Polls

Deal or No Deal – Play America’s Game of Chance

The following PhotoBlog political post is syndicated from iVoteAmerica.com, a companion site to REALonomics, where you can vote in polls and influence others with your comments about contemporary political topics.

Cast your confidential vote for President at iVoteAmerica.com.

—– syndicated post from iVoteAmerica begins here —–

Join the game that has taken America by surprise!

Previous big winners include Wall Street, the Mortgage industry and foreign investors including China and many others. Register today, login and play!

Everyone is automatically a contestant and the stakes have never been higher. Go ahead, put yourself on the line.

—– syndicated post from iVoteAmerica ends here —–

The Federalization of our Financial System at your Expense

REALonomics Editorial

We now own what we cannot control. We are witnessing the Federalizaiton of the Financial Systems of America. Backed by a fickle Congress and flanked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, contrary to their former political beliefs that government should stay out of the private sectors of the economy, took measures today to endorse the Federalization of our money systems.

Q1 - What does this mean to the real estate industry?

Clearly we are entering spooky waters wherein we dared never enter before. REALonomics believes the move by the government will paralyze the industry making home buying and selling incredibly difficult, if not impossible, in some already paralyzed markets. Home and commercial property values will assuredly decline even more, reducing the networth of the industry and its investor and home owner base.

Q2 - What does this mean to the mortgage industry?

Expect huge consolidations greater than the Bank of America’s absorbtion of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. With this consolidation of the financial titans, mega titans will be created and essentially be required to submit to a new set of tightly regulated lending rules. It will be harder and harder to borrow and lend. This will create a over-regulation of the market and further drag on mortgage recovery.

Q3 - What does this mean to Americans?

Each of the more than 300 million people in America, including those born yesterday, will end up with at least a $100,000 debt hanging over their heads. This is the representative figure that is the accumulation of the current escalation of the national deficit and the new estimated $2 trillion dollar bailout of the financial markets.

The government bailout of the private sector of the market means that each of us was just handed a tax bill or, we might call it a “cash call” because we are collectively the new owners of the private problems of borrows and lenders.

Ron Paul (R, TX) was correct when he told Ben Bernanke, in essence, “you are going to bankrupt the American people with your money policies.”

The average American family is essentially, on paper, wiped out by this move and the impact on the real estate and mortgage industries was just extended to perhap a decade or even more.

Q4 - What does this mean in terms of the election?

This is the easy question and the answer is more finger pointing, more investigations, excessive government snooping (there needs to be some), lots of drama on the political stump and a great deal of harm to John McCain, who is already having difficulty coming out from the shadow of Bush’s foreign and domestic policies.

But it also means trouble for Barack Obama. He can forget about his national health care program for all Americans, he can forget about taxing anyone, much less those earning incomes above $250k and he can kiss his “no-new-energy-if-it-means-drilling-coal fired plants-and-nuclear-power” policy good by.

In essence the damage done to both candidacies is substantial and the next 45 days are going to be like the wild-wild-west as we run up to election time. To vote in the Presidential poll, visit www.iVoteAmerica.com.

The most remarkable thing about today’s move to “take-over” is that it represents a profoundly fundamental shift in our capital market value system and establishes a whole new mechanism for creating a way to further tax the American people. Make no mistake about it, you just got taxed and to pay the tax bill you were forced to financed the payments over time. There was paperwork, no disclosure and no recource for any of us. All of this is taking place right before our eyes without much of a whimper or a voice of protest.

REALonomics Launches National Political Blog Network

The iVoteAmerica (iVA) voter, polling and blogging network has been on my chalkboard for several years, delayed only by the call and priority of other projects.

Because we wanted our faithful readers, authors and commentators to know first, REALonomics is pleased to announce that it has cooperated in spearheading the launch of the iVoteAmerica Network (iVA). iVA is a national polling and blogging network that includes political polling and blogging (Plogging) for all fifty States. The iVA network creates an online political blogging forum for each State allowing people to post to the left, the middle or the right of any issue.

As we have discovered in the last 12-24 months our industry is confronted with many challenge that have us wound up with politics and politicians. With the recent takeover of FANNIE MAE and FREDDY MAC by the Fed, we need to reconsider our ability to influence outcomes by creating voices. The iVA Network is one way we can do that.

The iVA Network incorporates polling as a means of measuring participant opinions on a variety of political and social issues. At its heart iVA is a political blog or, what we call a “PLOG.”

We simply are not vocal enough…we are informed, we vote, we care, but we are not vocal enough in the competitive political arenas. My vision for the iVoteAmerica Network is to simply deliver a political platform for people who vote. Who votes? People who own real estate vote, people who care about the influence politics has over us, our families, our industry and our lives. – Donald Teel, Founder

Read more

Paramount Issue?

Most Significant Issue

The current REALonomics poll will continue to run until the first week of December after which a new poll will be posted.

REALonomics invites you to become a poll participant. You are invited to participate in the current poll addressing this question:

Which issue is the most significant facing the real estate industry today?

The current slate of answers is listed in the poll, together with their running totals. Did you know you can submit your own poll answer?

SEE ALL OF THE REALONOMICS POLLS.

Suggest a POLL TOPIC or Question.

NEW REALonomics Poll

R.E. INDUSTRY ISSUES POLL

The real estate industry is facing many significant and challenging issues today, any of which could be called a “watershed issue.”

This is a tough poll, if only because only one answer is allowed and because the issues facing the real estate industry are more complex than simply one issue. As we all know, few issues stand in isolation. SEE THE POLL TO THE RIGHT.

However, REALonomics would like to see what the readership believes is the “most significant” issue facing the real estate industry today and we are forcing you to pick just one or, if you prefer, you may add your own.

As with any of the However, REALonomics polls, you can always post commentary to further enhance your position and spur further thought.

Did you see the results of the last poll? We had 372 votes cast in response to the question, “Which brand has highest consumer recognition nationally?” The results of the top four vote getters were:

1. Keller Williams
2. ReMax
3. Century 21
4. Coldwell Banker

Cast your vote in the current poll. Post your comment about the poll. Suggest a new poll topic.

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