Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Confirmed: Housing Double Dip



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The failure of Keynsian economics: Housing upside down


By the Left Coast Rebel

Via CNBC:
U.S. single-family home prices dropped in March, dipping below their 2009 low, as the housing market remained bogged down by inventory and weak demand, a closely watched survey said Tuesday.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.2 percent in March from February on a seasonally adjusted basis, in line with economists' expectations.

The price index was below the low seen in April 2009 during the financial crisis. The glut of houses for sale, foreclosures, tight credit and weak demand have kept the housing market on the ropes even as other areas of the economy start to recover.

The 20-city composite index was at 138.16, falling below the 2009 low of 139.26.

The cause of the failure of Obamanomics (Keynsian economics) is quite simple. The "Making Home Affordable Act," eight-thousand-dollar first-home-purchase tax credit and other "stimulus" for the post-2007 ailing housing market delayed the inevitable correction in pricing and inventory and stole from future growth in the market.

That's the basics of what is causing the "double dip".

Of course, our politicians know that Keynsian economics doesn't work and it would be better for our markets -- and Americans in general -- if the market(s) were allowed to correct and become healthy again.

But they can't resist the call "do something" thereby making the problem -- such as the terminally-ill housing market -- all that much worse.

That's statism and Keynsian economics for yah!

Cross posted to LCR.

BONUS: Cato's Dan Mitchell on the basic fallacies of Keynsian economics:


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