Hexed

Posting's going to be light today: the volatility in the markets seems to have had, shall we say, some physical contagion. Either that or Charlie Gasparino put a hex on me. But of course I have to give you your daily TED update (down, but still in the "frozen" zone over 400bp) and ask what on earth John McCain meant last night when he said this:

I am convinced that, until we reverse this continued decline in home ownership and put a floor under it, and so that people have not only the hope and belief they can stay in their homes and realize the American dream, but that value will come up.

I thought the right-wing talking point was that CRA and Fannie and Freddie lent money to too many people, thereby driving homeownership up past any point of reasonableness. In fact, of course, it was the subprime lenders who did that. But either way, homeownership rates are far too high, and need to come down. Insofar as there has been a "decline in home ownership" it's been not only necessary but recent, and not very big. If McCain really wants to reverse it, one has to wonder what exactly his complaint is about Fannie and Freddie.

And, for those of you who like flame wars: Nouriel Roubini vs Nick Denton. I wonder if Nouriel knows that Nick is Jewish.