To A Degree, They Were All Speculators
It’s Friday desk clearing time. “Illinois’ year-over-year sales in February were down 23 percent, and prices were off 5.6 percent. Chicago-area sales slipped about 27 percent, the Realtors said. Francisco Ybarra hopes a price reduction to $699,000 from $719,000—plus a little jazz —will land a buyer for his West Town neighborhood rowhouse.”
“His agent, Sandesh Bilgi, hired jazz musicians to entertain at an agents’ open house cocktail party last week to raise the property’s profile. ‘[At the height of the housing boom] we wouldn’t have needed to do it; it would have been under contract before I could even plan an event,’ Bilgi said.”
“Ybarra said he’s confident the property will sell, though he agreed that the mortgage industry’s more rigorous standards—bigger down payments, stronger credit scores—have derailed some deals. ‘I think the market can only get worse if people can’t get loans,’ said Ybarra. ‘People want to buy houses, but they’re just not giving loans.’”
“Boca Developers, one of South Florida’s biggest condo builders, has stopped construction at one project, laid off most of its staff and faces millions of dollars in liens on its projects for unpaid bills. Boca Developers has at least half a dozen projects from Key West to Daytona Beach.”
“Boca Developers began planning Marina Grande four years ago, about a year before the South Florida housing market peaked. So far, the foundation of one of the two buildings has been built, but little else has been done in the last 10 months, said Steve Pizzillo, North Miami Beach’s chief building inspector.”
“A permit to build the tower has been approved, but the developer has not picked it up, he said. ‘It is a beautiful project,’ he said. ‘It is a shame it has been sitting there.’”
“Homeowners anxious to unload their Indian Hill estate or downtown penthouse condo largely have two options these days - discount the price or wait. On a list of 42 Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky neighborhoods, these two communities ranked highest for monthly absorption rate.”
“With 19 and 27 months of inventory, sellers in Indian Hill and downtown must either be aggressive on price or willing to wait for the housing market to turn around, said local Realtors. ‘The run-up was just ridiculous, so Indian Hill is getting killed,’ said agent Peter Chabris.”
“‘The luster momentarily is off,’ said Lee Robinson, owner of Robinson Realtors in Hyde Park.”
“For the second month in a row, home sales in the Baton Rouge metro area came in below their 2005 levels, indicating a cooling market and the end of the post-Katrina housing bump. And inventory figures show there are significantly more homes on the market.”
“‘It’s steady, there’s still business, but I think the bubble’s gone,’ said Mandy Benton, a broker with M.A. Allen & Associates, which sells primarily in Livingston Parish.”
“Buddy Webre, who runs B&J Home Inspection with his wife and son, said that in the short term there’s little to do but wait out the downward slide and leave behind the memories of having enough work to keep them going seven days a week. ‘We just gotta forget Katrina,’ he said.”
“Spring is usually the time when the housing market heats up. But, sales of new homes fell last month for the fourth straight month in a row. Neill Amsler, CEO of Hogan Homes, a well-known homebuilder here in Corpus Christi, told KRIS 6 News that people just are not buying like they used to. Amsler said the problem is not as bad in South Texas, but he is still slashing prices.”
“Amsler said, ‘There are some that argue we never really got overbuilt here. I think we did a little bit.’”
“Old residential building units in prime locations are selling for up to 400% what they were four years ago, according to independent market watchdogs. Hoang Anh Thu, the owner of an apartment in Thanh Da, said that even though the building isn’t close to downtown, prices are going through the roof.”
“‘In 2003, my apartment was priced VND250mil,’ Thu said. ‘But I just sold it for VND650mil.’”
“House prices in Istanbul’s Kurtköy district on the Asian side keep rising. In the region, which attracts high attention for its high quality residences, flats cost up to YTL 700,000 ($565,000).”
“Kurtköy hosts housing sites for high-income groups on its last parcels of land today. In the district where second-hand house prices have also increased substantially, it is possible to buy a villa at the same price as a flat.”
