I read this a few days ago and just shook my head thinking, “Who’s in charge over at the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board these days?” I mean, sweet mercy, will someone pretend to be paying attention?
This editorial is one of the crazier ones I’ve ever read in the WSJ, and they have some doozies. It would take too long to address the gaping holes in Mr. Ranson’s logic, but can we be expected to take ANYTHING seriously by someone who proclaims the following:
“At the national level, housing prices are not bounded by the growth of wages or other forms of conventional income. Nor are they subject to “irrational” booms or busts.”
Really? Tell that to the following: (1) People trying to sell their homes right now who have purchased in the previous three years, (2) investors in MBS and CDOs with any subprime exposure, (3) Countrywide, etc. etc.
I’m a reasonable person (well, for the most part), but this man is trying to convince us that the moon is made of cheese. There are (semi) reasonable arguments as to why we may not be in a nationwide real estate bubble (I don’t agree with them, but at least they border on reasonable); this ain’t one of them.
