On 09/23/08 04:20 pm HeyBub wrote:

It's not a "bailout" in the traditional sense: it's an investment. The
government will eventually get its money back - just like it did with the
S&L fiasco.

You're right the problem was caused by the federal government, specifically
the mandate to make PC morgtages. That is, people got morgtages who would
never, in an honest world, have qualified for them. They got them because
various agencies and lending institutions were required to "service the
underserved." Failure to do so was evidence sufficient of incipient racism,
greed, elitism, or doing the hokey-pokey.

The problem is that the minimum wage is not sufficient to enable people
to support a family, including purchasing a home -- and often not even
sufficient to pay rent for an apartment in any neighborhood where
anybody would want to live, or anywhere close to their place of employment.

And guess which ethnic groups get most of those
insufficient-pay-to-live-on jobs.

I read in the paper a few days ago a complaint by a realtor that people
now need to put down 10%, and that is too much.

For a long time Australian banks were prohibited from lending more than
80% of the value of a home, and loans were not permitted where payments
would exceed 25% of the husband's salary (on the assumption that the
wife would become pregnant and have to drop out of the work force).

Yet home ownership was high. How? Because the minimum wage for a 40-hour
week was based on the cost of housing and feeding a family of four.
There were skill bonuses, paid sick leave, 10 paid public holidays a
year in addition to paid leave of at least two weeks per year (and over
the years it increased to four weeks per year), and affordable health
care. Part-time workers were paid a higher rate per hour to compensate
for the absence of paid sick leave and holidays.

These wages were set by an Arbitration Commission to which employers'
representatives, employees' representatives, and the Commonwealth
Government made submissions. The Commission's decisions were legally
binding.

Perce