Monetary Motion Sickness
I love to fish. As a consequence, I spend a certain amount of time in boats. It you have ridden the waves, you will likely have at some time experienced being sea sick Technically, the phenomenon is caused by the body i.e. your inner ears perceiving motion, but your eyes perceiving none. When most folks are confronted with this disagreeable experience, they try to lie down and close their eyes, which exacerbates it. Standing up and looking at the horizon in the fresh air will stop it. What does this have to do with Real Estate? Current events are creating in me a slightly different form of motion sickness. I turn on the TV or read the newspaper, and I am clobbered with news that the financial sky is falling, but as I look around the room everything seems OK. I drive around in my car, look at the people, smell the air, and see no debris. The Dow goes up, and the Dow goes down…nothing new. Once again there it is…we must act NOW! If we don’t, Real Estate values will plummet, and my poorly performing retirement account will really start to stink. When buildings fall over from flaming jet fuel, or a city is flooded by a hurricane, the results are extremely tangible. Yes, some of our financial institutions have stumbled and fallen, but there seems to be a backstop. Must it be the taxpayer who has to be the lifeline? Many economists that I read take exception with this bail out plan. Is it the equivalent of lying down and closing your eyes? I think some of us may need to see more or feel more before we can accept these dire projections. Will it then be too late? Right now I am doing my best to look for the horizon and fill my lungs with fresh air.