“Here are some things from articles in recent Wall St. Journals that should scare you:”

“The report by the Pew Center on the States found that Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are also [in addition to California] at grave risk [of budget disasters].”

“What Health Reform Will Do to My Insurance. … Congress wants the nation to adopt the same rules [e.g., no caps on lifetime insurance coverage and no exemptions for existing conditions] that have made coverage expensive in New York.”

“The 1992 Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act, also known as GSE,..was the fuse, and the trillions of dollars in subsequent CRA [1977 Community Reinvestment Act] and GSE affordable-housing loans would fuel the greatest housing bubble our nation has ever seen. … The goal of [ACORN] was to force Fannie and Freddie to loosen their underwriting standards, in order to facilitate the purchase of loans made under the CRA….The flood of CRA and affordable housing loans with loosened underwriting standards, combined with declining mortgage interest rates…resulted in a massive increase in borrowing capacity and fueled a house price bubble of unprecedented magnitude…”

“Housing Agency Reserves Fall Farr Below Minimum.  The FHA’s capital reserve fund fell to $3.6 billion as of Sept. 30, down 72% from a year earlier, leaving reserves at just 0.53% of the $685 billion in total loads insured by the FHA…..More than half of all FHA-insured loans outstanding had an initial loan-to-value of 95% or more.”

And, I would point out, that now the government is going to extend the $8,000 tax credit to a first time home buyer—the people who are likely to be in the highest risk category.

Incidentally, a friend of mine turned in his old golf cart for a new golf care and got the $4,400 tax credit under the cash for clunkers program, thanks to all of the taxpayers.

Bud