doug can speak, i'm sure, to some more of the specifics about what we're seeing, but even new home sales, existing home sales, and prices finally have not just stabilized. >> steve rattner? >> this is what's interesting about our political system. we went through this housing crisis without the government really doing anything. because as we know, housing is perhaps the most toxic of all these issues even more than medicare. your friend rick santelli gets on the floor and -- >> that started in part the tea party with that rant i don't know how many years ago. >> but the point is you're now in a situation where it's very hard for the government to get involved in with housing because it's so politicized. you have this question, do you help people under water or do you not help people under water? we've gone through this whole housing cycle without the government doing much of anything and as david said, we're coming out the other side, but this was clearly just the market working, the government on the sidelines and the market correcting. >> that raises the question off of today's headlines and other papers about the new york state