For those of you who are Van Halen fans (my freshman college roommate and I blew out speakers playing the album), this edited mp3 clip of Runnin’ with the Devil represents the general level of understanding of the economy as it related to housing in 2007 pre-credit crunch.

…in other words, only lead singing and no music.

Housing was described almost as an afterthought by many economists and analysts. In retrospect, it was a pretty significant disconnect. However, the state of housing itself may be a bit overstated.

Caroline Baum at Bloomberg laid out the story last year quite nicely in Housing? What Housing? I Don’t See Any Housing and it stuck with me. When I came across the Van Halen clip, I remembered the article. Ok, so I’m not the easiest guy to figure out.

Van Halen Clip [Lead Singing only] (hilarious without the music)
Van Halen Clip [Full version]

Riff. Strum. Sigh.