The Housing Bubble

Amen!!!

What color is the sky in your world?

I look forward to the Republican United States of America, where the last of the middle class scratches a living selling gum on the street or shining shoes, and billionairs travel in armored cars and live in walled compounds because of the rampant crime created by poverty.

Again, did you get a job from a poor person (or better yet, an ecomonically challenged individual)?

It takes money and the ability to risk it all to get ahead.

You cannot expect to get ahead by government hand outs.

Scandinavia is rethinking the utopian social programs they cant afford. Not to mention Sweden and Norway has been ‘invaded’ by immigrants who refuse to integrate with the local culture and have brought crime with them while sucking off the government teat. Finland has been watching with deep fear.

Its an utter fantasy to believe that the same programs (that dont work nearly as well as the left leaners dream) for nations of 7 to 10 million people can be applied to a nation of 300 million. The government has really two mandates. Defend the nation, and stay the hell out of the way of the states to allow for capitalism and growth as the states see fit. I dont see a mass exodus to Sweden from the US so I know its all talk.

Back to bubble related news. Deutsche Bank, $4 billion in write downs…whats this, a GERMAN bank in a nation with far reaching social programs and giveaways is in deep doo doo?!?! Oh the utopian head spinning!!!!

You cannot expect to get ahead by government hand outs ??

I politely disagree my friend….The whole fricken federal & muni system is a hand out….Congrees vest with a full pention after one term I believe…Water meter readers making 60k +….Bus drivers making 80k +…Fire fighter retireing @ 50 with a 120k pention and full benefits….And NEVER any layoffs…Just hire freeze…

when talking about scandinavia, one should take into account their huge profits from oil and other (soft) commodities that are not going to last, but made it easy to have all kinds of social pet programs.

And government there just like elsewhere, or in the US for that matter, always paints a pretty picture of the situation. Just imagine what happens when you give both father and mother the right to one year of fully paid leave when they have a child, with no risk of being fired by their employer. People will take a well-paid job and start producing babies once every year or so and never have to work; it is easy to bankrupt their employers this way. After five years of this leisure routine, they are probably unable to every work again in a normal way. Companies have to find ways around this legislation or move to other countries.

The governments pretent the problem does not exist but of course it does. Just like in other ’social’ countries like the Netherlands where over 25% of the population is ‘unable to work’ but perfectly able to be on a permanent vacation or something close to that, paid for by the few people that still do work.

Scandinavia is rethinking the utopian social programs they cant afford. Not to mention Sweden and Norway has been ‘invaded’ by immigrants who refuse to integrate with the local culture and have brought crime with them while sucking off the government teat.

My sister spent a year in Sweden a few years ago, started out by visiting distant relatives, who said the same thing.
Now, no one get all mad and call me a racist: my sis was told by the relatives, as part of their ‘Welcome to Sweden’ introduction ‘to avoid Arabs, because the new middle eastern immigrants commit three-fourths of the rapes’. I don’t know if she made a helpful note of this tip, but she did come home unraped, and with an an adorable pair of clogs for me.

I can see a trend developing where Brits and Europeans spend a lot of their time here in the US to escape the floods of immigrants coming into their own countries. I encountered many Brits on Spring Break- very few college students this year. The riots in France were just the beginning of Europe’s problems with their immigrants.
Ha- just saw a TV piece on how the 1.5 million immigrants that have entered the UK since 1977 really haven’t done that much for their economy. Surprise, surprise.

nhz - Just imagine what happens when you give both father and mother the right to one year of fully paid leave when they have a child, with no risk of being fired by their employer. People will take a well-paid job and start producing babies once every year or so and never have to work;

_________

It’s very nice to have a creative imagination, but I prefer facts. Scandinavia has a low birth rate:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4768644.stm

I have friends and family in Sweden and Finland, and I have visited there, and even spent a day with one of my friends in a Swedish high school. Everyone I know works just like a regular person over here, there not all sitting around popping out babies and living off the government. People do complain about taxes…on the other hand their quality of life is good. Skinheads and suburban violence is a growing problem, though. Sweden isn’t the way many people imagine, I think.

Dinasmom - Ha- just saw a TV piece on how the 1.5 million immigrants that have entered the UK since 1977 really haven’t done that much for their economy. Surprise, surprise.
____________

Maybe, but the food is way better.