“This range of prices not only offers high income, but makes the resident profile more cosmopolitan as well.”
“Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is increasing government spending to avoid a real estate fire sale. In a country with an 86 percent home ownership rate, highest in the 15-nation euro region, the collapsing housing market is already slowing the economy.”
“Residential construction, which accounts for about 6 percent of Spain’s economy, peaked in 2006 after a decade-long surge fueled by a drop in interest rates, growing incomes and vacation home purchases by Britons, Germans and other northern Europeans. Housing prices gained 11 percent a year on average, as even ordinary Spaniards speculated in real estate.”
“Now, a glut of properties weighs on the market, and interest rate increases and tighter bank lending standards make it more difficult for buyers to finance. The supply of new homes in 2006 outstripped demand by about 50 percent, according to government estimates.”
“Pavel Santa, a Romanian construction foreman, brought his wife and son to live in Spain last year after he joined the management committee of the property company where he’s worked for five years. Then his mortgage interest rate reset, causing the monthly payment to take up almost all of his 1,800 euros monthly salary.”
“‘I’m at the limit,’ says Santa. ‘I live worse than I did in Romania.’”
“The mortgage loan modification plans put forward by the governor and, at various times and in various forms, by the U.S. Treasury Department all failed to fix the problems in the housing markets.”
“Why? They pretended that the problem is the structures of the mortgages used to buy houses — in other words, fix the interest rate and you fix the problem. Make the loan ‘fair’ and everything will be fine.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth. The real issue in today’s housing markets is that prices currently sit at levels that are unaffordable given income levels in our state.”
“Every buyer over the last few years had a choice: Buy a home or rent an apartment until income was more in line with prices. Many leaped into the housing market even as prices climbed to such high levels because they thought they could sell at a higher price. To a degree, they were all speculators.”
“Many people made a very unwise decision in recent years: They bought a house they couldn’t possibly afford. Needless to say, they had help. But it all started with buyers who bought something they couldn’t afford and listened to the words they wanted to hear to help themselves justify that bad decision.”
“People make mistakes. We give them a second chance by allowing them to bankrupt themselves out of debt they couldn’t afford even if they arrived in this situation because they made an error. But the game is simple — if you can’t make the payment, you lose the house.”
“Happy days are here again: Real estate agents met Thursday in Lynnwood, and they’ve got a good handle on what’s wrong with the housing market: Nothing!”
“The only real problem, they say, is that the media make people nervous by telling them there’s bad news. (Not us: A 2-bedroom mobile home in Stanwood is definitely worth half a million).”
“Seriously, haven’t the real estate agents seen CNN lately? All they had to do was hold up something shiny and nobody would’ve noticed all those risky home loans.”
“And human ancestors started walking 6 million years ago, according to new research. That’s about 1 million years earlier than previously thought, and roughly 5 million years before early man decided a subprime loan was so crazy, even a caveman wouldn’t do it.”
Another great week! My thanks to those who support this blog. Please check back this weekend for news, your market observations and topics.
Many leaped into the housing market even as prices climbed to such high levels because they thought they could sell at a higher price. To a degree, they were all speculators.”
Excellent article, says in the mass media what we’ve been saying for some time. Nice to see it.
It can’t be that simple, can it?
“Many people made a very unwise decision in recent years: They bought a house they couldn’t possibly afford. Needless to say, they had help. But it all started with buyers who bought something they couldn’t afford and listened to the words they wanted to hear to help themselves justify that bad decision.”
The untold (yet to be told?) story: The lending industry’s special zero percent easy low-teaser-rate financing packages were used to suck in unsophisticated buyers who did not realize they were hanging their family’s future financial stability out to dry. Unbelievably, I saw an offer for this kind of special financing to buy homes priced as high as $1.2m+ in San Diego just this morning (see today’s bits buckets)…
It is also unbelievable to me that many of the folks I personally know (or *blush* am related to) don’t understand why they will never be able to pay off an $800K+ loan over their future working life times…
I’m beginning to believe that the HELOCs and refies are the bigger problem. Many people had houses they could afford and then sucked the equity out of them with exotic loans. Then to add idiotic to stupid, they either used the money to buy aspirational luxury crap or invested in more real estate or other get rich quick scams and schemes.
