Re: “Opening the discount window” & “the fundamentalsare sound” = ????
On Aug 18, 2007, at 2:53 PM, Eubulides wrote:
[So the wealthy are kind of screwing each other and yet another
disposition of trickle-down econ. policy does the rest………]http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/18/business/18fed.html Fed policy makers and Treasury officials said that in cutting the
discount rate, the Fed’s principal goal was to shore up the market for
creditworthy mortgages, including those for more expensive homes.While that market is primarily for more affluent borrowers, Fed
officials said they were worried that average Americans would suffer, too, if the
troubles in the so-called jumbo mortgage market infected the rest of the
economy. The collapse of so many subprime mortgage securities had spread to the
larger market, and lenders of high-quality mortgages were having trouble
selling the loans they made.
The limit on so-called conforming mortgages, which is what Freddie
Mac and Fannie Mae can buy, is $417,000. In a lot of markets in this
country, a $500,000 house is not luxurious. The median price in your
neck of the woods, Seattle, is about $420,000.
Doug