ProbaBLEE! The best food we had in London last year was Thai;-)

Serendipity factor at work!

It’s not like the government doesn’t give anything to the people. Just look how many prisons we build. Free housing and they still complain…

yeah, so has ours during a period of systematic dismantling of the safety net.

your causation needs work.

Hi guys,

I’m actually living in Sweden right now… moved here last year and got a job immediately. I don’t even have to think very hard to come up with proof that Sweden isn’t the anti-capitalist haven many like to think it is:
Ikea, Saab, Volvo, Huskvarna, Skania… etc.

The immigrant problem is real though, but it’s partially Sweden’s fault. Immigration is new, and Swedes expect everyone who moves here to become Swedish immediately - to like the same stupid TV shows, to be quiet on the bus, to never say hello to people on the street, etc. I think with time Sweden will learn to define itself in some other way than just eating rotten fish and being white, but that will take a generation or two.

Holgs,
“a generation or two” . I doubt this, seriously. Check out the Turks in Germany. Many have been there 3-4 generations now, and they remain largely unintegrated. The Turks hold to their own language, culture and social and sexual mores, distaining the larger German culture. And nothing in Germany’s culture or history has prepared them to accept such radically divergent peoples.
Sweden and Denmark are in even worse shape, as the immigrants from Afghanistan and other Arab nations do not even accept the equality of women, let alone their autonomy. The Scandinavian government tries to softpedal the data, but yes rape and assaults against women are largely done by immigrants. Swedish women live independent persaonl and sexual lives…Afghan immigrants are from a culture where women are largely chattel, and stoning a woman deemed “errant” was blood sport in stadiums.
Yeah, it’s a problem.

The administration can’t do anything about it ’til that Democratic Congress passes a bill. Where are they on this matter??? Hmmm.

LOL majority of one and its the dems - you are so funny

Repub this, demo that…There are 35000 lobbyists for 500 odd members of congress. Thats about 70 each. There in lies your answer to why Washington politics is more and more divergent from middle class needs. Lets not fool ourselves into believing that left is better than right or vice versa. They are all on the take (usually from the same lobby groups). We have elevated corruption to an art form.

Measton, how come I’ve never had to pay the AMT? I would call my income “upper middle,” but whenever I do that AMT worksheet I find out it’s irrelevant. AMT victims probably have big mortgage-interest deductions?
Anyway I benefitted quite a bit from the reduction in marginal tax brackets.

You get to keep mortgage interest and charitable deductions, it’s state and local taxes, medical expenses and other deductions that get taken away. It largely impacts those with upper middle class incomes in bigger cities (where upper middle class status costs more and upper middle class jobs pay more) and with higher state and sometimes city) taxes.

Of course the top 1% got most of the tax cuts. They pay most of the taxes. The top 1% pays around 1/3 of all federal taxes. The top 10% pays about 70%. So of course when a tax cut is enacted the top 10% will get the lion’s share of the tax cut. It would be illogical to expect anything else.

The bottom 50% pay $0 in federal taxes. So again it would be illogical to expect someone who pays $0 in federal taxes to get a tax cut.

Lets wrap our heads around reality shall we? The wealthiest have NEVER paid less as a percentage of their wealth than they do now. That is fact #1. The bottom 80% have never paid MORE of their “wealth” than they do now.

Looking at record deficits produced by prior congress and veto shy GW.

sounds very much like the Netherlands. Many people go from secundary school right into the disability programs (most of them are ‘unable to work’ because they are extremely rude, lazy or have used too much drugs). In these ’social’ programs you receive the minimum wage and there are scores of wellfare workers that assist you to get free housing, all kinds of additional subsidies and all the other goodies of the wellfare state. Some lower-grade schools simply file a request for disability benefits for all their pupils in the 1st year, good service isn’t it? And of course, the Dutch wellfare workers are doing great, they have plush offices, drive expensive cars and have wages that are a lot above the median.

Of course the economy is going to crumble because of all this, but the Dutch don’t notice because their housing bubble is still inflating and providing tons of additional income - at least for homeowners, those who are working for their own income and have to rent in the free market are totally out of luck already.

Your housing bubble details agree quite well too with Netherlands (average income EUR 30K, median home price EUR 250K).

See - Globalization even applies to the segment of the population Rome used to keep placated with “bread and circus”… Something’s rotten not only in Denmark, but the rest of the world as well it appears.

