Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Little Talk About Time

Time is relative, and sometime time just takes too long. Time is money. Time makes present value what it is. Time can buy us more time. And Einstein said, time is so everything does not happen at once.

Our economy needs to buy itself some time. Time to adjust to the spike in the price of gas. Time to adjust to the monthly payments of an adjustable rate mortgage that has been reset at a higher rate. Placing people in a fixed rate mortgage for 40 years instead of 30 years would keep a larger number of families in their homes and off the streets. Mortgages in the United States have an average life of about seven to eight years. All those families given a 40-year mortgage so they could make the payments that would cover principal, interest, taxes and insurance would buy them time until the present economic crisis is behind us. Empty houses do not make mortgage payments. But, I guess this idea is too radical or complex to be looked at seriously. What is so holy about a 30-year term for a fixed rate mortgage?

Now let us move on to the price of gas and diesel. Believe it or not, but eventually gas prices will stabilize. People will drive less and demand will come down. Prices may stay the same. But, if the government would start dumping oil on the market temporarily, the effect would be to buy us some time. With time and in time the consumer will be able to adjust to the sudden spike in the price of gas. The government could play a role in buying the American consumer and the domestic economy some very precious time. Time to recover from the relatively sudden spike in the price of oil that has affected our whole economy.

That is my moneythought for today: buy us more time. It takes money to make more time, but it is worth every penny of it. Every family and person that can be kept in their home, is one less house on the market. At this point in time, the real estate market is sitting with too many empty houses. As a result, the value of homes have come down in price in many many parts of the country. Home values are an important source of the confidence people have in the economy. Confidence in the economy gives people the motivation to make new purchases. Once the fear of a downward spiraling economy is broken, the sooner the recovery can begin. It takes time to recover the lost purchasing power that was burned up in the increased price of gas. But, with time and in time, the healing process will occur.

The problem now is: do we have the time to sell the ideas about the use of time to the leaders of our country in time to avoid more pain and suffering? Stay tuned.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Nice idea - buy us more time. But that infers there's someone at the helm, steering this ship of state. It seems more like they've tied off the wheel and we're adrift.

And taking on water.