Americans have finally concluded that the financial risks from owning a home are great and manifold, the potential for real increases in the value of equity over the next several years is low and that a mortgaged home is likely to be a dungeon not a castle for millions of families. The risks and costs of renting, for a great majority of people are still much less than from ownership despite the large price declines in almost all zip codes.
This real estate depression will not end for a decade in 90% of the zip codes and if the Regime continues to pervert and torture what is left of the housing market, the depression will persist for a generation. -------------------------------------------
John Henry
John Henry Design International, Inc.
Orlando Florida
www.dreamhomedesignusa.com-------------------------------------------