What is really difficult in this for me is the additional damage caused.
Its not just real estate. All that money and credit flowed all over the place. Everything is inflated! Cars, boobs, gas, coffee, bubble gum.
The deflationary enviroment will bite us everywhere. This will be as the Japan… price destruction to get rid of the distortion.
There will be a lot of dislocation and things will get pretty painful. Lots of debt will be destroyed and it will seem like money on the way out too.
Lots of jobs were dependent on the HELOC money flowing from home equity. Now that that flow has become a dribble the jobs will disappear, along with the employees.
Less employees means less earned income thus less spending … and the spirial continues downward.
Asset values will definitely deflate, but what about consumer goods that are global in nature? (i.e. food, clothing, electronics, etc?)
electronics? huh?
Electronic prices are constantly deflating.
Very many otherwise smart people did the same thing here locally.
In the Alt-A Bay Area, the sh#tstorm for those kind of products is just getting started.
I know more than a few who bought in the summer of 2003 and now, with their 5/1 ARM’s, are beginning to wonder how the refi environment is going to look in the near future.
I know some that going to be “fine”, those who will make their payments OK. Though I wonder if a new and different lifestyle might take a bit of getting used to…
I know some who are deluded into thinking that they can refi their 5-year option ARM into a new one, and that “this whole thing will be over” by the time their new one resets. Too bad they probably owe more than their house is worth and the banks are starting to raise interest rates again despite the Fed’s cutting. Denial runs deep in Alt-A Bay.
Paulson just announced that Monday he is going to make regulations tougher on banks. msm alert.
“They bought a house they couldn’t possibly afford.”
Even for those who never took out HELOCs or re-fis, what they couldn’t afford usually wasn’t the “house,” it was the price. That is to say, the mere maintenance of the house might’ve been affordable had the price not been inflated (with the accompanying inflation of property taxes and insurance premiums).
“Never be able to pay off an $800K loan”
Quite right, they can’t. And yet it is not SO hard to save up $800K (yup, $800K) starting from scratch, with a fairly ordinary salary. Well, I should say, it wasn’t so hard when the period of saving included the early 80’s (12% tax free). Right now, I guess the best strategy for a young person is to try to save $100K, knowing that those $800K houses are headed for $300K.
I have a very good friend who lived off his home equity (didn’t work, still doesn’t) for about five years.
He has since sold his home and is probably down to $50K +/-. This, along with a truck and various small items, is all he has to his name.
We are the same age 46. I’ve known him for 25 years. I’m at seven figures and climbing. He’s at five and diving. I have given him advice over the years which he’s mostly ignored.
“some men you just can’t reach”
There are many more of his type than our type out there.
That is my worry.
Mike
We are the same age 46. I’ve known him for 25 years. I’m at seven figures and climbing. He’s at five and diving.
I really doubt it is mathematically/macro-economically possible for every 46 year old to have $1,000,000+ in savings. You are benefiting from all the people like him who do not save.
Just like the worldwide wage imbalance with the developed countries. It isn’t going to stay this way forever. Might take hundreds of years or might be April 2008. I really don’t know, but I put that the wealth you have saved just isn’t possible for everyone to have (unless you devalue, I’m talking in today’s $).
Can anybody here recommend a good online service for getting public property records for California? Mortgage amount, mortgage type, etc. I was checking some out online, and it seemed like 3/4 of the sites I came across were a touch sketchy.
Dataquick will give you just about anything you need…if you’re not in the business you will have to pay for it…
“His agent, Sandesh Bilgi, hired jazz musicians to entertain at an agents’ open house cocktail party last week to raise the property’s profile. ‘[At the height of the housing boom] we wouldn’t have needed to do it; it would have been under contract before I could even plan an event,’ Bilgi said.”
