[Tupelo]

Of course, Dodd and Franks were two leading causes of the housing meltdown with their heavy handed leaning on mortgage banks to write mortgages for the unqualified and then the very unqualified in the name of “fairness”.
Then in 2010 in the Obama / Democrat euphoria in holding all three branches of government, including both houses of congress, they codified DODD - FRANKS. A recipe for disaster. But they really were just following the longstanding Federal Government motto:

“If it aun’t broke, we will fix it until it is”

[expat_panama]

It's Friday and everything's still there even if we aren't getting anywhere!  

Gold and silver still go for $1,257.65 and $16.60 and stocks continue stuck down where we've been for a couple weeks.  Futures traders see both stocks and metals off more right now but that's what they've been seeing for quite a while...  Existing Home Sales comes out in a couple hours.  Meanwhile:

Reverse of Progress: Austin & the Uber Economy - Jared Meyer, U.S. News
Tax/Investment Fixes Key to Small Business Success - Ray Keating, RCM
Wall Street Seems Like a Mel Brooks Film Lately - Doug Kass, RealMoney
George Gilder Writes Wall Street a Break-up Letter - Jerry Bowyer, Forbes
Fed Has Something to Prove to Complacent Investors - Ye Xie, Bloomberg
Economic Wisdom of Chauncey Gardiner - Caroline Baum, MarketWatch
Trump's Run Has Been Bonanza For Bank Account - Shawn Tully, Fortune

[Flick Lives]

Seemingly everyone applauds the recent surge in home prices as a positive sign for the economy.

What consumer product would be applauded for an ever increasing price? Long ago, houses were just a place to live. Somewhere in the recent past, things were distorted and the idea of a house as an "investment" came into being; that you would buy it for X and sell it for X+. Of course this thinking naturally drives the price higher and higher until, unexpectedly, *pop* goes the price.