Seeing the Forest Through the Trees

an interesting read.....thanx....

@David- Do you have a more inclusive and current data set? Your data source (being from 2012) and data set (only including African Americans) may not be providing the clearest picture of the forest. There are some significant challenges with the new regulations, but we can all agree that something needed to happen. Does data exist that indicates the number of defaults that occurred in ratio to mortgages made under the new guidelines and then compared to the performance of the wild west days of the early 2000's and the more conventional approaches that have been used for most of the last half of last century? Let's not forget that lack of sound policy was a key contributor in both of the most recent real estate collapses. We need a better middle ground. Perhaps better education for the consumer, tougher enforcement for lenders that bend the rules and accountability on all levels would be worthy considerations.

My only comment on this is I am very sad and disappointed that the American public at large were taken in by unethical practice and the losses that they had to face. America's credibility when calling for good governance from other countries is a far cry of that call" physician heal thyself" I bet this will not be the last one until and unless the tagline ' greed is good" is rejected as part of the education in this industry.

Trees,always a relief, after people,always music amongst trees in Garden,but hearts must be very quiet to hear it,rustle like living things while a cold wind blowing from north..Life is mysterious,like a forest; from far off it seems a unity & can be comprehended,described,but closer it begins to separate, to break into light & shadow,density blinds one.Within there is no form,only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere:exotic sounds,spills of sunlight, foliage,fallen trees,small beasts that flee at sound of a twig-snap,insects,silence,flowers.Solitude is soil in which genius is planted,creativity grows & legends bloom;faith in oneself is rain that cultivates a hero to endure storm& bare genesis of a new world,a new forest And all of this,dependent,closely woven,all of it is deceiving.There are really 2 kinds of life,one people believe as living& other causes trouble, this other is Menard's own intimate forest: Traversed by bridle paths, under seal of sun & shade & live in great density.Shelter lures me & slump down into thick foliage.In forest,entire self. Everything is possible in heart just as it is in hiding places in ravines.Thickly wooded distance separates from moral codes& cities.Here in trees it was much easier to believe absurdities that embarrassed indoors. Nothing had changed in this forest for 1000s of years & all myths & legends of a 1000 different lands seemed much more likely in this green haze than they had in clear-cut bedroom.Only with a leaf can talk of forest, forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind.Show weakness& it would consume without hesitation.It was a though been living for a year in a dense grove of old trees,a cluster of firs, each with its own rhythm& character, from whom bodies had drawn not just shelter but perhaps even a kind of guidance as grew into a family.Forest who is in love with fire will wear black wedding gown in her wedding.Don't want to focus on trees (or their leaves) at expense of forest.A tangled forest & feeling of hidden eyes watching.A forest ecology is a delicate one.If forest perishes,its fauna may go with it.Whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds--creaking of trees,howling of wild beasts & yell of Indians; while sometimes wind tolled like a distant church bell& sometimes gave a broad roar around traveler, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn.But he was himself chief horror of scene& shrank not from its other horrors.If a tree falls in woods when no one is there,does it still make a noise? If a girl dies in woods when no one is there, does anyone care? If no one knows I am here, do I even exist?Forests are places where we can get back in touch with our inner selves, where we can walk on soft ground, breathe in natural scents, taste berries, listen to leaves crackling - all senses are awakened in subdued light & stress melts away like snow in snow.Every day spend at least an hour in a forest to stay healthy& much more than this,to stay sane in this insane world!Forest! They seek your trees to sleep among,With their long sentences hung.Forest!But at some point in her passage, trees began to change.They stretched taller &soft, pale bark darkened,roughened.She put her hand to a tree and touched & lichen growing dark green upon brown& felt like old cork, dry & crumbling.Here sun mellowed,took on cast of late afternoon & shadows seemed to fall a bit longer;forest had sunk into a deeper silence,magnifying what sounds did arise. Sudden, quick crash of a fox bounding through brush was as loud as slam of a great wooden door.When a man in a forest thinks he is going forward in a straight line, in reality he is going in a circle, I did my best to go in a circle, hoping to go in a straight line.forest is only waiting for their signal to start trembling, hissing & roaring from its depths.An enormous,love-maddened,unlighted railway station, full to bursting.Whole trees bristling with living noise makers,mutilated erections,horror.It is a good success to take people from city to forests; but there is a much greater success: To bring forest to people, to cities! To bring heaven to hell!