I’ve been in the business many years and have never understood these types of things. If you have to go through all this to sell a friggin house…it’s either a dog or overpriced.
Off the cuff numbers you make 21k on commission before broker split and expenses, when all is said and done you might as well get a job as a security guard the pay is damn near the same…but then again I come from a different time..
I checked back on yesterday’s CNN.com story about Patricia Guerrero, and sure enough they didn’t post any of our comments about her publicly disclosed antics. I also did not receive a reply from their corrections center. I think it’s fair to say that CNN doesn’t really care about accuracy. They have some sort of agenda to push. The MSM can say bye to their credibility altogether as far as I’m concerned.
I think they don’t want to reveal the shallowness of their own research and reporting.
‘I think it’s fair to say that CNN doesn’t really care about accuracy.’
-or-
‘I think it’s fair to say that CNN really cares about advertising revenue’
Ted’s a real estate collector… what more do you have to say.
I believe that Ted has been exorcised to the very back of the room, so to speak. I believe Ted doesn’t have any say any longer at CNN, it is all Corp from a different slant.
His ownership has long been gone.
They also don’t care much for grammar, as evidenced by their headline yesterday in the story about Irvine, mentioning 4,100 “good paying jobs” lost.
they meant “good, paying jobs”
I had to go to work when that bit was being discussed. Did anyone else notice the “rental” being stated as income? What rental? Is it a charm on her Tiffany bracelet? Cleverly hidden in the Coach bag? Maybe I got it wrong.
CNN has an agenda? no.. really? I can’t believe it.
BTW, I highly recommend the following drink for sick people:
1 ripe mango
1 cup vanilla yogurt
3 ice cubes
Blend on high for 45 seconds and serve.
Vodka? or Rum? with an umbrella in the glass!
Oops lots of those got me sick.
Add about a gram and a half of shrooms and I’d say you got it.
Ohhhh you!
codine
Yeah, who can concentrate on being sick when the walls are breathing…
“Francisco Ybarra hopes a price reduction to $699,000 from $719,000—plus a little jazz —will land a buyer for his West Town neighborhood rowhouse.”
Not in our lifetimes will fools be given access to mortgage funds that they can’t repay. Let the education continue. (I hope this isn’t bold type).
I thoroughly enjoy that Ben chose to lead off the Friday afternoon sign-off with a clip about the nonsense here in Chicago. West Town? $700k? While you all might not know “West Town” - that’s as outrageous as any CA IE story I’ve read here on the HBB.
House on the Gold Coast, maybe….we had some townhouses here in Oak Park that were going for $650K, which even the banks were admitting were horribly overpriced.
(I notice the biggest, fattest, juiciest townhouse of them all they’re still trying to unload at the original $899K. Heck, you can get a nice Victorian around here for less than that.)
I got lost driving a rental car looking for a guitar shop in the ’south side’ of Chicago in the late 80’s.
I felt like Merriweather Lewis if you know what I mean.
Mike
I don’t know Chicago, but during the bubble here in California, a $699k house was (and still is, in many places) a 1950s crackerbox in a mediocre neighborhood. However, no jazz musicians would be necessary to attract dozens of prospective buyers; indeed, the sellers often couldn’t be bothered to clean the toilet prior to showing the house. Often the bidders would offer to lick it clean if they were the Chosen Ones whose offer was accepted by the seller.
Guide to Fed’s Alphabet Soup
The FRBNY (i.e., Federal Reserve Bank of New York) has just published a handy chart outlining the eight ways a bank or investment firm can borrow from the nation’s lender of last resort. Five of them were created since last summer:
# Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), announced March 11, allowing securities dealers to get Treasurys at auction for 28 days
# Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), announced March 16, for securities firms to receive overnight loans
# Term Auction Facility (TAF), announced December 12, for banks to get funds at auction without the discount window stigma
# Single-Tranche OMO (Open Market Operation) program, announced March 7, allowing securities dealers to get 28-day funds
# Term Discount Window Program (we haven’t seen the TDWP acronym yet), announced August 17, extending the length of discount-window loans to 90 days
courtesy of Wall Street Journal economics blog
The chart for the refrigerator is available here/
http://tinyurl.com/3bfper
Hi Hoz, and what are they going to call the 100B released today?
