Word: buts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
But the suddenness of Poland's great leap may create new problems, even as it seeks to solve old ones. The country lacks economic institutions that took centuries to develop in the West: it has no stock exchange, no commercial banks, little experience in the rough-and-tumble of a...
-- WHEN HOUSE PRICES FALL, chimes the Economist. "Two generations of Britons have grown up treating houses as the perfect investment. But a fundamental change is afoot. The engine of demography that helped drive houses up is now going in reverse."
The difference is most dramatic at the top. Homes in Connecticut that shot up to $2 million may now fetch only $1.3 million. It's not so bad in the real world -- three-bedroom homes in my sunny but unfashionable Miami neighborhood that rose from $65,000 to $85,000...
Granted, building a home or installing a pool isn't exactly "spending" the way flying to Rio is -- the home has lasting value. But neither is it a productive investment that makes the economy more efficient and competitive for the future.
Sluggish home prices are also good news in the drive to dampen inflation. Returning to the days of negligible inflation, if we eventually can do so, should also mean returning to the days of low interest rates (from 1880 to 1965, home mortgage rates above 6% were all but unheard...