WILL THE HOME MORTGAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION SURVIVE THE GOVERNMENT'S NEED FOR $$$$$$$$?

Everything will be on the table to get more money. It will never be enough. You guys need to be thankful there are conservatives left in the South to slow the train down people realize that there is no money left. 

Lenn - All this change that they like to talk about is going to be interesting to witness. I have a sinking feeling that both the mortgage deduction and retirement could be effected. Change sounds wonderful....ya right!

Lenn, a friend and I were just talking about this very thing last night. We were actually talking about social security going away and she said that our tax breaks on our 401K couldn't be far behind being taken away as well.  I just don't understand where the outcry is. I remember all the protests from the late 60's and early 70's. Where has the fire gone??? Are we, as a nation, apathetic?

This is so scary that it makes any Halloween slasher movie look tame.  The implications of this mess are huge and growing by the minute.

I think everyone needs to get used to paying for stuff with cash and leave the credit to mortgage instruments.  We also need to get used to higher taxes.

Like it or not, here it comes!

I guess that's what he means when he says that 95 percent of Americans will have a tax reduction. We just don't understand how it works.

Lenn - the government "looks at" the mortgage interest deduction from time to time.  Luckily, our trade associations have put the full court press on Congress to forgetaboutit whenever it comes up.  This time might be different.  The government is spending money hand over over fist to try and resuscitate the economy by investing in everything in sight (yesterday, banks - today, insurance companies - tomorrow, ???).

They think the housing market is tough now, wait until they remove all the incentives to ownership.

To Linda Scanlin -- In the '60s and '70s the televised war was a new phenomenon and seeing the body bags come home by the planeload was jarring.  Fast forward to today with all the movies and TV shows and video games with violent themes (even the cartoonish violence) and it's easy to see we've been "de-sensitized".  6% unemployment is high but there are still a lot of people who have jobs and pay their mortgage and shop so the pinch hasn't been felt by the masses. ....and, yes, we've become too apathetic....and there is no sense of shared values or community.

Hi Lenn, I'm a newbie to The Rain, and have already enjoyed reading some of your blogs! I think this two party system has caused a big mess in our country... I think that it's important to get a better balance of power... Both sides have too many lobbyists.  In the future, we should look to support more independants and take a moment to consider canidates of smaller parties.

Feel free to check into my blog from time to time as I get more acquainted with the site. If you leave a comment, I promise to reciprocate!

Kurtcares of Tucson 

Lenn... I am always scared of what the government thinks or tries to do.... and you really wonder if they are looking out for themselves or the general public. But I will leave that answser to myself.  My opinion?  Clean out government and start all over... that sounds much harder, but I think something like that needs to happen.

Oh, it will be okay, Lenn...after all, the government is here to help us and we'll all get whatever free retirement the government decides to dole out.  Yep, it's okay...we'll just hand over our income, and in exchange we'll get government run health care, retirement, heck, probably free homes, too, so who has need for those pesky tax deductions?  We won't have any income left to tax!

From each according to his ability and to each according to his need, right?  Change is good! ;-)  Just ask the sheeple.

Loved Susan's comment to just ask the sheeple. Hahahaha.

Lenn, We are certainly in interesting times. Losing the mortgage interest write off would be HUGE! Personally I don't see that happening. But I guess we'll see. I wrote off over $60,000 in mtg interest last year alone!!!

Dear Lenn: I like your comment on my post about taking time off. You can take little breaks working in the yard. I used to like to drive the lawn tractor (minus cell phone) it was my time.

I've enjoyed Lenn's contributions to online real estate discussion for many years, starting with RealTalk ... I am happy to share some link love with this one over at Trulia's new microsite, Surviving the Housing Crisis. External links appear at the bottom left of the page, "On the Web."

When is the government going to learn, you raise taxes on things you don't want; you lower taxes on things you do want.

If you want people to own a home and invest in real estate, you provide a tax incentive.

This is the type of fiscal policy that is missing right now.  We need people to invest in real estate in order to absorb the excess supply of homes.  Yet nobody in Congress is addressing this.