“one doctor in town has made a fabulous living for herself by running a disability mill”

I’ll guarantee you she’s not a Repub either - all the health & human services pols here are Dems and they’are all about having the state take care of everybody. Lots of doctors, nurses, teachers and other public employees in our legisislature here so they can appropriate more $$$ for their agencies. I’ll bet Alabama isn’t much different.

Re to the Alabama comment you would not happen to live in jasper per chance would you?

Nope much further South, though Jasper being only 41 miles from Birmingham would be a GREAT improvement… (relatively)

RE: “one doctor in town has made a fabulous living for herself by running a disability mill”

Sounds familiar…A good friend of mine is the Medical Director for a rural health care clinic in Western Maine.

His biggest disease?

The ceaseless and unending whining and bitching because he won’t qualify people for SS-I disability payments.

No more Numba #1, GI!

Mmmm.. I lived in Europe for nine years and I find many aspects of the way of life over there absolutely wonderful. You would think the social safety net would be the end all - be all for society. It isn’t, it presents its own very complicated set of problems and you find as much resentment over its shortcomings over there as you do here with ours.

“Those poor deluded Scandinavians and other Europeans, taking four weeks of vacation per year, lazy fools, while Americans take two and like it.”

Who takes 2 weeks vacation? I have never had less than 3 weeks vacation at any full time job. Last full time job I had gave me 25 PTO days. Now that I work for myself, I take most Fridays off, take 2-3 weeks off in the summer and 1-2 weeks off in the winter. I could work less but I like what I do and don’t have the burning desire to sit on a beach for 4 weeks a la the French in August.

Just every once in a while as a political science instructor once said - the one party has a conscience and does something good for the people - it is government of the rich for the rich and always has been - It is becoming harder and harder to do what is good for the whole - divide and conquer and they have done that very well - people vote against their best interest all the time -

OK, earnest - describe that worthy and preservable culture for me.

What culture would that be, Ernest? The English culture? The red-neck culture? The inbred Anglo-Saxon came-off-the-prison-ship culture? That culture?

Multi-ethnic America isn’t just an idea–it’s real. My ancestors were four different nationalities, coming to this country from the Colonial period on and include farmers, engineers, and statemen, and not one of them was English. Heck, my great-grandfather was born in this country and his native language was Platt Deutsch, not English. And my ROMAN CATHOLIC forebears have been defying the dominant paradigm since 1792. Put that in your white bread Anglo-Saxon Protestant pipe and smoke it.

Well said, Mr. Gator, well said.

Comment by sartre
2008-04-01 09:15:30
Repub this, demo that…There are 35000 lobbyists for 500 odd members of congress. Thats about 70 each. There in lies your answer to why Washington politics is more and more divergent from middle class needs. Lets not fool ourselves into believing that left is better than right or vice versa. They are all on the take (usually from the same lobby groups). We have elevated corruption to an art form.

*****
Just had to repost this as it is always ‘us’ who are arguing over left/right when it is the 500+ lobbyists who pay off our congress. Doesn’t anyone remember all the
‘junkets’ where congressmen go to offshore countries to
“investigate” the “factories”…ie whorehouses and spas/resorts.
Something has to change for congress/senate to get back to (if they ever were) honesty. And the PUBLIC who voted them in based on their promises.

I don’t think Ernest was trying to say that the primary culture (yes, white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) is necessarily better than any other, just that there IS a primary culture. It was the people of this culture who built this country up (yes, with the help of immigrants who tried to become part of that culture).

Doubt it? Who wrote the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution? Who were this country’s presidents, even until this time?

We may agree or disagree about whether that culture is “better” than any others, but we should have a more cohesive culture that is decidedly American, rather than a hodge-podge of factions that refuse to get along with one another.

Forcing the dominant culture to “celebrate” and “welcome” often contradicting cultures is NOT the way to make us a unified nation.

BTW, I say this as someone whose mother immigrated to this country. She, and her immigrant friends, agreed that immigrants should try to assimilate if they are going to reap the rewards of living in this country. Their personal culture can be celebrated, but not at the expense of Americans and their culture.

Et-Chicago,
I do believe the model of choice is Argentina…wealth and ownership concentrated in relatively few hands, an overriding centralized government in conjunction with a politicized military.

gee, you don’t have to go that far south. the country bordering us down south is the model. one party for many many decades. lots and lots of poor without any opportunity to live a better life. etc. what can i say.

