Speaking at the Manufactured Housing Institute’s (MHI) annual Congress & Expo in Las Vegas, Dr. Mark T. Dotzour, of Texas A & M’s Real Estate Center in College Station, said the federal government is swinging by a long rope that is near the bottom of its arc.  The government is spending a trillion dollars a year to keep it from hitting the bottom.  The Federal Reserve is buying up all the bad mortgages to prevent double dip inflation and keep the interest rate from rising, two things Dotzour says we need in order to put the economy back in balance.  According to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, homeowners lost nearly eight trillion dollars in real estate equity.  Dotzour compared the federal government to a Yellow Labrador: it’s always wagging its tail and always happy, but it’s full of fleas and ticks as big as water balloons.