You Sleep When You Die

The iconic Alan Greenspan once said to the American people, “tap your home equity.” What he was really saying was to borrow against your home because your home is your personal bank. So use your ‘bank’ to get more money. Refinance! Consolidate your bills! The problem, of course, was all of the hidden clauses that allowed the real banks to raise your interest rate later and basically steal your home from you.

It might not come as a shock to know that Alan Greenspan changed his stance on the housing market after the bubble burst. If you guessed that the largest category of real estate loan loss for U.S. banks is mortgage loans, you’d be wrong. Lenders wrote off $31 billion in home equity loans and home equity lines of credit last year. That’s more than the losses on primary mortgage loans!

Thanks to Jim Maxfield and @HarilaosMichael for providing two of last week’s top questions. Remember, get your questions about advertising, business, the economy and more answered every Wednesday by posting comments to blog posts or, better yet, on Twitter via #askjz.

“Jordon, give us your business perspective on the U.S. debt issue.”

“I’ve been following what people like Robert Prechter and Marc Faber have been saying about the world economy. What’s your take?”

“Why does it take a catastrophe to start a revolution?”
Jonathan Larson

Why did it take a crisis for banks to start thinking like consumers? In addition to taking the time to build a trust-based brand, banks need to drive consumer relationships every single day. In other words, they need to start thinking and acting like retailers.