Bush on why the economy sucks: We built too many houses.

[Postman]

I'm still hoping this is all a bad dream and I'll wake up soon.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/18/bush-iraq-economy/

[MadMaddie]

1. He also said "It's not because of the War"! Nancy can we

Impeach now....it's gone beyond incompatance...he is not fit to serve.

[gateley]

2. NOT THE WAR! nt

[Orsino]

20. Don't mention the war!

[cliss]

3. Since Bush has not read his history, I'll help him out.

HISTORY
History has shown that many, MANY rulers waged war. It's been done lots of times.
Wars are expensive.
Wars have ruined countries in the past. They bankrupted themselves on their military adventures. The country ended up ruined financially.

Afterwards, the weakened countries were stormed or taken over by some other country.

Iraq has ruined this country.

[dysfunctional press]

23. Iraq has NOT ruined this country.

the people responsible for taking us into iraq have ruined this country.

and those of us that allowed it need to accept our share of the blame as well.

[El Pinko]

4. His lack of comprehension of what's going on with the economy is ASTOUNDING.

How is it that this man who went to Yale and Harvard is completely unable to understand that the housing disaster is NOT a supply/demand problem?

The problem is that house prices were driven by speculation and easy loans to unqualified people into a price range that made them totally unaffordable to any middle-class family, but thinking that prices would rise 15% a year, people took on the enormous debt anyway.

That debt was financed by foreign investors who are now fed up with the US's profligacy and no longer interested in investing here.

So we are left awash in government and personal debt, and a corporate class that thinks it has no obligation to contribute anything, even jobs.

THAT's what's wrong with the economy. There is not an oversupply of houses, there is an undersupply of houses that an ordinary family can afford, and an oversupply of families making peanuts and drowning in debt for way too long.

[Avalon Sparks]

6. El Pinko

I've been enjoying your posts and the articles you post. Thanks!

[El Pinko]

8. Well thank you!

I hope they're informative. I'm learning along with everyone else.

I'm not terribly knowledgeable about these things, but post interesting articles as I find them.

There are times when I fear I'm posting too many "gloom-and-doom" articles, but unfortunately, that is the nature of economic developments right now.

As anxious as I am about our short-term economic prospects, I kind of feel like a serious recession is probably what America needs to finally wake to the fact that

we need some serious structural reform to the economy to save the middle class or become a full-fledged 3rd world country.

This habit of just adding more and more to government and personal debt to try to keep things looking rosy is obviously NOT SUSTAINABLE.


Anyway, thanks for the kind words. It's nice to know someone's reading my posts!

[fed-up]

9. keep posting as many similar posts (housing bubble) a few years ago got me out of my ARM in time nt

[El Pinko]

11. Glad to hear it.

I'm afraid it's too late for many people.

For a lot of people, "jingle mail" has become the best option...

I was trying to explain this stuff to my friends back in 2004-2005 in SF and they thought I was an idiot...

:shrug:

[fed-up]

12. now I just have to make sure people know to check prior meth lab status of any home they buy-I went

from the frying pan into the fire because of a dishonest seller. Still trying to find a lawyer to work on contingency...

The biggest problem is that with all the homes being sold via foreclosure there are NO disclosures, so people need to check local law enforcement AND neighbors to make sure the house they are buying or renting did not ever have a meth lab on the property....


edited to add-uncleaned probably toxic former meth lab homes have been sold/rented to unsupecting folks for the last THIRTY years

while the EPA and Public Health have just buried their heads in the sand and have done NOTHING to stop it

edited to add these, not sure if they are in other thread
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_4481405,00.html

Family's world shaken by former meth lab
Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
Monday, February 20, 2006


A ringing telephone cut through the clamor of everyday life as Katrina Evans prepared cheese and crackers for hungry children in her Fort Collins home two years ago.
A local newspaper reporter was on the line with news the mother never expected to hear.
Her family's residence at 4020 Lynda Lane, the reporter had discovered, was listed on a Larimer County sheriff's Web site of former meth labs.

In the same basement room where Evans was operating a home day-care center - a room decorated with stickers of rectangles and squares and littered with toy blocks - a 31-year-old man had been brewing chemicals such as turpentine and iodine to make the white powdery drug.

..snip

Since learning their home was stained with meth, the Evanses have taken a closer look at breathing problems and bouts of depression they suffered while living there.

Daughter Brookelyn Evans, 16 at the time, had chronic nosebleeds. Her room was in the basement, where several years before, a previous tenant mixed chemicals from a red cooler and dumped them down drains.

