The fact is, President Obama has caused us to care.
Gallup recently reported that Americans are paying closer attention to political news than during any non-election year since the company began tracking the issue in 2001.
“Americans’ consumption of political news has expanded,” Gallup reported. “The trend may reflect a greater politicization of the American public, regardless of political ideology, as attention is up among all three party groups (Democrats, Republicans and Independents). However, the increase since 2007 (from 30 percent to 36 percent) in the percentage of those following political news very closely may also stem from Barack Obama’s busy legislative agenda in his first year as president.”
Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said they follow political news very closely, 42 percent said they follow it somewhat closely, 16 percent said they follow it not too closely, and six percent said they don’t follow political news at all.
Contrarians who hold that the masses are “stupid,” would counter that following the news doesn’t make one informed. Still, we might all agree that today, we’re not only tasked with finding facts, but must continually crack and discard the shells of agenda just to get to a morsel of truth. Indeed, it has become the nature of the hunt.
We remain, after all, diligent with regard to entities in which we invest. We follow stock prices. Hires and fires. Investor calls. We’re engaged because we have skin in the game. Perhaps we have realized that we are vested in the game being played out by our political darlings on Capital Hill. As taxes rise, through various methods of restructuring, so, too, does our investment.
The known world of public and private has become blurred with improvised, and largely unauthorized, interventions in the name of economic stability. Still, and to the shock of many, the latest data reveal that instead of the rich falling on the economic sword with the greatest losses, the Census Bureau reports that the 2008 income losses by the top 10 percent of Americans were offset by larger losses among middle class and poorer Americans, i.e. our residents and those under our employ.
As such, it is even more unnerving when the inexact gaze of Congress glides across the room to us, multifamily.
Real estate is not a sprint. We’re accustomed to the long haul.
It rests on our shoulders, both power and responsibility.
Growing up, I was continually admonished that we all aren’t meant to be rock stars, but single actions can invoke sweeping change. So I ask you to make just one phone call to Congress. Write one email or send one letter.
The rest of you, my dear readers, may kindly wait on the curb to be saved.
