Thoughts on Freedom

Week by week since the start of the year our blog here at the Australian Libertarian Society has had a steady increase in the number of visitors.

Obviously some people comment a lot at this blog but no doubt some people just come to read the articles and see what others have to say. I thought it would be fun to see what our audience profile looks like. So I’ve prepared a simple short poll that lets you tell us a little about yourself. Feel free to be more expansive in the comments section if you wish. In particular it would be nice to get a quick hello from any regular readers that usually don’t comment.

The poll questions are on the following page: http://poll.pollcode.com/xX0X

There has been a lot of talk lately about troubles in the housing market, the liquidity crisis, interest rates, a potential recession in America and the generally uncertain economic future. But what does it all mean?

America is facing some problems. In recent years, lots of money has flowed into American property. Many people were able to take out “sub-prime” mortgages (known as “low-doc” or “no-doc” loans in Australia) that require little or no checks and consequently have a higher risk of default. American retail banks then sold about 70% of these loans (and the associated risk) to other market players, primarily investment banks. While the property market was hot, money kept flowing from investment banks to retail banks and on to people who bought property.

But the property market didn’t stay hot. House prices have stagnated or fallen… and in some places they have plummetted. People started to default on their loans, especially in the sub-prime sector. Banks with exposure to sub-prime mortgage risk have lost billions of dollars, and many people have lost their homes.

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