Priorities: Bullets or Homes?

What's it cost the housing market to wage war?

by Broderick Perkins
© 2008 DeadlineNews.Com


Unauthorized use of this story is a copyright violation -- a federal crime.

Deadline Newsroom - Ironically, the cost of the Iraq war -- about $561 billion and counting -- will soon surpass the estimate for the newly-signed $700 billion economic bailout, according to NationalPriorities.org.

If only from a housing perspective, without the Iraq War (or some other "emergency" $700 billion expenditure), we probably wouldn't need an economic bail out -- yet -- though Wall Street would remain in dire need of a regulatory overhaul.

According to the dot org's "Federal Budget Trade-Offs" calculator, $700 billion would buy some 5.5 million "affordable housing units" (at about $127,300 a pop). Consider a $200,000 home (more in line with the National Association of Realtor's $203,100 median price for all types of existing homes in September) and the war chest would buy 3.5 million homes.

In either case, that's enough to house all the troops in Iraq (spawning a new home owner spending spree) and leave a surplus housing supply large enough to make housing more affordable for millions -- spawning an even larger spending spree.

Of course, until recently, the federal government didn't consider buying homes a national emergency.

We can only dream, the American Way.

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© 2008 DeadlineNews.Com

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Broderick Perkins, an award-winning consumer journalist of 30 years, is publisher and executive editor of San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group -- DeadlineNews.Com, a real estate news and consulting service and Web site and the new Deadline Newsroom, DeadlineNews.Com's news back shop. In both cases, it's news that really hits home!

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