Reinvigorating housing

The key steps to take include
(1) Expanding demand
(A) Allow more homeowners to assume partial equity
(B) Allow homeowners to find homes that might work for them
(C) Find foriegn buyers for US homes
(D) Expand the sale of market risk products for home owners
(E) Develop new mortgage products that allow foreclosed homeowners
to reenter the market
(F) Fed Govt. can buy a lot of homes in some neighborhoods and keep them
off the market till the market reinvigorates
(G) acquire MBS - "fix" them by working with homeowners and resell them
(H) create a guest worker program that works


(2) Enable the deleveraging - this is already partly being addressed as of now with
the Treasury starting to take equity
- allow American companies to pursue FDRs(ala ADRs) in cash rich economies(let the mountain
go to Mohammed), notably in the Gulf, China and Japan
- reduce rules that allow companies to have some foreign ownership
- it might be easier for a GE or a Disney to raise capital abroad, but harder for lesser known
companies

(3) expand jobs in depressed neighborhoods
(A) Scarcity Theory says that public works projects in depressed neighborhoods
offers an antidote - with homes available, works programs can help -
tax credits are one way out of this problem
(B) Across the rust belt and the sun belt, there is a need to make more jobs
(C) Agriculture, energy, biotech and industrial parks need to emerge
- enable job creation through tax credits and tax holidays - it is the supply side answer to depressed
demand in housing in some areas and can work
(D) establish university outlets in depressed neighborhoods - thus a Berkeley extension
in Modesto or a Wharton extension in Bethlehem PA, can help these neighborhoods as
more student populations rent these homes
(E) US is the home of the Internet and the IT revolution - incentivize re-insourcing