Outside the Box

The Ongoing Impact of the Housing Sector

John Mauldin

August 27, 2007

Who should we blame for the problems in the credit markets? This week in Outside the Box my good friend Barry Ritholtz takes on the task of pointing his prodigious finger at the guilty parties. As he notes, there is plenty of guilt to go around. This is a problem that is going to stay with us more than a few weeks. As I wrote last week, it is not a problem of liquidity. It is a problem of credibility. Until investors of all types feel safe getting back into the structured finance market water, US mortgages and all sorts of consumer finance are going to be severely hobbled. There is plenty of money on the sidelines, but it is going to take some work to make investors feel comfortable.

Part of that process is to figure out what went wrong and how do we avoid getting into this mess yet again? How do we restore credibility? I offer a few quick thoughts on this at the end of Barry's work. And if you have the time, you should click on some of the links Barry has to various research, especially the first link which shows that housing prices could easily drop 15% (or more in some of the bubble areas!).

Finally, I should note that I am going to be speaking yet again at the New Orleans Investment Conference (October 21-25, 2007). This is always one of the great investment conferences of the year. You can click here to learn more.

John Mauldin, Editor
Outside the Box

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The Ongoing Impact of the Housing Sector

By Barry Ritholtz, August 24, 2007

With John Mauldin enjoying the beginning of his summer sight-seeing in Europe, its up to us worker drones to address the various goings on the capital markets.

Today, we will take a quick review of the impact of the ongoing fallout from the Housing market on the consumer, and look at what is occurring in the broader financial system. Perhaps…

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