Helicopter drop.
Going to be a lot of starving billionaires.
The FRBNY - otherwise known as my neighbors.
I wish I could walk over there and ask if I could borrow “a cup of stupid”. I’m afraid they would give me a dump truck full.
And the pigs are at the trough…
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/H3/current/
No problems Hoz……..I found it…….It’s called L.O.S.S.
Loans……On…….Sh*t……..sandwiches
Life is like a sh*t sandwich.
The more bread you’ve got, the less sh*t you’ve got to eat.
Mike
The house across the street and 2 doors down from mine is for sale for $705k. It was last sold October 2006 for $839k. This is in Newark, CA, adjactent to Lakepark Lake.
I meant to say Lakeshore Park.
They got another $350K to slash.
A New Treasury Plan Would Give the Fed New Powers…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/business/29regulate.html
UBS Writes Down Securities in Customers’ Brokerage Accounts…
One of the world’s biggest brokers is about to force its clients to take a haircut on a type of securities that investors had believed to be as safe as cash.
UBS AG began on Friday to lower the values of so-called auction-rate securities held by its clients, a move that will be a jolt to customers who had been told they were investing in a “cash alternative.” The move is yet another way that the credit crunch that began with subprime mortgages has spread to unexpected places and upended conventional wisdom about the financial system.
The Swiss bank appears to be the first major firm to take this action and is expected to inform clients via their online statements shortly. The markdowns, which will be made using an internal computer model, will range from a few percentage points to more than 20%, a UBS broker said.
Other brokers are expected to follow and several are waiting for the end of the quarter in the coming week to make the decision.
WSJ 3/29/08
Surprise e-mail just received today from a cousin (I had been advised to mind my own business in 2005 when I said that I couldn’t think of worse time for her to become a California real estate agent):
XXX,
Thanks for the news clippings that you forward to me (about the real estate bubble). Its very real and informative. Its scary that there are scammers out there. I feel like I am a victim of this bad economic environment.
Its taken me awhile before I could e-mail you about my situation. I did tell you a bit when we had dinner a few months ago. I desperately need your help.
I think I have done very well for myself considering I am a single Mom and a single income earner for the past xx years…However, things were not as rosy the past 3 years and I ventured out in some investments that just stalled. They are still okay, just delayed in maturing. In the meantime, I have been in the red for a long period of time, and am drained out of my cash flow.
My finances continued to spiral down, though my credit is still very excellent. I have consulted a bankruptcy attorney and I was advised not to file for bankruptcy.
I could still salvage my situation, but I need about $60000 to pay off the high interest rate credit cards. Some cards increased my rate to 29.99% with no notice. That would be $18000 per year just for interest! That could push me off the cliff.
Just my bad luck, my (siblings) are overextended with their (car dealership) situation, that I do not know where to turn to. They suggested to seek help from you and (brother with money).
Perhaps you and (brother with money) can help me out.
I am in the process of selling my (import-export business), but am not sure if there will be takers at this market if ever. Proceeds will be very little because of the recapture deprecation I have to pay IRS.
I’ve used up my house equity too.
Whatever, however, you and (brother with money) can help me out.
I still have my retirement plans, ROTH and SEP, which I do not want to exhaust because of the penalties if I withdraw now.
I could probably estimate it will take me about a year to pay you. The IPO venture is still on, scheduled in xxx 08. If they do not at that time, they will in xxx 09. This is why the attorney advised me to hang on, and not file for bankruptcy. I do not qualify anyway because I hold stocks.
My goal now is to hang in there, and diminish interest expenses, so I need an infusion of cash to pay off the high interest cards. They normally reset to less interest once they are paid off.
(Sigh - I think she is over the cliff)
Halifax,
That is priceless. It sounds like something that is made up and only happens to other people. Wow.
