Most people have heard about the group of property owners in New London who fought, in court, the city’s expropriation of their property for the purpose of generating more taxes to feed the bureaucratic appetite. In the usual travesty, the Supreme Court ignored the Constitution in favor of ever bigger government and the property owners lost their case.

Now the city is seeking to make an example of them so that no-one else will ever challenge the bureaucrats. Not only are they demanding back rent to the beginning of the case, including any rental income the owners may have received, but they are proposing compensation based on 2000 property values, effectively impoverishing the owners who are being billed for up to $300,000.

A New (London) Low - A refrigerator box under the bridge: The Kelo Seven prepares for the worst

Remember the fundamental rule: Government is operated for the benefit of politicians and government employees. Only.

Private property is gone in the USA. Get used to it.

“If we look historically, there are only a handful of occasions when we’ve seen a richly overvalued, still advancing market, with extremely low bearish sentiment, despite rising short-term interest rates. The only instance in recent history was early last summer, just before the market’s mid-year plunge. The instance prior to that was August 1987, at the market’s pre-crash peak. Before that, December 1972, just before the start of the 1973-74 bear market plunge. Before that, mid-1965, just before the market lost over a quarter of its value in a bear market, and began a 17-year period of tepid returns.”

John Hussman

“However, losses were trimmed after a decline in the National Association of Home Builders’ August housing index, which could be a leading indicator of the long-discussed deflation of the U.S. housing bubble.

The NAHB index slipped to 67 from 70 in July and was at its lowest since April. Reported foot traffic from prospective buyers also dipped.”

Bloomberg

Not much to comment on. Watching to see if the cracks in the housing bubble are for real. Check the link to the housing bubble blog on the left. It is doing a great job of capturing the chatter.