I continue to read with disbelief reports of our dire financial straits as evidenced by the decline in housing values.

I associate value with quality, or lack thereof, and price with what you can try to convince another to pay.

Why is it that everyone seems obsessed with elevating housing prices to 2006 bubble levels? The Sept. 3 Business Monday article, A slow housing recovery, demonstrates that housing prices skyrocketed between 2004 and 2006 only to suffer an equally drastic fall between 2007 and 2009.

Housing is the only market that I know of where people are happy when prices go up.

The only ones that should be happy when housing prices rise are the tax collectors and Realtors.

I’m extremely happy that Florida passed the Save Our Homes amendment to protect the sane from speculators that want prices to rise forever.

James Woodard, Coconut Grove