As the housing bubble expanded in 2004, 2005, and 2006, NPR almost never could find any economists who thought an unprecedented and unexplained $8 trillion run-up in house prices was a problem. This morning, NPR again was unable to find any economists who thought that the bursting of this bubble would continue to be a serious problem, even after the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie.
All the economists who discussed the impact on the housing market and the economy thought that this marked a major turnaround for the housing market. While the takeover did eliminate a major source of uncertainty, there is still a massive oversupply of housing by every measure and house prices are still far above trend levels in many parts of the country. Furthermore, the economy is continuing to shed jobs, which will put more downward pressure on the housing market in the months ahead.
After having largely excluded those warning of the housing bubble from its airwaves when the bubble was expanding, NPR is again presenting the same chorus of wrong economists.
A second Trump administration will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation, and put our collective future in the hands of someone who will be virtually unchecked by our institutions. The country has shifted rightward, and the reverberations will ensue for potentially the next few decades. In this climate, a robust independent media ecosystem will be more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on how Trump's agenda will actually affect the American people, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in this country.
Quality journalism is expensive to produce, and we don't have corporate backers to rely on to fund what we do. Everything we do is thanks to our incredible community of readers, who chip in a few dollars at a time to make our work possible. Any amount you give today will help us continue reporting on what matters to our democracy.