Are there truly poor people who have no choice but to ask for a handout? Sure. But of the 28 million, I have a sneaking suspicion most do have a choice and take the easy way out.

_________

You are right, in some cases. However, for another point of view, I suggest you read “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich.

One thing that is for sure: whatever system you set up, some people will exploit it. They may be poor welfare queens or they may be rich government lobbyists. I think the only solution is to bring back public shame for people who are found to be exploiting “the system” (whatever system is in place).

Whatever happened to good old shame? Sucks to live in a narcissistic society, huh?

http://tiny.cc/mHFV5

Ella, Excellent book to suggest. As most of the people who are earning basically nothing, we do not see.

Invisible people who just serve us, clean up for us, etc.
Invisible. And then the rest of us gripe on and on and on about people getting food stamps, or medical care or an education. How dare they want to survive.

I read one of her other books, a similar one where she pretends to be some bigtime ad exec who gets laid off and has to start over. It’s more about her loss of status than anything else. I actually know people who work for peanuts and bounce from job to job even in old age..they have a lot of dignity. They just work, wherever, doing whatever, and they have a helluva lot more dignity than Eirenreich down on her hands and knees washing the parquet and feeling how bad she must look to others.

what the heck are you talking about. you are throwing that 1100 income. i will bet you that the vast majority of the recipients of this largesse earn less that the than half of that. try living on 200 after your 350 rent.

A full time minimum wage job would be $1200 a month. I don’t care how bad the economy is, Burger King is always hiring. But it’s easier to live on the dole than flip burgers.

Meant to say, “Let YOUR left hand know not…”

It would seem that with all of her success and fame and fortune and recognition, she would find some personal satisfaction, that she’s evolved and self-actualized, that she’s served her purpose here on earth, and that she would feel confident, knowing that at the pearly gates, God would say to her, “Job well done” and that she could find some peace. NOT SO! She’s still gotta’ have her fugliness on every cover of every single issue of her useless magazine and continue to try and convince the rest of the world how amazing she is. It just makes you wonder about the true nature of her spirit and what she is trying to make up for or to prove and to whom, for God’s sake!

The ego is a stupendous thing indeed. We all have our hands full enough when alone. How much more burdensome to be bombarded with someone else’s .

It should be obvious that what happened was the rule of law was ignored and the regulators were asleep at the wheel. If people continue to elect politicians whose stated position is that they hate Government, this is the results.

mmm-hmm. regulators need regular regulating.

People are so stupid! I am almost ashamed to be human!

If the gas pipes in the vandalized house are damaged, the house will self-destruct in an hour or so.

Nice one!

Is the NAR still in denial about how many billions (trillions?) in home equity losses have already occurred since the bubble fever broke?

Apparently, since the phrase they use is “key to building wealth” or something like that when referring to home ownership.

Chronicles of NARnia?

“Chronicles of NARnia?”
Hah!

(add) prior to eligibility.

Agree 100%.

Unfortunately, because large corporations have rendered small businesses uncompetitive, most people are forced to “work for the man” in jobs that are largely stressful, unchallenging, and generally not condusive to life-long work.

Bye,

Happy Birthday. I would have never figured you to be born on April 1st.

Happy Birthday, Bye! Happy Birthday to yoooooooooo, Happy Birthday to yooooooooo, Happy Birthday to you, dear Bye Fla, Happeeeeee Birrrthday to yooooooo.
That was me singing festively.
And now, I suggest that for your birthday, you go right on out and do some sinning. Raise your voice in anger, call thine brother ‘Raka, thou fool’, look at a hottie salaciously…stuff like that. Sweet Baby Jeebus informs me that sins committed on your birthday only count for half as much. Is what I hear.

lol. You’re too much.

“Home cooked food tastes better and costs far less”

You have obviously never been around my house for dinner.

Class…..

What really amazes me is that people…

put in “high end kitchens” in their houses

…. but then eat out all their meals.

What do you expect? Its replicated

Kidding aside, chain restaurant food is generally unhealthy. Its hard to cook healthy food that tastes good. The kitchen staff in most chain restaurants is only semi-skilled, so the recipes call for lots of cheese, deep frying, etc.