The email title was “I need your immediate help!”
I thought she was forwarding me one of those ‘Nigerian’ scams and almost deleted it.
Yes, I’ve made some money in gold and gold stocks, but not enough to kiss $60K goodbye.
I’ve been fortunate and made some money in gold, gold futures and gold stocks, but not enough to kiss 60 grand goodbye.
Send her a link to “youwalkaway.com”.
I just might. Thanks. (Maybe my dad (her uncle) will come to the rescue…)
Although the thread diameter, pitch and length differ slightly, you’re screwed if you
loangive her the money and screwed if you don’t.However, it’ll be cheaper if you don’t… so don’t.
joeyinCalif:
My cousin took me around LA/Hollywood in her new BMW that her lawyer biz partner (now disappeared) told her to buy to impress potential investment RE clients. She’s sorry she has it now, but it was a cool ride for sure. Unfortunately I didn’t have slicked back hair or Matrix sunglasses. It was one of those talking ones that I had never experienced before - “turn left (into oncoming traffic) in 200 yards (wrong way down a one way street)!!” Where I live we don’t need those - even a buddy who set the top for the one of the overpriced developments does not have a talking Lexus.
and she needs debt counseling….too bad she’d have to wait in line to get any right now.
Her biz was done in by Chinese copycats; her son was in a devastating auto accident, struck by an illegal alien.
Tell her your broke.
That’s what wife said! What a mess.
..and always used to ding my wife, saying ‘at least my family has never hit us up for money’.
…and I used to ding my spouse, saying ‘at least my family has never hit on us for money’. Yes, I’ve made some in gold and gold stocks, but not enough to kiss 60K goodbye.
Credit Card interest doesn’t just “leap” up to 29% or better. It can come from the end of term of a 6 month or 1 year 0% transfer offer/contract. However, with the alleged excellant credit, I feel this is unlikely. She could transfer it again. The most realistic scenario is she perhaps missed a payment on the CC or even a utility. Many companies will raise the interest that high. Just a thought.
Been discussed here and places like FatWallet. The credit crunch is real. The banks are being pre-emptive.
The $60K CREDIT CARD balance is enough to have this person as high risk!
Obviously she can’t even make minimum payments on her credit cards without a HELOC. No way and hell will she every pay you back.
She can lose her house etc etc and still have the stock later if its worth anything. And she does not have to file bankruptcy just wait it out and pay 25-50% back on the credit cards. She will owe some taxes.
So bottom line if she hits it on the IPO in the future then she can easily clean up the mess she has made.
Tell your dad NOT to bail her out. She was highly irresponsible and needs to clean her own mess. Tell her to walk away from all houses/business and sell her stocks to pay down all debt.
Just spoke with Dad. He told her to sell in 2005 (but she wouldn’t because of disabled son who was injured by uninsured illegal). He also warned her about her lawyer biz partner who has since disappeared. I don’t think he is going to send any money.
“Let he who is without sin…”
I could snark here with the best of you, but I have a very clear memory of unexpectedly being given many tens of thousands from my mother a couple of years back. A real WTF moment.
Only then did I find out that one of my brothers had a CC/Personal Loan debt similar to that described by halifax, and mum was basically pre-distributing part of her estate to get him out of a hole that was threatening his health and marriage.
My other brothers and myself were given the same amount to prevent any perception of favouritism (as if we would care).
Are her stock holdings adequate to clean up the CCDs?
Don’t know - still too shocked to reply - thanks everyone for replies and I apologize for multiple posts,
“what’s wrong with the housing market: Nothing!”
Correct. House prices are declining, as they should.
With the UBS Write Downs, the markets will boom Monday as UBS will have less of a liability and therefore be in a better financial condition. Or something along those lines.
Have a neighbor here in ATL that had his house on the market for 400k. He was just bitching today about getting “lowballed” at 380K. Are you kidding me? It’s been for sale for 8 months now and this is the first offer he’s rec’d. He took the offer, but was bitching about it for 30 minutes. I felt like saying, “If it such a lowball offer, then don’t take it” WTF?
