The Day the US Economy Nearly Died

In the following video US Representative Paul Kanjorski describes what happened to the US banking system on what was either Thursday, September 11 or 18, 2008. Although he is a bit vague about the date, Kanjorski describes how the US banking system was nearly destroyed that day and how the US economy would have collapsed subsequent to that.

Paul Kanjorski has been a Pennsylvania representative in the US House of Representatives since 1985, is the Chair on the House’s Capital Markets Subcommittee and is the second ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. (1,2)

The Financial Services Committee oversees the entire financial services industry, which includes the securities, insurance, banking, and housing industries. The Committee also oversees the Federal Reserve, the United States Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other financial services regulators. (3)

Consequently Representative Kanjorski should know what he is talking about when he speaks of the US banking industry.

The video was originally placed on YouTube in a longer version, (4) but it has been shortened for inclusion here.



Bob Roscoe, Mortgage Marketing Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Free Mortgage Rate Float Down

Bibliography
1. Paul Kanjorski’s web site: http://kanjorski.house.gov/
2. Wikipedia re Paul Kanjorski: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kanjorski
3. Wikipedia re: Financial Services Committee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Financial_Services
4. Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD8viQ_DhS4

How to Solve the Housing Crisis? - Video

Gary Shilling, economist and president of A. Gary Shilling and Co., shown here in a video that is hosted by Yahoo Finance, is explaining a method he thinks will solve the housing crisis. Mr. Shilling believes that opening the gates to a flood of immigrants will bring in people who can afford to buy up the current supply of homes that are for sale. What do you think?



My main question is where are all of these immigrants going to find jobs? Now that the economy is in such tough shape, I doubt that these jobs that Mr. Shilling claims are available in the tech industry are really still waiting to be filled.

Also, what would that many new tech workers do to the job prospects of the tech industry? If you glut the tech market with highly skilled workers, the salary level of those jobs would fall dramatically. You may end up creating more foreclosures if tech salaries suddenly drop precipitously.

What if far too many of these immigrants decide to rent a home instead of buy? There is no guarantee that these immigrants will buy a home, especially if they are only on H1-B visas, which means they are temporary workers.

If many of these new immigrants are from Asia, that could produce another problem because any Realtor will tell you that Asian immigrants prefer to buy new homes rather than used ones. What is to prevent these immigrants from building a new home rather than buying a home that is already built and for sale?

That could help the builders but would do nothing to soak up all of those homes out there that are still for sale.

Mr. Shilling's idea could be creating even greater problems in the economy than the ones that already exist. But, at least Mr. Shilling is thinking,

Bob Roscoe, Mortgage Marketing Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Use Your 401(k) as Your Down Payment

Housing Bill 2008 Style

The federal government passed an extensive and comprehensive housing bill that takes effect on October 1st. Among the provisions are new mortgage limits for high cost parts of the US, a slightly altered down payment formula for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, and a $7,500 tax credit for first time home buyers. It is called a tax credit, but it is actually an interest free loan that must be repaid over a 15 year period, which is still a pretty good deal.

CNN has prepared an extensive video report, so take a look to learn more about the provisions:



Reverse Mortgage Basics - Video
Technology Forging New Trends in Real Estate - Video

Bob Roscoe, Mortgage Marketing Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Free Mortgage Rate Float Down