Let's put Underwater housing to work

First, an estimate on how many "really bad mortgages" there are. The 2006 census says there are 126M housing units, with 66% ownership rate. 83 million people "own" their houses. I'm having trouble finding up to date information, but in June 2008 about a million were in foreclosure. Probably more by now. That's a percent or two of the 83M which seems reasonable.

As of 2007, estimates are that New Orleans is still missing 40% of it's pre-Katrina population, which was roughly 200,000 households. So 80,000 former New Orleans households are (possibly) still looking for a place to live.

Part of our stimulus plan should be for the government to buy out roughly 50,000 of the foreclosures, then offer this housing at moderate cost to those still displaced by Katrina who have not "landed on their feet". By removing 5% or so of toxic mortgages from the market, this will help put some floor under the housing market, boosting property values. If we guess that these mortgages are underwater by $100,000 each, the total up-front cost to the taxpayer is a mere 5 billion. The housing is in areas that already have their infrastructure, so we recover some of this expense by lower costs rebuilding New Orleans. And when the next big hurricane hits the Gulf Coast, this plan will save money and lives.

What's best, we are using "underwater" housing to help those whose housing was actually underwater. :-)

Second thoughts on Guantanamo?

Now that Obama plans to close Guantanamo, what should we do with those prisoners that are dangerous? The Brookings Institure proposes that they be held indefinitly under a new detention law crafted to fit the situation. Some might argue that this isn't much different than the current situation. Hopefully under the clean start of a new administration we can have a intelligent reasonable discussion about the future of Guatanamo.

Best Books I read in 2008

Fiction: Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain. It's the story of Denny Swift, a BMW mechanic and semi-pro race car driver, and his philosophical dog Enzo. The world throws a lot of heart-wrenching crap at Denny. Some seems a bit overblown, but, if everything were easy, it wouldn't be much of a story now, would it? Using key techniques from racing such as keeping his eyes focused on where he wants to go, smooth, gentle moves, anticipation, and hanging in there for the long run, Denny, with help from Enzo, overcomes and succeeds in an uplifting story. In many parts you will cry. Some vividly recreate the pain of loss, almost mirroring my own experiences with my first dog Casey. But other parts are pure joy, such as when Denny takes Enzo for hot laps around Thunderhill Raceway. I was just there last weekend teaching with the Golden Gate Audi Club, and while sliding around turn 2 at 70+ MPH was laughin my ass off imagining Enzo strapped into the passenger seat barking in glee. Two barks for faster!

I seldom read "real" or "literary" fiction, leaning towards historical fiction, thrillers, mysteries and fantasy. So for me to pick The Art of Racing in the Rain means it is really good. Honorable mention to Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora.


Non-Ficton: Juliet Barker, Agincourt. She does a tremendous job of describing Henry V's preparations, with plenty of small realistic details that bring out the full color of the period, from mighty nobles leading huge retinues to individual free-lance archers. She handles the overall political struggles without going too deeply into every last boring detail of which Count was trying to betray which Duke. After all the excellent lead up, the description of the battle is short and slightly disappointing. But the French still trudge through the mud into a maelstrom of longbows and lose valiantly. Honorable mention to David McCullough, John Adams.