In ATL from what I understand from some folks who are suffering in Atlanta…He should have knocked off another 20k just because…
5% is lowballed? He accepted, which means whoever made him the offer now realizes they overpaid.
“Francisco Ybarra hopes a price reduction to $699,000 from $719,000—plus a little jazz —will land a buyer for his West Town neighborhood rowhouse. His agent, Sandesh Bilgi, hired jazz musicians to entertain at an agents’ open house cocktail party last week to raise the property’s profile.”
What?? Lower the effin’ price already!
“His agent, Sandesh Bilgi, hired jazz musicians to entertain at an agents’ open house cocktail party last week to raise the property’s profile.”
Well, at least we know what the problem was.
If you really want to raise profile instead of lowering price, you need more than just any plain old jazz:
http://tinyurl.com/2xq8hj
I think now would be a great time to consider repealing the mortgage interest deduction. This would improve the revenue stream to cash-strapped cities and states, while providing a helpful deterrent to would-be speculators who drive up prices and disrupt the economy. It would also help to correct the lopsided overinvestment in this asset class that has prevailed in the US for too long. Lastly, it would end the unfair practice of subsidizing the housing preferences of a particular group at the expense of all taxpayers.
How do we get this ball rolling?
Obama wants to RAISE the mortgage interest deduction. Its all about HOPE you know.
I know this sounds extreme, but I’m convinced that Obama and Hillary detest me. And I’m a registered Democrat!
If either of them get elected, I think we’re in big trouble. I know exactly what I’ll do if, for example, they get in, they uncap Soclial Seciruty, raise income taxes, tax dividends like ordinary income, and start throwing away my money so single moms can have McMansions: I’ll STOP WORKING! I’ll be damned if I’ll be taxed to death so Harry Howmuchamonth can enjoy his “right” to granite countertops and a Land Rover. If, as I suspect, I won’t be the only saver/wage earner to feel like “striking”, then this country’s in big trouble.
Democrats complain about the cost of the war, and I admit how we handled the situation was probably ill advised. But few people note that the total that people have spent on mortgages and credit card debt they couldn’t afford has far exceeded the cost of the war! (Except, sadly, for lives lost.) And, therefore, bailing out Sally Specuvestor will far exceed the cost of the war.
And that’s why this Democrat is voting for John McCain!
you are trapped into thinking all 3 candidates are the right choice. The problem is you are trying to put up with two parties who want to GROW the government one way or another.
Hello?! We are on the verge of a bankrupt government, endless new taxes and laws. We see only growth since WWII and we just can’t even think to stop it. Look at the city and state level even with property taxes.
Ron Paul and Ros Perot were the only two candidates I can think of in recent decades that got the attention of those thinking “slash and cut” to government. People can’t even THINK of it.
Government always goes up!
Fed PLan for Broad, New Oversight Powers…Due Monday
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/financial.oversight/index.html
Wow — BB has lost all his hair!
Oops — that is HP in the photo.
(Never mind…)
there’s no hurry.. it’ll be decades before stupid loans are back in style.
Justifaction for bailouts.
We knew this was coming#$%^&*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032804017.html?nav=rss_print
From the link…
“The Bush administration is finalizing details of a plan to rescue thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure by helping them refinance into more affordable mortgages backed by public funds, government officials said.”
The article says they would have to stay in their house. That should be interesting, if it has teeth.
Thousands? LOL.
So the investment banks are borrowing from the Fed from the tune of $30 billion a day. What the hell are they doing with all that dough? Covering withdrawls?
“Ybarra said he’s confident the property will sell, though he agreed that the mortgage industry’s more rigorous standards—bigger down payments, stronger credit scores—have derailed some deals. ‘I think the market can only get worse if people can’t get loans,’ said Ybarra. ‘People want to buy houses, but they’re just not giving loans.’”
Wasn’t the ability of many of these people to get loans to “buy” houses a big part of the problem, Mr. Ybarra?