Associated Press article headed “2 housing markets, 2 dirctions” reports:
“ …In the housing market inhabited by most Americans, prices have fallen 30 percent or more since the peak in 2007. That’s a steeper decline than during the Depression. Some people have had their homes on the market for a year without a single offer.
“Almost a quarter of American homeowners owe more on their house than it’s worth. Another quarter have less than 20 percent equity. About half of homeowners couldn’t get a mortgage if they applied today, says Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics.
“But then there is the other housing market, occupied by 1.5 percent of the U.S. population, according to Zillow.com. The one with outdoor kitchens and in-home spas; with his-and-her boudoirs and closets the size of starter houses. The one that is not local but global, with international buyers bidding in all cash. And where the gyrations of the stock market are cause for conversation, not cutting expenses…”
WATCHDOG: Still more evidence of the unprecedented rise in earnings of the top 2% and the precipitous decline of the middle class. The irony is the 2%, enjoying the lowest personal income tax rate in three-quarters of a century, are led by those who fight fiercely any attempt to increase taxes on over one million in earnings a year by a trifling 2%.
(Polls show that a good portion actually support a higher tax but we don’t often hear from them! Ironically and inexplicably, a large portion of the middle class vote contrary to their economic interests.)
What happened to the sense of caring for one another so prevalent in the 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s and into the 1997’s? “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you — ask what can you do for your country.” – JFK