You’re making me hungry, Colorado!

Another concern that I have with the chains is that the kitchens tend to be staffed with illegals, who are much more likely than the general population to be carriers of nasties like TB or Hepatitis.

Neat memory!

lol, I bet they’ve never driven I-95 and don’t realize how empty it is out there (of people–lots of trees, though).

‘Deliverence’ country.

Unless they were buying profitable timber land with that Cali Equity Locust money, they overpaid…

“a crappy poseur’s paradise, where useless Manhattan parasites could go to see and be seen”

have fun!

yeah, that’s what I’m saying

get a life

txchick, you sound really cruel.

But then again, I have a friend of mine who lives there and works here in the DC burbs. And I gotta say, he uh, well, he and his whole family kinda fall right into the stereotype. Only works because he needs some kind of income for beer, and then doesn’t work too hard. Complains when he has to mow the lawn more than once a month, and when he does, he has a beer cooler bolted on the lawn tractor. Wife is missing teeth, greasy hair. Exercise? Wassat? They spend the weekends watching dirt bikes race around while his house falls into ruin. Sad, but in many ways, some of the old stereotypes are kinda true.

(I also know a few folk from West Virginia pretty well who are educated, hard-working, and motivated. Oh wait, they are *from* WV and moved away. Doh! Natural selection?)

West Virginia is beautiful. Or it was before the raptor rich began lopping the tops off the mountains and filling all the valleys with sludge. The people used to be beautiful, too, even the white ones, which you gotta admit is rare in this country. I seen some people onetime there that hadn’t yet gone over to total methed-out Jessco despair and they all could have been in movies. Like Jessco, before he went over to total methed-out despair. It is not their fault their mountains turned out to have coal in them anymore than it’s the Arabs’ fault their deserts turned out to have oil under them. People don’t need to be throwing dirt on West Virginia, my God in heaven, consider your immortal soul now and then. It’d be like if you went over to one of those fly-eyed starving African children you see on the TV and poked it with a stick. Finally, if there is anybody here that thinks that Jessco is not awesome then there is something bad wrong with your brain and you should seek help before it metastasizes.

“I seen some people”? I take it that you yourself are a proud West Virginian?

Aw, bol’ your head. Why don’tcha do like that cruel chick told and git a life? Find something to do with your sorry collection of corpuscles besides pickin’ on innocents what calls it a slingblade. I done seen more people in one lazy afternoon than you seen in a whole lifetime of seein’. If you seen anything which I by God doubt.

(Nobody talks like ^. I am not trying to essentialize hillfolk or any other group, just working off the breakfast coffee. I also do not actually think anyone here should boil his head or that anyone needs to get a life or that anyone’s collection of corpuscles is sufficiently meager to demand remark.)

Like Texans are any better!

I thought I recommended to you to put your guns DOWN, Mr. Man!

I got notice from Bill Gates that he is considering handing his Microsoft business to me in the near future. I am so excited@

Link, please

The laugh is on us. I have the distinct impression we’ve all fallen for his troll for how many weeks now?

A commenter at KB’s new toon said:

“The sheeple reminds me of your typical Orange County resident. They actually think home equity is a permanent thing that never changes.”

Typical in San Francisco, too - especially so if one is under 45 and a used house salesperson!

I live in Atlanta as well. Before moving here I read over and over how affordable the city was. But it’s not really. If you want to live intown, in a safe area, Atlanta is incredibly expensive.

If you want to live 30 miles away in some dull subdivision with a 2 hour commute to work every day, you’ll find plenty of cheap houses. Same goes for houses/apartments where the sound of gunfire will soothe you into the evening. Either one of those two options could be free and I wouldn’t want one, each to his own though.

I’m just saying don’t expect to come to Atlanta and rent a 2 bedroom in Buckhead or Midtown for $600, it ain’t happening. And in Atlanta the terms “suburb” and “public transportation” are not uttered in the same breath.

I used to own a bungalow in Morningside. The intown areas have gone crazy in price. Further out areas like Smyrna are still cheap compared to similar places in other cities of the same size, however. Not exactly the most trendy, cultured or exciting area, but compared to Oil City, PA, its a major improvement, and only 20 minutes away from Midtown and Buckhead non-rush hour. You are correct though in that the suburbs have no public transportation.

