Housing:Another Leak in Dam in Europe...L&C

The expression, "a man's home is his castle," is an important cultural point in America. This is crucial to understanding the effects of the housing crash in 2008. The pundits will inform you that on average 27% of our personal wealth is invested in our homes. This information is the same as those telling us that the recession is over when twenty percent of us still have their homes under water, when 8.3% is still unemployed and only 63% of the work force are actually working. News for you, buddy, this is a depression for all of the above.
Now, this piece is suppose to be about another overlooked problem for Europe. It is. Keep in mind that the US is the largest individual economy in the world and I'm using it as an example to correlate with the present situation in many European nations.
Market Economies
do not perform well while their national housing is collapsing. In the US consumers contribute to two-thirds of our economy. We are getting stable, but we are not doing well in spite of all the money the Fed has printed into our system. Housing is central to our economy, culture and standard of living. At the moment it is still a mess. This is the problem. Each nation is different, but their overall economies will reflect the generality of market economies. Now, a comparison with some European members.
UK and US
were on the same rising price for housing from 2001 until 2007 when cracks began to appear in the US leading to the crash. In Great Britain hosing took a small dive, corrected, continues to rise. Prices have doubled since 2001 which begs the question. Did the UK economy double? No! Did their demographics double? No! So, who is going to buy when sellers want to unload? Collapse time!
Spain
their prices soared even higher than the US or UK and they have fallen even lower. Spaniards hold 80% of their assets in their homes. With youth unemployment over 25%, a nation in economic recession, severe debt problems and falling home values who ya gonna call? GHOST BUSTERS!
France
housing prices doubled, but we can ask the same question about their economy. Recently, it has fallen to .02% and its population grew at .05%. The French keep 57% of their assets in their homes. I hate to tell them this, but delinquency rates tied to mortgages are reaching 15% and when the US crashed that same correlation reached 10%. As CCR would sing, "I see a bad moon rising".
Liars and Crooks:Old Helicopter Ben gets it again. A phony letter from him leaked to the press on Friday saying stimulus is being planned or to that affect which gave the market a rise along with Obama who needs and wants it to stay that way until the elections. Oh, by the way Bernanke's term ends this year. They are so phony! End the Fed!