OK Perry, it looks like maybe I took your post the wrong way a bit. Sorry about the touchy response. The whole point of this site has always been to tell the truth about what’s driving the housing market (something which was in short supply when I first started the site), and I’ve put a lot of effort into spreading that truth. I’m not looking for accolades, here, the point is to explain that after what I see as a very time-consuming effort on my part to promote the truth, I get (very) easily riled when I think someone is accusing me of being dishonest.
I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of the bubble, and I don’t believe people are innocent victims. If I gave that impression I didn’t mean to. Ms. Penner said something about subprime lenders victimizing people, but it was part of another question and I just let it drop because the “who’s to blame” question is a whole other topic that would have sidetracked the conversation, and imho it’s a less important one than the “what happens next” one that I tried to focus on.
I also agree with your observations that realists are often more circumspect. In a sense, I think that’s just part of being intellectually honest, unlike the permabulls. But either way I don’t worry about it much because I am just glad that realists are finally getting to air their opinions in the mainstream places — for a very long time, that wasn’t happening at all.
BTW thanks for the props on the telegenicity. 😉
