Where Did My Home Go?

[Many Americans have connected up their homes to debts, retirement plans, etc., etc. However, if Krugman is right in his column below, they/we may be in for a big shock as we discover that our 'property' in our homes has been stolen away by sub prime mortgage loans to people who cannot afford their homes which in turn is shaking confidence in the American economy generally.

I happen to live in a coop - converted from a rental property in 1979 when coops were rediscovered as a form of property. They had been popular prior to the market crash of 1929 which threw most of them into bankruptcy when members of a coop could no longer keep up their shares of maintenance (what rent is called in a coop). Only when the disasters of yore had been forgotten did coops make a comeback and now much of Manhattan is sprinkled with them -- and many of us have used them as collateral for loans, equity lines, etc. If the economy goes belly up, many of us may find ourselves looking for other housing, as happened during the Great Depression. Little have we realized that what we consider to be our property really depends on the decisions of many others -- particularly governmental regulatory agencies which should have functioned to prohibit our latest economic sub prime mortgage scam.

Be braced. Ed Kent]

OP-ED COLUMNIST
After the Money's Gone
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Anyone who expects the Federal Reserve or anyone else to come up with a plan that makes the current financial crisis just go away will be sorely disappointed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/opinion/14krugman.html?th&emc=th
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
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