Even the family's 3-year-old Labrador, Jobe, became aggressive while in the home.
,,snip


http://www.ohio.com/news/14305047.html

Single mom is suing seller of meth house
Home was once drug lab; woman fears for kids' health, might be facing foreclosure

By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Friday, Jan 25, 2008


Her Stow home is frozen in time. The kids' clothes, their beds, the family photos, everything they own remains untouched, just as they left it almost a year ago.

The exodus from her new home was swift. And it was not fueled by ghosts or lousy neighbors.

Rather, it was the revelation of what was once inside her Meadowbrook Boulevard home and its potential relation to her children's chronic illnesses:

Andrea Wagner has learned she is the owner of a former meth house, one of at least 143 tabulated by local health officials.

..snip

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=309&sid=1230294&comments=true

Investigation: House Contaminated with Meth Worse than Thought
Salt Lake County gave the all-clear, but the latest meth tests show more outrageous levels of the drug inside the home.
May 16th, 2007 @ 9:41pm

Debbie Dujanovic Reporting
Produced by Kelly Just

It's been almost a week since an Eyewitness News Investigation revealed some disturbing results -- a former meth home, still contaminated after the government said it was clean. Tonight there are more test results, lawsuits and a health department willing to make changes.

Health inspectors assured them their home was safe, but our investigation showed it wasn't. Salt Lake County gave the all-clear, but the latest meth tests show more outrageous levels of the drug inside the home.


Photo from inside the home before it was decontaminated
We were the first to warn the Alkinani's -- our tests showed meth contamination, including in baby Mac's room. They immediately moved out and hired a certified professional to conduct more tests. We caught up with the Alkinani's at the family business today. The new results show it's even worse and far beyond baby Mac's room.

Jaimee Alkinani told us, "The ventilation system is 63 times the limit, and that's going throughout our whole house."

It's sixty-three times the level the state considers "safe". The Alkinani's weren't told about the meth lab when the bought the home and when they found out, Salt Lake County assured them the home was successfully decontaminated.

The Alkinani's are now suing Salt Lake County.

"These are people's lives, they are the health department, they need to do something. I don't want to tell them what their job is, this is what they do, they are the health department," Alkinani said.

,,snip

[El Pinko]

13. Is the concern there the chemical residues....or strange visitors in the night?

If nothing was wrong with the house on inspection, what is the problem with a former meth lab?

(sorry if the question is ignorant)

[fed-up]

14. toxic chemical residues-here are some links on an earlier thread

I am basically screwed until I find an attorney to take my case on contingency as I don't have $5-10K for the initial filing fees and affadavits (sp?) My home is basically worthless and no realtor will consider selling it. The few nondisclosed former meth lab house sale cases that I have found online have been settled out of court within a few months. I am starting to panic though as credit gets tighter the sellers (3 brothers) may not be able to get a loan to pay me back once the contract is rescinded.

I am headed out the door, but will answer any questions you have later.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2215120

[Avalon Sparks]

16. You're doing a great job....

Your posts really stand out. Noticed lately that every time lately I've read an impressive post it seems to be from you. Thanks again! Keep up the good work.

[Skittles]

17. El Pinko, not only do you say it, you say it WELL

:thumbsup:

[Virginia Dare]

21. I certainly hope that our nominee can articulate this as well..

as you do..thanks..:applause:

[icnorth]

5. I guess that eliminates

the need for homeless shelters...

[Snarkoleptic]

7. Mebbe Chimpy McFuckstain will ship some toxic FEMA trailers to the hard hit areas.

You know...as a show of compassionate conservatism.

[Kitty Herder]

10. Nobody ever said he was smart. nt

[Skittles]

18. you are so right

I remember here in Texas when I voiced dismay about his intellectual failings when he was running for prez, his supporters enthusiastically told me WELL YEAH BUT HE'LL SURROUND HIMSELF WITH GREAT ADVISORS!!!!! :o

[Virginia Dare]

22. Instead he surrounded himself with sycophants..

and robber barons. What a cluster fuck.

[blondeatlast]

15. Perhaps we could send some to, oh, I dunno--the Mississppi Delta area?

(Does he even know that's within our borders?)

[Ganja Ninja]

19. Maybe we should start bombing ourselves and knock down

some of that excess real estate.:sarcasm:

How this idiot became a 2 term president really boggles the mind.

[bdamomma]

24. and there are some people out there who still believe he won the

elections. :banghead:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

25. People losing their jobs = we made too many jobs

People losing their houses = we made too many houses

Soldiers losing their lives in Iraq = we sent too many soldiers

People dying from lack of healthcare = we have too many sick people

Children going hungry = we made too many children

Make sense now?

[Amonester]

26. How much is a "MBA" diploma?

Can I buy one 2?