Housing Bottom: Again, Paulson guesses "We're at or near bottom..."
By Ian Cooper
If you throw enough garbage at the wall long enough, something will stick, right? According to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, “In terms of looking at housing, most of us believe it’s at or near the bottom.” This was weeks after he told CNBC that the U.S. housing market correction is largely behind us.
Waiter, I’ll have what Paulson’s eating…
When I read such nonsense, it scares me to think of what he’ll say when he looks back on his comments and tries to defend the perpetual cheerleading. I can hear it now: “I couldn’t yell fire in a burning building, now could I? It would have led to a stampede.”
Still, it’s absurd, while the housing market burns, to ask every one to ignore the high flames, the heat, and burning walls, on hopes that the fire department will take care of everything shortly. Take a look at the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, for example. If that’s not proof enough to quash Paulson’s cheerleading tirade, then you’ve got problems. The index clearly shows the 17th consecutive monthly decline in the annual growth rate of single-family home prices.
Today, there were reports that sales of existing homes fell to the lowest level in about a year. Sales of existing homes fell 3.5% in May, 3.4% in April, and 4.5% in March.
The most interesting Paulson comment was featured at Reuters.com today: “Markets are volatile. I haven't seen a single thing that surprises me -- it's hard to surprise me.”
It doesn’t even “surprise” him that he’s been wrong again and again…
There’s no bottom coming. We’re not close. Ignore the puppet.
Take care,
Ian L. Cooper
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