My House is Not A Piggy Bank

Articles discussing the decrease in housing values as a major detriment to Americans' overall wealth frustrate me. Look:

• I understand that houses are assets. That on balance sheets when the value goes down, so does overall net worth
• I understand that if one plans to sell their house, then being underwater would be an issue
• I understand that we all want to believe we made sound "investment decisions"

However, on average, how often do homeowners move? And of those homeowners who move, how many of them sell their existing house to purchase the new one (as opposed to renting the original property)? And of those who move, how long did they live in their home?

My point to these questions is as long as a person doesn't use their house like a piggy bank, then there's no real need to monitor the value like a stock. Seriously. We all need to have shelter; houses provide that. So, if I were to look up the value of a comparable house in my neighborhood, should I really plan to pack up and walk away? If your answer is yes, then what? I'm going to have a shitty credit score. That's going to make it incredibly difficult to find an apartment to live in. I'm certainly not going to move back in with my mom, just so I don't have a house note. Urg!

I just wish that news commentators would start focusing on the important stuff with the economy. Can people find jobs? If not, what's the solution to getting people to back to work. For the people who have jobs, are there salaries being cut? If so, is it because their salaries were ridiculous, is it because the company is going bankrupt and the mgmt is trying to save it, is it because the company owners are bad people and are using this as an excuse?

Oh, and don't get me started about the "no doc" loan people who are sad because they can't afford their home. Really? Your salary was $30K a year and you want me as a tax payer to keep you in a 500K home that you never could afford. I think not! Accountability is sometimes a harsh lesson.