stormin’
23/02/2008
While the Bay Area braces itself for another storm with rain and 50mph winds, I’m secretly relieved that I’m going to miss the bulk of it. Woo!
Was reading the Redfin Blog and it got me thinking. It’s exactly what KF and I have been talking about since we moved to SF and started looking for a place of our own.
We know the housing market is in shambles. It’s in the news, it’s on the internet, it’s everywhere. The only people who don’t get it, are the sellers. Although I don’t believe anyone should go in and give people who didn’t do their due diligence on whether they could afford a house or not a bailout plan, it’s moot since it’s going to happen anyway. Yeah, it’s to guard against larger impact to the market, blah blah blah. Why should a taxpayer have his money go towards irresponsible behaviour? Where is the learning if there is no pain?
The market does better on it’s own. Believe in the Invisible Hand, believe in Adam Smith. The internet wouldn’t be the golden child it is if not for the constant competition each company faces. Whether in Silicon Valley or outside, it’s all about competition. It’s about destruction and re-creation. It’s about the constant pursuit of a phoenix, while juggling a few hand grenades and chainsaws.
Maybe it’s a cultural thing. After all, Singaporeans are notorious for being competitive – we have to have the Best Airport, the Worlds’ Busiest Port, the tallest buildings, the first Grand Prix Night Race, the inaugural Youth Olympics; where parents have to volunteer and spend time in “good” schools so we can get a spot so our siblings can get in, where we need to get to the #1 secondary school, where we’ve to compete against 20,000 other kids to get a place of our choice in one of 3 local universities; where we need to get great paying jobs so we can own our own homes that are in a nicer location or larger than our classmates, be a manager in a company that people have heard of, get married and have kids and start the whole darn cycle all over again, this time honing our kids so that they’re prepared for it all.
Crazed as it might be, we grow up learning to work for what we desire. And not sit back and whine till someone gives it to us. And that’s why I don’t believe irresponsible home buying behaviour should be encouraged with a big fat bailout.
But I guess economics is different from discipline.
Yes I’m a horrible person. I’m off to mop the floor as penance.
