I, for one, am going to miss him.  At least he was entertaining.  What a character!

If we don't stop the endless drop in housing prices, all of the stimulus will be for naught.  

The problem remains that although current housing starts are at record lows, the geniuses at Lennar, Hovnanian, KB Homes et al. will immediately ramp up building and adding to unsold inventory if the current proposal ($7500 first time home buyer tax credit) passes without some restrictions on builders.

We really need a much more aggressive tax credit of up to 10% (limit $25,000) on the purchase of a house built "prior to 2009" and purchased before September 2009;  no credit for the purchase of new 2009 construction; and the elimination of the "first time buyer" restriction.  This would go a long way to reducing inventory to more manageable levels and to stabilizing current price levels.

Also, in any area where housing prices have decreased by 30% on average or more, Federally insured 4% mortgages should be made available to qualified homeownwers based upon a principal reduction to "current" fair market value (a forced cramdown) will be essential to prevent millions of people who can currently afford their mortgages from walking away simply for economic reasons.  Why would any sane person continue to make mortgage payments on a house you are upside down in by 30% or more?  The 10-15 year wait just to get back to even will be more than most homeowners are willing to bear.  

We need drastic action here, not just band aids, or Great Depression II will remain a reality.

Can we put back in  the family planning, the Mall restoration, pump in $25 billion more in mass transit and cancel the corporate tax breaks, in conference, please? 

So much for bipartisanship.