{"id":10068,"date":"2009-10-14T05:43:35","date_gmt":"2009-10-14T12:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=10068"},"modified":"2009-10-14T07:20:53","modified_gmt":"2009-10-14T14:20:53","slug":"bucking-up-is-not-the-answer-and-even-if-it-were-it-isnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10068\/bucking-up-is-not-the-answer-and-even-if-it-were-it-isnt\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucking up is not the answer, and even if it were, it isn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my past life, I worked in public policy. This was a pretty much disheartening experience because, whether you’re on the left, right or center, you’ll be disappointed. It’s almost never the case that policymakers (read: politicians) want to make good policy. The policies they do enact are mishmashed compromises sweetened by special interest giveaways. That’s just the logic of politics. <\/p>\n

One of the things you frequently hear is that the economy is all psychology. That if people would just be in a better mood, they’d spend more, and then we’d get the Good Ship America righted and back under sail. That’s not so. <\/p>\n

More accurately, while there are psychological aspects to economic activity, simply telling people to buck up and get back out there is not a recipe for anything other than talking to yourself in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t will a country (or a world) out of a recession anymore than government can spend its way out of a recession. There is a psychology to a recession, but there is also a logic to a recession. And that logic is economic.<\/p>\n

The problem with the recent bubble is that it was massive and massively inflated. Unlike the tech bubble of 2000-1, this bubble was wide-ranging, affecting not only the real estate market, but the equity markets as well. In addition, because an awful lot of real resources had shifted across the country into building homes and owning homes, this bubble was far wider in scope, affecting many tens of millions more people, than a tech bubble that was regionally isolated and industry specific.<\/p>\n

So yes, people are psychologically depressed. But, you know, between 10 and 18 percent of people are unemployed, depending on how the government has cooked the books, so telling them to \u201cbuck up\u201d is kind of missing the point. Even if people could “buck up,” we don’t want them to. Recent spending by both individuals and the government has been entirely debt financed. Getting people out there to spend again does them no good. <\/p>\n

This bubble Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my past life, I worked in public policy. This was a pretty much disheartening experience because, whether you’re on the left, right or center, you’ll be disappointed. It’s almost never the case that policymakers (read: politicians) want to make good policy. The policies they do enact are mishmashed compromises sweetened by special interest giveaways. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-real-estate","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":647,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/647\/new-nar-policy-allows-objective-exclusion-of-certain-listings-from-members-presentations-of-idx-feeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":10068,"position":0},"title":"New NAR policy allows “objective” exclusion of certain listings from members’ presentations of IDX feeds . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the news from NARdiGras -- from RealEstateJournal.com:A revised policy approved by the National Association of Realtors this week may make it harder for discount brokers to draw attention to homes they list for sale. The policy, approved by directors of the trade group at a convention in New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5403,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5403\/writing-an-office-policy-manual-for-real-estate-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":10068,"position":1},"title":"Writing an office policy manual for Real Estate 2.0","author":"Cheryl Johnson","date":"November 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of our current ongoing \"expansion\", for the last few days I have been trying to cobble together something that resembles a real estate company policy manual. I am going to post a few of my policy manual paragraphs here, in the hopes that my Bloodhound friends might suggest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5685,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5685\/creating-an-online-policy-and-procedure-manual\/","url_meta":{"origin":10068,"position":2},"title":"Creating an Online Policy and Procedure Manual","author":"Cheryl Johnson","date":"November 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A question for other small independent brokerage owners and managers: I have almost completed the online version policy and procedure manual for my smallish, independent brokerage office.\u00a0 It's been a lot of work.\u00a0 Who knew?\u00a0 I ended up using a WordPress platform, since I didn't have the energy to learn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12058,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12058\/what-caused-the-housing-crisis-perverse-government-incentives\/","url_meta":{"origin":10068,"position":3},"title":"What caused the housing crisis? Perverse government incentives.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Form an academic paper by George Mason University Economics Professor Russell Roberts:Beginning in the mid-1990s, home prices in many American cities began a decade-long climb that proved to be an irresistible opportunity for investors. Along the way, a lot of people made a great deal of money. But by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1467,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1467\/this-house-dont-fit-whats-your-return-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":10068,"position":4},"title":"“This house don’t fit… what’s your return policy?”","author":"Lani Anglin","date":"May 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The year is 2015 and the RE online brokerages reign. Buyers search for homes online, click a button to complete a closing, and pick up their keys the next morning to see their NEW home! Here are some sample voice messages left for the operators at the MegaOnlineBrokerage: \"I thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2889,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2889\/nar-news-from-the-legal-front\/","url_meta":{"origin":10068,"position":5},"title":"NAR News From the Legal Front","author":"Dave Phillips","date":"April 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years, NAR has had its fair share of legal battles.\u00a0 Currently, there are a few big and interesting cases involving NAR that could have dramatic impact on the real estate industry.\u00a0 Here\u2019s an update on three cases that are in the works.\u00a0 US vs NAR This is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dirty Laundry"","block_context":{"text":"Dirty Laundry","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/dirty-laundry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10070,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10068\/revisions\/10070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}