The Butcher, The Banker, The Candlestickmaker

by Thomas Hall

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help but to think that it’s deja vu all over again.  Is it really 1980 again?   Congress appears to have stolen a page from the Conservative’s play book – but with a twist.

It seems trickle-down economics applies as much to government spending as do tax cuts to the rich, yet with the latest infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars poured into the most powerful corporations – America’s largest banks and insurance companies, we have yet to see much of a trickle – less a drop.

TARP did in fact keep the economy dry.

Perhaps the irony of it all – to me at least –  is that the so-called “Socialists” also see virtue in starting at the top – fork over billions to the most powerful to get the engine running again – the proof is not quite in the pudding pie, Georgie.

From my perspective, the deluge is starting at the bottom.  My email has been flooded with comments from my condo association regarding the complications my neighbors are facing in the sale of their condo.  Economic circumstances are hitting very close to home – my neighbors, one of whom is a fellow Realtor – directly below me in my building – is in dire need of selling their home.  Our association has a first right of refusal clause which deems FHA financing impossible.  My neighbor has been soliciting the board and fellow owners that an amendment in our bylaws is required to make the sale of their home possible to more buyers.

I was amazed at some of the comments from fellow neighbors concerned about the “quality” of potential buyers who only qualify for 3.5% down – I could only chuckle thinking that some existing owners were able to buy with 0% down 3 years ago.  Where’s there equity now?

One neighbor argued that we want to prevent a short sale – moreover a foreclosure – from impacting the values of existing homeowners.  I’m pretty sure he didn’t read The Chicago Tribune on Sunday – there was an article about the substantial increase of foreclosures in Chicago.  The article referenced a new 39 units condo conversion project which sits half-empty – just a few blocks walking distance from our building.

I think the term might be epidemic.

What I find interesting is the growing sentiment that American’s resent President Obama’s current program to assist struggling homeowners more directly – why should I have to pay for my neighbor’s poor judgment?  I didn’t do anything wrong?

We’ve been swindled into thinking that bailing out the banks will be our salvation.  I am far more willing to help out my neighbor simply because I see a direct connection to my own well being.

Guess what?  We’re all in the same tub – and the water is draining – quickly.

Why can’t the money bubble up versus trickle down?

All of this reminds me too of how much life imitates art.  I found the history of the nursery rhyme to be so appropriate to the crisis we’re facing today:

It was due to the lack of written material, and more importantly the lack of education for the working class, that the rhymes which we now refer to as nursery rhymes and Mother Goose tales were passed on by word of mouth. It has been suggested that the rhymes, based on the literary styles of composition, were “originally written for the gentry and copied by the ‘folk’ who worked for them, or observed them at their amusements” (Delamar, 2). One can conclude that this is where the term “folk tales” originated, later to become Mother Goose tales and rhymes.

Mary, Mary is quite contrary – her condo just lost 40% of it’s value.  It’s no wonder why Little Boy is so blue.  Eeny Meeny Miny Moe – which job will go?

Hush-a-bye, baby,
in the tree top.
When the wind blows,
the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,
cradle and all.

Actually – in my case, my neighbor is getting slaughtered, I’m getting burned and the banker is getting coin.