No.  Feel free to read the rest, but I have no doubt this analysis is dead on.

This bill will not even come close to stabilizing housing prices.  Oh, it may cause prices to plateau for a month or two, or make declines over the next few months very minor, but this is a band-aid for the housing market…nothing more.

Let’s take a look at the ration of house prices to rents (see chart above):

A first grader can see the massive disparity that still exists.  Until we are closer to historical norms, it will still be cheaper to rent in many places.  This will make it difficult to sell any houses.

Now, let’s take a look at the ratio of home prices and median income (see chart above):

Again, anyone with eye sight and a grasp of grade school math can see this chart is out of whack.  Maybe if the population of U.S. had suddenly increased by 30 million people, who had average to above average jobs, there might be a chance this chart was correct.  By the way, if you haven’t checked lately, people are losing jobs, not getting them. 

Sure, this tax credit for first time buyers will help in the short-term, but what happens when people who bought houses in March ‘09 or April ‘09 have lost money by the Fall of ‘09?  The housing market will dry up again.  I can’t say this enough…we are just prolonging the pain.  If we would just let the market correct and rid us of these high housing prices and these shit banks, we would be a lot better off. 

As this is part of the weekend edition and I haven’t covered a quality beer yet…here it is.

Flying Dog has a sweet seasonal out right now called Garde Dog.  It’s a great tasting beer to snag on a slightly warmer day, as we head towards spring.  The aftertaste is light for the warm day, but it has a good solid lead in that let’s you know you are drinking a real beer.  I must say, that Flying Dog rarely disappoints.