Professor James A. Schmitz Jr.’s formal comments letter to the Department of Justice (DoJ) include the following observations: “monopolies inflict harm in many ways. These include: A. Monopolies sabotage and destroy markets. They typically destroy substitutes for their products, often those that would be purchased by low-income households; B. Monopolies also use their weapons to manipulate and sabotage public institutions …

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” – Thomas Sowell “The puzzle is why there’s so little (manufactured housing) being shipped when it’s a much better product than it used to be,” said Laurie Goodman, an Urban Institute fellow.” Millions of Americans …

The Mises Institute Chairman Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. recently said: “we now have a fake kind of capitalism in which a few greedy billionaires use the state to gain power and privileges for themselves.” Democrat turned independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently pointed out that: “The working class is now systematically being stripped of their wealth by the …

Stating the obvious can be eye opening. Truth can be discovered wherever a person happens to find it. Some research provides useful information and couples it with sound analysis or commentary. By contrast, some reports may provide useful information but couple it with flawed or agenda driven analysis.  As Mobile and Manufactured Home Living News (ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com or MHLivingNews.com) has reported …

“Consumers reported losing more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021, a 70% increase over the prior year, the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] said Tuesday. Almost 2.8 million people filed a fraud complaint, an annual record.” So reported CNBC on 2.22.2022. When you do the math, the average scam was for about $2071.43. When millions have been victimized by fraudulent …

A possible tidal shift is underway in America. It is the battle over the future of the American Dream, as will be unpacked from the facts, evidence and viewpoints that follow. In the wake of 4-decade high inflation, a largely open southern border, foreign policy disasters in Ukraine and Afghanistan, domestic policy woes in fuel, food, housing, automotive, and more …

Language, markets, and more can be subject to manipulation. There are as a matter of law (federal/state) crimes known as conspiracies. A conspiracy is generally when 2 or more parties enter into an overt act to do something which the law forbids.  When a plot to break a law is actually performed, and an arrest is made, the defendants may …

Inflation. Afghanistan. Supply chains problems. Southern border. COVID19 vax mandates. Soaring housing costs. A series of apparent blunders and oversteps of authority are behind Joe Biden’s plunging approval. Which makes it odd at best that the National Housing Conference (NHC) President and CEO’s David M. Dworkin, who has spoken favorably about support for manufactured homes, recently said to fellow “housers” …

Let’s start with the lyrics to two different versions of the song, “Ain’t We Got Fun.” The earlier version is from Peggy Lee, later it was performed by Doris Day. How this relates to more affordable home ownership will be made clear on the far side of these two versions of the lyrics and related videos.  It is noteworthy that …

Samuel “Sam” Strommen from Knudson Law forged an evidence-based and systematic case that points the finger of monopolization at Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage Corporation, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, and several specific members of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI). Minneapolis Federal Reserve professional researchers James A. Schmitz Jr and David Fettig have made their own evidence-based argument that “Monopolies Inflict Great Harm on Low- and …

When someone wants to understand the lack of affordable housing in the U.S., by reading published studies from a range of sources, a few common facts emerge. The underlying causes of the affordable housing crisis observed by experts and partisans are often similar regardless of which of the two major political parties they may favor. For example, Zoning is a …

Why is there so little competition in the manufactured home lending market? While there are several interlocking factors, one of the simplest points to make is that the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not doing the robust lending in the manufactured home market as they are doing for conventional housing. What follows is a step-by-step explanation based …

In a recent op-ed to the left-leaning Washington Post Professor Lee Ohanian and James A. “Jim” Schmitz, a senior economist at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve said the following.  “Analyzing U.S. tornado deaths from 1996 to 2023, the Associated Press [AP] found that 53 percent of people who died at home — 815 people — were in manufactured houses.”  MHI’s website …

“For millions of renters, we’re cracking down on big landlords who break antitrust laws by price-fixing and driving up rents.” – Joe Biden, State of the Union (SOTU) address 3.7.2024, per transcript on right-leaning Breitbart. That isn’t just rents that are being driven up, it is other housing costs – purchase prices, interest rates – that are part of the problem …

Perhaps 75 to 80 percent of manufactured home communities are owned by local owners who are often in a good working relationship with their residents. But the other 20 percent or so may fall into a different category, and that segment will be part of the subject of this report with expert analysis. “My name is Tim Sheahan and I …