February 15, 2009

That $340k 500 sq. ft. home in Compton now priced at ...


Remember that one-bedroom pre-WWII house with 500 square feet of floor space on a small lot in Compton, CA that sold for $340,000 in 2007? It's now on the market for $69,900, a price that somebody who doesn't have enough money to move straight outta Compton might conceivably be able to afford.

Fortunately, the Obama Administration has promised to announce on Wednesday a comprehensive program to prevent housing prices from falling to affordable levels like this. Bubble Forever!

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Houses in Compton are too expensive at any price!

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, the Obama Administration has promised to announce on Wednesday a comprehensive program to prevent housing prices from falling to affordable levels.

Wall Street is also eagerly awaiting the trillion dollar bank rescue package.

Those Chinamen sure must like us Americans considering how they are willing to buy our enormous levels of debt.

Anonymous said...

"Wall Street is also eagerly awaiting the trillion dollar bank rescue package."

What happened to the 0.8 trillion (Steve, I'm struggling with the numbers again) package which Bush handed to them? Was that used for bonuses (boni?)?

Anonymous said...

We need dispassionate, objective leadership who can work toward an objective value of our housing stock.

Unfortunately our leadership does need "bubble forever" so they can have more cash for the creeping kleptocracy.

Anonymous said...

“All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese and Koreans,”

This reminds me of my dad. One of his stock gags was, when I or a sibling had hurt ourselves and were making a big fuss, he'd call us over and examine the wound. After a meaningful pause he'd say "yeah, that's pretty serious. We'll have to amputate."

The difference is my dad was kidding.

Anonymous said...

Am I a missing something? The first 'goal' was to offer cheap mortgages so everyone could afford a home.... then prices inflated so high no one could afford a home. Now that the prices are going back down to where people can afford a home...the government wants to keep it inflated.

It doesn't make sense until one realizes we have a 'moneylender's economy' that's why the government discourages saving and all the 'stimulus' is geared to consumer spending (and this is key) through credit

Anonymous said...

It doesn't make sense until one realizes we have a 'moneylender's economy' that's why the government discourages saving and all the 'stimulus' is geared to consumer spending (and this is key) through credit.

Yep. Paul Krugman call it a national system of "Debt Peonage." I think the technical term in the Bible was "usury"...

Anonymous said...

Anybody else notice how Michelle Obama looks like an angry Klingon?

Anonymous said...

I am really surprised that nobody on the Left seems bothered by the idea that Chinese factory workers who make (maybe) 40 cents an hour are going to bailout speculators and idiots who didn't read their mortgage contracts.

Anonymous said...

"I am really surprised that nobody on the Left seems bothered by the idea that Chinese factory workers who make (maybe) 40 cents an hour are going to bailout speculators and idiots who didn't read their mortgage contracts."


In the US the Left is back to that "socialism in one country" thing.

Anonymous said...

$349 down to $69!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Steve,
Please post every time the spirit moves you, as you find out so much. I will -enjoy- telling the guys about this one.



Folks, remember to support Steve Sailer financially. You dont get this info anywhere else. Incredible stuff.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous: Anybody else notice how Michelle Obama looks like an angry Klingon?

That would be angry post-change Klingons.

The original Klingon chicks were actually kinda hot [as were pretty much all of the chicks on TOS].

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, the Obama Administration has promised to announce on Wednesday a comprehensive program to prevent housing prices from falling to affordable levels.

Is that the plan? From my reading I interpreted the plan as being one where Obama forces banks to take the loss based on the "owners" ability to pay. Banks will be forced to write off principle, not just reduce interest rates. Payments will have to be cut to a maximum of 31% of income. Thus if a "homeowner" earns $50,000 and makes $19,000 a year in mortgage payments the bank will have to reduce payments so that they don't exceed $15,500.

This is a massive handout to Obama voters. Note that Obama will be signing his stimulus package in Denver, then taking a trip to Arizona to propose this giveaway. And, of course, many of his cabinet members (or proposed cabinet members, like Richardson) are Westerners. Obama clearly thinks the West is his for the taking. But we all know that Hispanics are natural Republicans, right? Right?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous and RKU:

The U.S. government has no particular interest in discouraging savings or to encourage borrowing, as suggested by either you (or as maintained by the jerk Krugman). Rather, the (very real) discouragement of savings occurs because the government (at most times) is in a continuous process of trying to lower the rate of interest by inflating: creating new currency and credit. Their purpose in doing so is to favor certain economic sectors and firms (banks among them) but not by encouraging continuous consumer debt.

The degree to which people spend their incomes (including the degree to which they spend it on imported articles) is very dependent on prevailing opinion as to the future value (purchasing power) of the monetary unit. While recognizing that people differ widely in their spending/saving patterns ("time preference"), all people are influenced toward greater spending, the greater is their expectation that the value of their money will fall in the future (especially if it is expected that it will fall rather sharply). Folks at all levels are continually faced with an inner argument that there's no point in saving, especially beyond some amount considered necessary for "a rainy day" and some prospect of retirement because they face the prospect of being worse off with respect to the same purchase(s) if they wait, and this especially with respect to relatively long-lasting consumption goods such as homes, home improvements and furnishings, and automobliles. It's a crooked game--just not quite the one you'd imagined.

The same is true with respect to the "trade deficit," which simply illustrates the anxiousness of Americans to get rid of that distinctly depreciating stuff as quickly as possible for as much other stuff as they can get for it.

I called Krugman a jerk. He really is. He's the guy who said 9/11 would prove to be a boon to our economy. I heard him say it.

Anonymous said...

Me: That would be angry post-change Klingons.

A little off-topic, but I've long wondered whether TPTB introduced "The Change" so as to be able to give more quota-hire work to minority actors & actresses.

The original Klingons were pretty much 100% white [being caricatures of our Russkie adversaries in the Cold War], but a huge percentage of the post-change Klingons have been played by minorities [e.g. Michael Dorn, Roxanne Dawson, etc].

Anonymous said...

1960's TV tidbits: Does anybody remember '60's TV shows " I Dream of Genie" and "Bewitched"?

"I Dream of Genie"-- submissive magical harem girl who will fulfill any wish her "Master," the astronaut, desires.

"Bewitched" --suburban housewife who is a very nice person, but who has a double life as a witch who has power over men, including her befuddled husband.

My understanding is that "Bewitched," which followed "Genie" by a season or two, was knowingly written as a reply to "Genie."

And Gene Rodenberry, the writer/producer of the original "Star Trek" TV show, really did use eff-me-if-you-want-the-part methods to cast the girls for his show.

Anonymous said...

OK, out of the three old school Klingon captains:

John Colicos (Kor)= Greek Canadian, very Mediterranean/middle eastern in appearance.

William Campbell (Koloth)= Anglo protestant from New Jersey. Very pale. Fun fact-- his first wife was Judith Exner, later JFK mistress.

Michael Ansara (Kang) Syrian-Lebanese Christian, swarthy, notable for playing American Indian characters in westerns.

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that "Bewitched," which followed "Genie" by a season or two, was knowingly written as a reply to "Genie."
Bewitched is the older show.

Unknown said...

Anonymous said...

"Those Chinamen sure must like us Americans considering how they are willing to buy our enormous levels of debt."

You are an idiot. They are not buying our debts out of the goodness of their heart, they are buying them so that we may become indebted to them.

But what can I expect from an ignorant racist white boy.