WaPo has published two very useful items that document and reinforce what EMR has been saying in the for the past five years in 11 columns and in recent Blog posts about the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis and the mortgage finance meltdown.
On Friday, 24 October there was “Treasury Considers Backing Mortgages: FDIC Proposal Aims to Help Homeowners” with a map of September 2008 foreclosures. The pattern of defaults is just what EMR has been predicting for two decades. See “Wild Abandonment,” (8 Sept 2003) and “Scatteration,” (25 Sept 2003) which are being updated with new data and references. The text needs little updating to reflect the current landscape. These columns become the first two chapters of ROOTS OF THE HELTER SKELTER CRISIS, PART ONE of TRILO-G. More on the role of Blog posts in updating TRILO-G in “Upon Further Review.”
Also important are the issues raised by David Leonhardt in “Rescue U.S. Homeowners? Wait a Minute.” in the 22 October International Herald Tribune. He explores the $4 trillion dollar hole that “help” for homeowners may dig for federal, state and municipal Agencies.
Just who deserves help?
1) Those who were duped by fraud?
2) Those who knowingly participated in risky ventures and ignored decades of sound advice?
3) Those who were greedy or foolish – they believed the ads – and now cannot make their payments?
4) Those who decide to bail on an underwater mortgage so they can buy a cheaper house in a better location even though they can afford to pay their bills?
On Saturday, 25 October WaPo was back with “Snapshots From a Slow Market” in the Real Estate section. Some will plot the R= locations of these “neighborhoods,” add a Favored Corridor overlay and nod because they understand the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework.
If you do not understand the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework then you may be at sea on just what is happening where and what the impact may be. There is still time to catch up unless you purchased the wrong size house in the wrong location. If you are already underwater on your mortgage, perhaps you should have been paying more attention in years past.
The longer that Fundamental Transformation of settlement patterns (and Fundamental Transformation of governance structures) is postponed, the more painful and less probable any “recovery” will be.
It looks like it will be a while before there is light at the end of the tunnel. Both presidential candidates and every Virginia candidate running for the Senate or the House are still talking about going back to “economic growth” rather than finding a sustainable path.
The “center, left” commentor, Anon 11:31 on HOT, FLAT AND CROWDED post is typical of those who are concerned with the real danger of ‘overshooting’ carrying capacity: They do not understand the magnitude of the impact that would result from Fundamental Transformations that replace dysfunctional human settlement patterns with functional human settlement patterns.
Note for Michael Ryan: EMR uses a 24 hour clock too. You might as well worry about that in addition to EMR’s strategy to keep internet tracking and identity consistent. Try Googling “I.” Turns out this technique work very well for EMR. M_R might want to try it.
EMR
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