I saw the house price declines coming but didn't know how to make money from it...how do you short real estate? I did use my foresight to save a lot of money on a house purchase - I married in 04 and wasn't in a position to buy until 06. In 06 we made a few offers at prices I expected to see in 08 or 09, but lost against others who were still paying 06 prices. Now that prices are down substantially, we'll be saving $1000-$1500 per month on our mortgage - for 20+ years. Plus the savings on property taxes plus higher profit when we do sell.

I have a friend who made a killing shorting homebuilder stocks. Our views have diverged a bit in the last year - he is looking now too, having waited for several years - and I am sure he will get a house at a major discount too.

Didn't the industry fail to reform itself in the last 15 years? Can't that be trotted out as evidence that the market in health care is a complete failure? Can't costs rising at double or triple the rate of inflation be shown as a sign of a system in failure?

I think Obama made a mistake in not pushing for single payer exactly as Canada has. Imagine if you said to people, we will adopt Canada's plan and you will see your paychecks rise $4000 per year. How many would have rejected that? Even at slightly worse cancer survival rates? Most people would have gambled on not getting cancer, but having very real and immediate needs for the money.

This liberal wants to neither pay for the health care of illegals or benefit from the cheap labor they provide. As long as citizens can lay claim to part of my income, we must do everything possible to keep labor in short supply, which will drive up wages and drive people to the most valued services. If labor were free, McDonald's would have a greeter and people to put french fries in your mouth so you wouldn't have to strain your arm.

The public is called on to provide for the common defense, retirement, fire, police, etc; we really don't want to have jobs that don't pay enough for everyone to contribute something to the pot. Will we live in smaller houses? Yes. Will lettuce cost $0.10 per head more? Yes. But potentially some of these costs can be made up on savings in transfer payments. We should at least try this route seriously for a decade.

When members of congress think it is somehow related to their purpose in congress to stand up and spout sheer, utter, bizarre nonsense as his opintion and to not be laughed at until humiliated to the point of resignation, then congress simply is nonfunctional. Seriously, why is any member of congress saying anything that is not grounded in science or related fields?

If the members of congress are not sufficiently intelligent to partake in a debate where you use facts to reach a conclusion, what are they doing there? How can congress be reconceived so it deals ONLY with knowns? This is King's opinion - there is nothing in his statement that is provable. I can simply be dismissed. Yet he thought it was somehow related to the purpose of congress to say something a second rate commenter would say in response to a WND story?

How is this country going to survive if its congress and executives all act like GM's executive team? That is my greatest fear: that much as congress derides GM management, they are GM themselves! They can't see that staying the same is to fall behind.

That describes how I discuss the lack of populist attention from the democrats. It would be truly amazing if Republicans swooped in with populist rhetoric and became the party of the working class.

When the health care debate started, Obama should have published 10 stories per day of documented screwings of individuals by insurance companies, with a summary paragraph of how the case would have been handled under, say, France's system. Just bludgeon and humiliate insurers into the most reviled group in the country.

Then, I would have tee'ed off against the banks. I would have had 10 case studies per day for a month about bank practices and again, bludgeoned and humiliated them in the second most reviled group in the country.

Next up, bankers. After that, the mortgate industry. Then the industrial food producers that taint products. Just over and over and over until the message could not be avoided. Fox, to attack the president would have had to defend the indefensible. Instead, its the other way around.

If Americans can't get their populism, they will turn from the public body and submerge themselves in the cult of the individual. The Democrats have missed a once a century opportunity to make the economy work for people, instead of the other way around. I feel ill just thinking about this.

Palin could easily be the populist voice to which conservatives and some number of moderates turn. She is uncompromised by any of the hated industries above. She doesn't know enough to make things too complex for simple folk seeking simple answers. Turning harder to Christ and the cult of the individual is her answer. She could lead a 50 year reversal of human rights in this country.

Why can't Democrats lead this country? The people are demanding companies, industries and individuals to be skewered. Why won't a Democrat lead? Glenn Beck is happy to lead. The fact that the Democrats have not coopted the tea baggers is absurd.