We’re finally able to see the bottom through the murky water. It’s a bottom we did not want to see and one we tried to avoid for as long as we could. Politicians, the Fed and just about every other major financial player tried to put on a smiley face, pretending that we could avoid the inevitable.

This is the Beginning of the End of Phony Lending

We’re close to the end…that’s the good news. Hitting bottom is good, it means we can repair the damage and start recovering.

The real estate markets are entering a new era and here are “Ten Commandments for the New Housing Reality” (© 2008, iVoteAmerica) that will impact everyone for the next decade:

1. You shall not borrow without the ability to repay.
2. You shall not be allowed to avoid rigid financial scrutiny.
3. You shall not buy property without a 20-25% down payment.
4. You shall not acquire 2nd homes without a 20-25% down payment.
5. You shall not be able to acquire additional credit cards easily.
6. You shall live in your home longer than you thought and sell it for less.

7. You shall be required to save more money in order to borrow money.
8. You shall ask a lot more questions of your real estate broker and lender.
9. You shall find yourself financially stable over the long haul of life.
10. You shall never again fully trust “too good to be true” schemes.

These “Ten Commandments for the New Housing Reality” (© 2008, iVoteAmerica) should be etched into the granite of our collective psyches so that we never again repeat the faulty economic assumptions that led us down this road to disaster.

What to do this Week

Do not panic. Don’t go knee-jerking through your 401k or IRA accounts. Don’t pull your cash out of your bank. This is simply the beginning of our new collective housing reality and there is no need to get emotional.

In the end, this series of financial events will become a fundamentally sound reality that will replace the greed and mismanagement of the past. In time, you’ll be “better off than you were four years ago.” We may see other fallout such as AIG, the giant global insurer.

Now, watch the presidential candidates for exploitation of this situation. You can expect dramatic statements, lots of hot air, “I-told-you-sos,” blaming of Bush, promises to investigate CEOs and lots of “this is a reason to vote for me” statements.

Expect some positive news this week in terms of a lower Fed rate, capital infusions into the financial market, a decline in oil prices and slow, sound reinvestment in the stock market.

In the end, it’s business as usual. Although Biden brings the Washington beltway connections Obama lacks, he’s no change agent. Truly, he knows his way around the establishment and perhaps that is the primary value he brings to Obama.

Biden’s brief and uneventful campaign for president neither displayed nor produced any national following and he never produced a primary win. With only three electoral votes, Delaware is hardly a prized victory for the Obama camp.

So what’s up with the Biden selection?

Joseph Biden has a history of eating crow and was once accused, tried and convicted or plagiarism in a speech he claimed was his own. There’s baggage with Biden. He even had to apologize to Barack Obama for statements Biden made about him that according to some carried racial undertones.

Bush picked the more mature, aged and experienced Dick Chaney. Obama has chosen the more mature, aged and experienced Joseph Biden. The former duo produced less than stellar results. The later pair, well, we shall see, perhaps.

It’s difficult to image John McCain choosing a more mature, aged and experienced VP. From all indications it looks like he is going for youth.

iVoteAmerica thinks this is the indication of a cultural, generational and political criss-crossing. Youth picks age, age picks youth. The 50s generation paired with the 80s generation, so to speak. The non-Internet leader aligning with the 21st century leader. A blend…a pair of aces with a pair of kings…a pair of cultural bores matched up with a pair of “next gen” politicians.

Biden is not the choice of many but he is Obama’s choice. He will most likely play the roll of attack dog, going after the Bush record and attempting to hang the Bush-Cheney ball and chain around McCain’s neck.

To Democrats, this signals anything but change. You won’t get universal health care and you won’t get increased taxes on the rich and you won’t see our troops out of Iraq in 16 months as promised by Obama.

Change has been redefined as the same old Washington, D.C. partisanship we have known for generations. The negative attack ads will now begin. Expect McCain to go after Biden as much if not more than he does Obama.

Not only was the media abuzz, they were jealous over Pastor Rick Warren’s creation of a forum that had more meaning than their contrived and carefully scripted so called “debates” where candidates line up on a stage and answer questions no one is really asking.

Although the targeted questions posed by Warren were certainly light years ahead of the mushy medias puppet shows we were still left asking ourselves, “Was this what we need?”

We need a no rules, no holds barred, bare knuckled, verbal fist fight. Just like Ali-Frazier.

We need to see the candidates sit down in a room, unscripted and just go at it. Yes, go at it! Someone starts talking and two hours later the lights go off. No commercials, no media personalities trying to lift their ratings and no left and right questions.

This will tell the American people a lot. It will show who has the fire in the belly, the intellect and the leadership skills to be President. Once the stage goes dark, we can have the public dial toll free numbers or, text vote for their favorite candidate, just like American Idol.

Such an event will show us the candidate’s spirit, savvy, statesmanship, intellect, command of the facts and more.

Although the Saddleback Civil Forum was a step in the right directions…anything other than the mainstream media would be…we need to go one step further and let the American people see the candidates unscripted, unpackaged and unprotected.

Ouch! This had to hurt. Or, did it? Was this a biased snipe at the Obama’s or simply, as NYM claimed, pure satire.

The left whined, while the right howled, “right on!” Is the NYM satubg “this is how the right is characterizing you” or, is it “this is public’s perception of the Obama’s?”

Join iVoteAmerica by voting in the New Yorker Poll and letting us know your “unbiased” opinions.