Latest Dashboard Light: Record Home Purchase Cancellations
You know how all the warning lights ignite when you first fire up your automobile? They then one-by-one go out - as the car checks each “problem” and realizes they aren’t problems.
Now…what if you fire up your automobile - and ALL the lights remain on? Unless there is an indicator error? It means your car has a LOT of problems.
Well…Americans’ economic dashboards are lit up like pinball machines. And it ain’t an indicator error.
For its part, the US has institutional incentives aplenty to lie to Americans about the economy. And to rig the economic data to deliver hyper-partisan results.
Remember the US jobs numbers being overstated by 824,000 in just one year under addled President Joe Biden? The year in which he was running for reelection?
Remember in the 2000s the ratings agencies massively overrating Mortgage Backed Securities (MBSs)? So the Big Banks could keep making obscene money on them?
Remember….
DC has transmogrified US into a 70+% consumption economy. So there are institutional incentives aplenty to rig the data to deliver positive economic results. In order to keep We the Consumers consuming.
This goes way beyond just government. Media, entertainment,…EVERYTHING that wants US to keep spending has a vested interest in always pretending all is well.
Of course, this means small problems are obfuscated and ignored rather than addressed. And then they become big problems. And then they become HUGE problems.
You’ll note each (relatively) recent US economic bubble burst is larger than the last. The 2008 housing bubble was larger than the 2000 Internet bubble. And the one that’s coming….
This is because we only pretend the fix the problems that caused the bubble and the burst.
Oh: And the things we do to pretend to fix things? Make things worse. The post-2008-crash Dodd-Frank “Too Big to Fail” law has made things WAY worse. While fixing nothing.
So our old problems continue to metastasize. And new ones arise - because new ones always do. And the Institutional Obfuscators obfuscate them all.
But you are living your life. You know things aren’t great. Your dashboard is lit up like a pinball machine. And the Institutional Obfuscators are all asking you a modified version of the classic question:
“Who are you going to believe? Me - or your lying wallet?”
I have been a total cynic for many years now. I’m a joy, I know:
“In philosophical terms, I’m what’s called a pessimist….It means I’m bad at parties.”
And everywhere else that involves other humans. I even take a sort of perverse pleasure in loudly pointing out the heinousness that is all around us - right in the teeth of everyone’s obliviousness:
“You have no idea the kind of crap people are pulling. And everyone’s walking around like they’re in a G** d*** Enya video.”
This is certainly true when it comes to the economy. I have spent years now highlighting each new dashboard light as it illuminates.
Dodd-Frank making things worse. The bad home loans that contributed to 2008 - that are still being offered now. NINJA-esque loans. Adjustable rate loans.
The non-great economy - and Big Gov’s continued genuflecting to Big Banks - has continued to make things even worse. Record total household debt. Record credit card debt. At record-high interest rates. Record mortgage debt.
These heinous housing numbers have locked everyone in their homes. They can’t sell - because they owe so much they won’t get enough out of them. And their new mortgage rates on their new homes will be astronomically higher than their current rates.
Which traps everyone in - and out. As the economy founders, as the housing market cements, it gets harder and harder to get in the game:
“In 2010, the median age (of first time home purchase) was 30…However, the last 15 years have seen quite a shift.
“By 2024, people buying homes are much older, hitting a record of 38. The share of first-time home buyers on the market also dropped from 32% to 24%.”
Would you like yet another warning light on your economic dashboard?
People who manage to surmount all these obstructions and contract for a home?….
US Homebuyers Are Backing Out at Record Pace:
“Home-purchase contracts in the US were canceled at a record rate…last month….15.3% of homes that went under contract (were withdrawn)….”
Can’t seem to hold on. At now record rates.
I can hear the non-cynics now:
“Well it’s just one month. I’m sure things will rebound….”
Really? Given all the other lights on the dashboard?
Which they apparently think are stage lights for the Enya video they think they’re in.