For some reason, Lambert thinks I have something to say about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because a long time ago I thought it would be fun to needle the PUMAs about their odd predilection to absorb and repeat bad theories on the so-called mortgage meltdown (and, no an econ PhD does not automatically raise my estimation of your credibility---my current project is needling Canadian economics profess

There's lots for me to criticize in this Confluence post about the relationship between race and the subprime market, including a certain amount of PC policemanism which I am not at all averse to inflicting. Let's just say that it's pretty much well known around both here and there that my threshold for a racism accusation is a lot lower than theirs, and for that reason, the PUMA phenomenon as a movement seems rather tone-deaf to me about race issues.

Don't tell me that the Republican behind this scheme didn't know what he was doing. $15,000/yr field laborer approved for $720,000 home loan. You know what happened:

"We wanted to live in Watsonville," says Rosa. "But [the real estate agent] said the houses there were older and more expensive." One of the first homes they were shown was a "new" four-bedroom, two-bath house in Hollister for $720,000. When the Ramirez's heard the price, they worried that they couldn't afford it.

But the couple says they were assured them it was possible.

I've been surfing, and this is a question on my mind. Really, why? Tell me why you think owning is better than renting, or not. Be specific. I just did some reading on our housing situation, and I'm left with this feeling that...it's very stupid, if you're not really, really rich and very, very armed and buying property with a natural, deep well in Idaho, to buy long-term financed housing. Am I just bitter and off base? This isn't about those who already own or mostly have paid off their homes, but about peeps today who don't own and are thinking of changing that. Yes, I'd like to own a sheep farm in New Zealand and a French wine-growing estate with a huge Chateau, but I probably never will. So why is buying a pre-fab near-trailer 55 miles away from an urban center with no municipal amenities a good idea? Because I want to be a debt-slave, thanks to the new BK bill, for laminate floors and Chinese-made plastic shelf fillers? Home ownership is dead to people like me, and with it, the "American Dream." Am I an outlier, or just a loser?