Did realtors continue to sell properties for higher and higher prices? Sure. Given their particular role in the economy, why wouldn’t/shouldn’t they do this, when no overall control was exercised by the government? Find me any kind of merchant who won’t gradually price up his merchandise, if there isn’t an artificial restraint? Some kind of saint, I guess.

Let’s stay credible here, people. This isn’t it? There should have been market constraints to stop an inexorable upward spiral in real estate prices. That doesn’t make it the realtors fault. They represent, and are paid by, the seller, they’re supposed to get the best price they can.

If my hunch is correct, then all the house purchase tax credit will do is to modestly increase the number of houses sold each month… with no noticeable impact on house prices.

That doesn’t mean that the tax credit would have no impact. In particular, it may be a boon to some cash-constrained households that want to buy a house right now but can’t borrow enough. And it should help to reduce inventories of unsold houses by a bit. But if you’re hoping that it will make house prices rise, with all of the beneficial economic effects on home equity that such a rise might have… think again.

That reminded me of the strategy used by Jonathan (Jack Nicholson, with the special assistance of the great Rita Moreno) to avoid his mark to market moment:

Carnal Knowledge, finale.

maybe we’ll talk again.

Apologies Marcy. Feel free to delete any of my comments that were not on topic enough to pass muster. thanks. You’re a heroine to me.

I hope masaccio sees it!
http://crooksandliars.com/susi…..ainers-sen
Wanted: Personal Economic Trainers for the Senate

This topic has been a theme on some of these threads, and it’s an idea whose time has come. Nice to see it getting more emphasis, because these issues are so complex that Senators can’t be expected to master it all, and clearly Senate staffs aren’t keeping up.

The field of education has advanced over the years to the point that ADHD is not only outmoded, but grossly inaccurate both as a term and a concept in many cases. It is thus neither wise nor accurate to lump all in the same bin. That is what I objected to

Here’s what I’m seeing, summarized: the people who study cognition have remarkable new tools. They are discovering remarkable things. But they are seldom policy makers (again, people who slog through a PhD and enter research fields in many respects don’t have the time in their lives to run for office).

ADHD now appears to be a term that is being applied to a huge range of behaviors and thought processes.

Having ADHD is **not** related to problems learning to read. That would be mixing apples and oranges!

However, there are people who have reading challenges WHO ALSO have ADHD. (In the case of two of those realtors, their ADHD was diagnosed in adulthood when their kids were having a lot of trouble in first grade, which led to getting parents involved, which in a round about way led to adults being diagnosed – backward, so to speak, with ADHD.)

Again, there are lots of types of ADHD.
Some involve ‘hyperfocus’, and people with that may be superb readers.

The people that I was working with found ways to use their strengths. In two cases, they know their limitations and rely on terrific assistants to do legwork and follow-up, but ride around with them in 4-hour periods and they are constantly interacting on the phone, behind the wheel, with other agents… they don’t like to sit still and they have figured out how to be very financially successful.

They’re great people. They build on their strengths. But because of their success in real estate, local electeds ask their advice on a range of topics far beyond their expertise. And they rely on their personal interactions to give advice, rather than doing the slogging work of really figuring things out — they’re not stupid, and they’re great at discovering what they need to know. But presenting it to these particular people in written form does not work; they can’t manage it.

Perhaps because I spent so much time with some of these folks, my view of realtors is skewed, but I’ve also been to some of their conferences and spotted the same information patterns.

At any rate, we’ve highjacked this thread enough, so I need to apologize to EW and bmaz, and sign off on this topic.

Adie, I have background and a particular interest in reading, reading comprehension, and adult illiteracy. Hence, I’ve come to have some solid info about ADHD as it relates to how people learn, how they translate that to performing tasks, and how to design information to assist adult illiterates.

Because I’ve encountered people appointed to policy making bodies who have reading challenges, I bring a very specific lens to a lot of conversations at EWs, and I also have a very specific interest in how she analyzes and explains legal documents. Part personal; part professional.

And that’s only one of my several hats.
Sorry if my comments distressed you.

Thanks for checking back. I realize you have some considerable background, as do I, in what at times has been called ADHD, and the study of which has developed much over the years. It is a truly mixed bag of traits which cannot easily be summed up in so few words, much less a simple acronym. Some aspects of this complex of syndromes can even afford a person unique skills of observation and analysis, and reading impairment is definitely NOT always an allied trait – far from it.

The field of education has advanced over the years to the point that ADHD is not only outmoded, but grossly inaccurate both as a term and a concept in many cases. It is thus neither wise nor accurate to lump all in the same bin. That is what I objected to. I would be remiss if your quick reference to ADHD did NOT alert me to speak up in hopes of encouraging further study.

Thank you for being willing to engage in dialogue. That is a start.