Housing and 'Government Support'
futureofcapitalism.com

The Wall Street Journal begins a news article on existing home sales: "Existing-home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in July as inventories soared, painting a grim picture for the housing market absent government support in a stubbornly sluggish economy."

A reader-participant-community member-watchdog-content co-creator e-mails: "What about the possibility that so much government support for everything is the problem?"

Remember, there's an awful lot of government support for the housing market already — foreclosure relief, the home mortgage deduction, Fannie and Freddie, the FHA, the super-low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

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Felix Salmon on 'Wall Street's Dead End'
futureofcapitalism.com

Felix Salmon of Reuters has an op-ed piece in the New York Times that makes a number of faulty points. He writes:

The glory days of publicly traded companies dominating the American business landscape may be over. The number of companies listed on the major domestic exchanges peaked in 1997 at more than 7,000, and it has been falling ever since. It's now down to about 4,000 companies, and given its steep downward trend will surely continue to shrink.

Read More...

Housing and 'Government Support'
futureofcapitalism.com

The Wall Street Journal begins a news article on existing home sales: "Existing-home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in July as inventories soared, painting a grim picture for the housing market absent government support in a stubbornly sluggish economy."

A reader-participant-community member-watchdog-content co-creator e-mails: "What about the possibility that so much government support for everything is the problem?"

Remember, there's an awful lot of government support for the housing market already — foreclosure relief, the home mortgage deduction, Fannie and Freddie, the FHA, the super-low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

Read More...

Felix Salmon on 'Wall Street's Dead End'
futureofcapitalism.com

Felix Salmon of Reuters has an op-ed piece in the New York Times that makes a number of faulty points. He writes:

The glory days of publicly traded companies dominating the American business landscape may be over. The number of companies listed on the major domestic exchanges peaked in 1997 at more than 7,000, and it has been falling ever since. It's now down to about 4,000 companies, and given its steep downward trend will surely continue to shrink.

Read More...