Does this guy really need OUR house?
Mere days after causing a regular knee-slapping laugh riot with his claim that the average middle class American probably brings home something around $2.5 million a year (by way of being “rich” if you make $5 million a year), Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain told Politico that he’s not sure how many houses he owns. “I’ll have my staff get to you,” he said, since some of those houses are condos, and all condos look alike apparently. The correct answer, by the way, is at least seven, maybe ten.
By the way, if you’re feeling a little low because of that foreclosure notice you just got in the mail, here’s a slide show of McCain’s home (the one pictured above) from Architectural Digest, 2005. They may have sold it by now, but I don’t think it’s because they couldn’t afford the payments plus jet fuel for ‘getting around Arizona’ at the same time.
Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s campaign jumped on the gaffe to highlight just how out of touch with regular Americans his rival is. True to form, the McCain campaign came back with charges of elitism because Obama vacationed in his home state of Hawaii instead of just going to Myrtle Beach like everybody else does.
Meanwhile, out here in the real world where the vast majority of Americans don’t bring home $50 thousand a year and millions are losing their one and only home – and increasingly, their jobs – in a devastated economy, market analysts are beginning to notice that the foreclosure crisis could be hiding even worse conditions in the general housing situation nationwide. Turns out, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Nishu Sood, that half or more of “distressed” (foreclosed) properties aren’t being added to MLS listings.
Shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac have lost 40% of their value since Monday (August 18) and are now trading at 20-year lows. Having lost a combined $3.1 billion between April and June, losses will only grow – because foreclosures are just getting started. Still, if you’re a fool with some money, you can pick up a share of Fannie Mae for under $5.
It occurs to me that at least one of the men running for President this year has no clue about what it’s like for most Americans just trying to get by day to day in this country. We’re just “whiners,” after all. Luckily, there is one fun recreational activity that most of us can engage in that doesn’t cost a dime. It’s called voting, and if enough people do it we just might keep OUR house – the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC – from becoming just another house McCain can add to his others.
For Heaven’s sake! Is it too much to ask that our wannabe leaders actually take a moment out of their jet-set lives to find out what’s real on the ground here in the good ol’ U.S. of A.?
Links:
AD: Slide show of McCain’s home
Foreclosures likely skewing housing indicator
Politico: Interview with John McCain