Headline: "Not much impact from repeat buyer credit"

Saw this article on my startpage today; my response is a big DUH. The points made in this story are correct (that the 'carrot' may not be big enough, and you can't buy a home without a job). However, the main point is the one that was not stated: this tax credit was worthless from day one. Read the actual law--I'm in the middle of working on taxes right now (don't get me started, but all I can say is PASS the FAIR TAX!) so I will simply refer you to this prior post to explain the tax credit. In essence I believe that you had to be in the same house over 5 years (i.e. it had to be your principal residence for 5 of the last 8 years) to be eligible for that tax credit. Stop right there... How long have you lived in your current home? I have NEVER lived in one house for 5 consecutive years. SO I couldn't even get this tax credit if I wanted it! So we have a highly transient populace and the 'move up' market is definitely transient. Is this $6500 credit going anywhere? Not as it was written friends.... Our 'friends' in Congress didn't help us at all with that one.