This week Thomas Sowell treated us to his glossary of political terms by exploring the abuse of words and phrases by politicians such as fair share, social justice, the hungry, mean spirited, access, greedy, compassion, and racism.
How have politicians been allowed to mislead the people? A complicit media with shared ideology giving the misleading terms validity.
The same style of reporting on the housing market is common. Why? The miscreants in the main stream media know that the reelection chances of their chosen one hinges upon the economy. Therefore they put the most positive spin on every report. Apparently after three and a half years people are realizing that the economy cannot recover until housing recovers.
Recent headlines in Illinois; “Unemployment Rate Falls Again”. If one bothers reading the article they discover this bit of information….”however there was a net loss of 1800 jobs in May and only 100 jobs added in April.” So what meaning does the unemployment rate falling have to people?
Then this week we get these headlines on WSJ.com from Nick Timiraos; “Rising Home Sales Support Case for Housing Recovery”. The number of home listings going under contract did in fact rise 13.3% year over year, good news for sure, but does that mean recovery?
If one reads the article they discover this bit of information; “To be sure, contract activity has been a less reliable indicator of future sales activity than it was in the past because many deals fall through, either because buyers can’t qualify for the loan or because appraisals were too low.”
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Hello? Why can’t buyers qualify? Dodd Frank compliance requirements meant to save the nation from another financial meltdown, greatest achievement to date is to disqualify home buyer’s who should be approved. No, not the sub-prime if you don’t have a death certificate qualification; people that in the past would normally be considered a good credit risk for a mortgage.
Because appraisals were too low? Darn it, those appraisers noticed home prices fell, the number of home sales to be used for comparables fell, and they have the gall to low appraise? Shucky darn.
The one that takes the cake this week, reported about everywhere a liberal with access to publish wrote; “Home Prices Fall at Slowest Pace in Years.” We’ve now breached the point of absurdity in the media reporting on housing.
In my local market home sales are off to the best start since 2007. The jubilation of Realtors is palpable. Don’t get me wrong my sales are up 61% over last year making me happier than a woodpecker in a lumberyard, but that only brings sales up to normal for us. Just like the consumers of the housing reports, these Realtors don’t realize the market has had the second fewest home sales closed since 2000. But jubilee away folks can’t say we blame you.
Then the reports on new home sales beat expectations and was touted as more evidence of recovery. Reading any of the reports they all concluded, however new home sales are still running less than half what economists consider healthy.
Then the reports not even the best Obama sycophants in the media can spin, consumer confidence fell to 62, another solid ‘F’ from the folks on the economy. Fact is this is the worst economy since the Depression, but more importantly, is people’s confidence reflects that they have no faith in the Obama agenda after three and a half years of one failed policy following another.
As much as the media tries, seems the American people deserve more credit than either the media, Obama, or the left will give them. People know what ‘is’ is.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of Fritz Pfister or identified sources, and not necessarily those of RE/MAX Professionals of Springfield or RE/MAX International.
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