Main Street gets to bail out Wall Street for bad decisions.
Not so fast, you can hear the outcry. We are sick and tired of this type of fear mongering. We have been living this way the entire decade. We are about ready to see the Great Depression part II according to the government.
What the heyull is going on?
It's not greed, it's economic terrorism. Our manufacturing sector has been destroyed by "free trade", our real estate sector has been destroyed by "cheap money" and our energy sector has been destroyed by selective contracts. The value of our dollar has been destroyed by a soaring deficit.
This didn't happen overnight, folks. This happened right in front of our eyes. Some of us have been feeling it already, for years:
Major real estate price declines have cut my income in half. (Oh boo hoo for me, us RE agents don't even earn it to begin with, huh?)
Enron and other energy wholesalers manipulated the electric and natural gas markets out west and helped kill the credit ratings of our utilities and we are STILL paying dearly for that one (remember that little silly debacle, anyone?)
Gas prices have skyrocketed via oil FUTURES and people just don't travel or have very much spending money left when they get their paychecks.
Do I even need to explain why Ohio has one of the largest mass exodus from their population? Free trade and our lust for cheap goods killed our manufacturing sector.
Our dollar has lost it's value because we allowed our deficit to soar.
Why do we take this? We let them hit our right cheek and then turn to the left so they can hit the other! We continually vote the same politicians in office that stab the people who pay their salaries so they can get a little (no, a lot) of special interest money.
Main Street is hurting in a big way, folks. Gaming is down in our city. This is our bread and butter. Oh boo hoo for big gaming, huh? Yea, until the layoffs come and the management bonuses stop. I know, boo hoo again for management bonuses. Those are the people who usually hire weekly landscapers, maids and pool people for their homes.
We already started tightening our belts. People have laid off those landscapers, maids and pool servicing companies to save money. Some of us stopped eating out frequently and scrutinized & adjusted our phone, cable, cell and other "frivolous" services. Some of us set the AC at 85 to save a couple of extra dollars a month. There is NOT much more we can do to clean up our monthly budgets. Yea, I could work more than the 14/5 and 6/2's I have been working, NOT!
I looked at Lehman's website. They have many offices. Some of them are sitting on some PRIME NY real estate. Have they tightened their belts? Have they laid off workers and downsized? Are they expecting salaried workers to work long days? Have they cut expenses down to the bare bones? Have they cut off corporate credit cards? Are they running their businesses like some of us HAVE to run our lives?
Buffett threw $5 Billion at Goldman. I bet if some of these companies are salvagable, you will see the Trumps and the Buffett's snatching up bargains and allowing the free market to take care of this mess!
In all the turmoil and stife of this decade, We, as Proud Americans, want to do what is right for our country. Right now we don't know if we are dealing with Chicken Little or the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf.
I did see this coming in the last several months as I have watched noteholders dumping properties on the free market for WAYYY less than what they were currently going for, and they were moving too! What that has done is killed future value of those assets and hurt more American's "equity" worth in their homes. It has been a double edged sword and I do not trust these institutions (nor the GOVERNMENT) to properly package these "assets" and sell them on the free market.
This will just cause more foreclosures when people see their home's value go down.
Want to REALLY stop foreclosures?
Spend a couple billion on fighting the fraud and encouraging these institutions to go after deficiency judgments. I bet the equity skimmers and people who took out fraudulent loans (lied on apps) will think twice and do what it takes to keep their home if they had to spend a little time in the pokey. Get some hotlines and websites set up so agents, lenders, noteholders or normal everyday people can send in "tips."
It wouldn't hurt to encourage these noteholders or asset holders or whatever the term du jour is to start accepting short sales which come at higher prices than they allow them to go at trustee's sales. How about working with people who want to stay in these assets that call those assets "homes" and give a slight rate reduction. How are people supposed to absorb interest rate increases and juggle things with gas doubling in the last year and energy/natural gas tripling in the last 6 years?
How do I really feel?
I don't think 1 trillion is enough to stop the bleeding. I do think we need to allow corruption to just die. Who knows if it will be slow and natural or if we will put it on life support to extend the inevitable.
Just my 2 cents but I don't think I am alone. I think we all need to step away from the red kool-aid and blue kool-aid and drink some tea this election!
© 2010 Renee Burrows Las Vegas Real Estate Market Report Blog
Rate (July 2008) 6.8%, Year Change +33.3% 
