Monday, August 13, 2007

The Sub-Prime Mortgage 'Crisis'

Jerry Bowyer wrote an excellent column for National Review Online last week that really does a great job of explaining the effects of the sub-prime mortgage 'crisis'. I encourage you to read the entire thing, but here's the short version.

"Currently there are about 44 million mortgages in the U.S., and less than 14 percent of them are sub-prime. And only about 13 percent of those are late on payments, with the majority of late payers working through their problems with the banks. So, all in all, when you work through the details and get down to the number that really matters, only about 0.6 percent of U.S. mortgages are currently in foreclosure. That’s up a hair from roughly 0.5 percent last year. That’s it."

Bowyer goes on to say that "the recent increase in sub-prime foreclosures amounts to 0.01 percent of net U.S. household wealth."

So, as you see the headlines splashed all over about how disastrous this problem is, don't sweat it. It's typical MSM alarmism. Just go about your business, don't lose any sleep, and this too will pass.

There's my two cents.

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