
 |
|
May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Sept. 19, 2005
/ 15 Elul, 5765
Real Estate Moms
By
Michael Barone
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Last weekend I, like so many of my neighbors, went into the house two doors down from me and looked around. It was the first weekend the property was on the market, and we were curious about how much the sellers were askingand whether they'd get it. I won't tell you the number, but it was higher than what similar houses had gone for in the neighborhood just last year, and much higher than any of us would have imagined five years ago. Many readers will have had similar experiences. I started thinking . . . what might this mean politically?
In the 1990s, we in the political commentariat talked a lot about Soccer Moms, the group targeted so successfully by Bill Clinton in 1996women who wanted their children protected and nurtured, who favored Mr. Clinton's education and V-chip and family-leave programs. And in the past few years we've talked a lot about Security Moms, who seem to have voted for George W. Bush in 2004women who want their families protected against terrorists. I now have another group we should talk about, and probably should have been talking about all alongReal Estate Moms, women who have seen their families' net worth climb thanks to rising home prices.
Most Americans accumulate significant, six-figure wealth in the course of their lifetimes. During the late 1990s stock market boom, most household wealth was in financial instruments, but today and before the late 1990s the majority of household wealth was in residential real estate. And in politics the key economic issue for voters may be changing, from concern about short-term income to concern about the long-term, lifelong project of accumulating wealth.
Not everybody is a Real Estate Mom. Housing values are far higher in the big metropolitan areas on the East and West coasts than they are in the Midwestern heartland and the Deep South. Higher generally in the blue (Democratic) states than the red (Republican) states. You could argue that the blue states are blue because of Real Estate Moms. In the early 1990s, real estate values plummeted and the coast suburbs that had voted for Republicans in the 1980s switched to Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. George H. W. Bush's percentage declined most in 1988-92 in areas where real estate values plummeted most, New Hampshire and southern California. Bill Clinton held these votes for himself in 1996 and Al Gore in 2000 as real estate values rose again. As growth sagged after 2000, real estate values kept rising, and consumers kept spending as they refinanced their mortgages and tapped their increased equity.
What will happen politically if, as some expect, the housing market is a bubble and bursts? One possibility is that George W. Bush's Republicans will suffer. But they've never really regained the Real Estate Mom votes their party won in the 1980s. Another possibility: The tax issue will reemerge. Democrats in 2008, like John Kerry in 2004, will probably call for repeal of tax cuts on "the rich." Real Estate Moms didn't mind when they were busy refinancing. But if there's no equity to tap, they might want that tax-cut money as they did in the 1980s.
Stay tuned.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
BARONE'S LATEST
Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future
America is divided into two camps, according to U.S. News and World Reports writer and Fox commentator Michael Barone. No, not Red and Blue, though one suspects Barone may taint the two groups in the hues of the 2000 presidential election. Barone's divided America is one part Hard, one part Soft. Hard America is steeled by the competition and accountability of the free market, while Soft America is the product of public school and government largesse. Inspired by the notion that America produces incompetent 18 year olds and remarkably competent 30 year olds, Barone embarks on a breezy 162-page commentary that will spark mostly huzzahs from the right and jeers from the left. Sales help fund JWR.
|
JWR contributor Michael Barone is a columnist at U.S. News & World Report. Comment by clicking here.
Michael Barone Archives
© 2005, US News & World Report
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|