Trying to Save His Own Skin . . . by Threatening Everyone Else’s “Impeach me if you want to see a stock market crash.” –President Donald Trump; AOL.com (1/19/2019). [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced....Read More
Government Shutdown Blame Game “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” —Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, and promoter of the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross...Read More
Halloween Scream? Not This Year After almost touching 5%(!) barely a month ago, interest rates on a 30-year mortgage for well-qualified borrowers have dropped almost a full point, to just above 4%. Jumbo loan rates are even lower. Chalk that up to 3 reasons: 1) the debt ceiling has been raised, however temporarily; 2) the...Read More
What Would Lincoln (or Teddy Roosevelt, or FDR) Do? Not What President Obama is Doing “This wouldn’t have happened if Reagan were still alive.” –bumper sticker around the time of the Iran-Contra hearings in the 1980’s. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission.” –old saying Wouldn’t it be great if the President was a Constitutional Law...Read More
Muted Effect (So Far) If the U.S. government defaults in 10 days and interest rates suddenly go kablooey(!) . . . all bets are off. But in the meantime, the effect of the federal government shut-down on the housing market appears to be muted. According to the lenders I work with most often, the main...Read More
Jay Leno “Headline?” If it were me writing the headline, I might have gone with one of these instead: “What’s in the City’s Budget?” “Parsing Minneapolis’ Budget” “Property Taxes and the City of Minneapolis Budget” Somehow, against a backdrop of government stalemates, shutdowns, etc., the actual headline (below) comes across as . . . politically tone-deaf...Read More