“Winn Dixie had a ‘manager’s special’” Oh YEAH, the wings signs! I saw those! Somebody magic markered “We got cheap wings!!” or something like that on some fluorescent green posterboard and put the signs up on main street and 16th avenue to try to pull in traffic, and they’ve been there for a week or so. Winn Dickie must be deserted. If that and the huge uptick in garage saleage are not reliable signs that things in G’ville are turning southward fast, I don’t know what you’d need to see. A convocation of unemployed realtors grilling a puppy on a trash barrel fire?

Mmmmm puppy, the other white meat.

Bwa hahaha hah ha ah a choke gasp

I try to keep my heart out of investing decisions (difficult though it is for a man to do).

Keep me informed PB; you are my contrary indicator.

Don’t count on it. When and if I do buy yellow metal is my business. But I will have the good grace to tell you when I think you are getting irrationally exuberant.

No fill.

Bye FL,

not into weird stuff, take a hike

Lost -

Bye is too busy to take a hike. Haven’t you heard? He has caught Bill Gates’ attention. I’ll bet that at this very moment the two of them are huddled together, making websites and planning Microsoft’s relocation from Washington to Oil City, PA.

LOL!!! Will be glad to tell Bye G’bye.

(John Cleese accent) Terribly sorry old girl, I cahn’t SPELL “Chopard”…

Small town Alabama - 1 Wally World, 1 Food World - ummmm… Yep, that’s about it. Unless you want to drive 60 - 90 miles in all directions

Dothan?

Smack in the “Black Belt” (refers to the color of the soil, not the inhabitants)… It’s great micro example of what is happening to our country on the macro level. Almost too depressing to watch. Some of the mainstream academics, media types, and pols ought to come here to see the future of what they hath wrought for the rest of us.

And @ some point when the corp’se math-wizards figure out that your lil’ burb isn’t profitable anymore, they pull up stakes and vamoose…

Heheh… Too late - the damage has already been done - the local mom and pops (who were charging outrageous prices because they could) are out of business. The WallyWorld here stocks only the highest margin items because they can (think 3 premium vacuum bags @ $5.49 instead of 5 cheap ones @ 98cents) We’re a gold mine for Bentonville, but it’s still far better than the captive audience prices that existed before WM. Even the Foodworld had to improve or die. Good and Bad as always, Yin and Yan.

Once the corp’se leaves, you got bupkis.

Yeah, from growing up in a small town most don’t realize how bad things were before Wal-Mart. If you wanted something not carried by the local merchants (which was most everything) then it usually meant a trip to the Sears & Roebuck store to order it out of the catalog (they didn’t really stock much at these stores, just had the catalogs on the counter) and then wait a couple weeks for it to come in. Before the internet and Wal-Mart it was really an entirely different world in small town America, makes me sound old but I just happened to be a kid right at the tail end of that era. I am not a fan of the Wal-Mart corporation by any means but I can also see that there HAVE actually been some positive benefits.

On the other hand, most of the things you would order from Sears or buy in the mom and pop stores were actually made in America, and often what you were ordering or buying was a part to fix something that had broken - rather than throwing the whole thing away and replacing it. While it did provide a wider array of goods for people to have access to, Wal-Mart also did a lot to introduce even the most remote and rural areas of the country to the conspicuous consumption consumer lifestyle.

Yin and yang - you are so right.

You’re right! I’ll hold it in storage as my capital base for the leveraging I’m going to do when this thing goes through the ceiling! Good idea. Whoo Hooo (Homer Simpson).

Follow-up: Don’t bother, alad, you won’t find one. He graduated magna cum laude which isn’t even the highest designation (summa cum laude is).

Oh, well, top 10% or #1 in his class, what difference does it make, I’m just passing along what I heard at the local diner.

No, probably not (1576) but maybe close to 1500. We’ll see. Again, when the time comes to short again, nobody will want to.

Sure they will, but they won’t have any bullets left!

Pullback to 1350 a tradeable long position?

Ha!

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/04/internet-hoax-g.html

Change-my-name-to-Curmudgeon Dept.: God, how I hate April Fool’s Day. Are we done with the stupid holidays yet already? (Another good call, BTW, chick.)

“Traders are so stupid”, said Doug Kass bearishly.

Every now and then the bears get caught in a trap and poof.

“Prophesy all you want, but always hedge.” some Supreme Court judge- Oliver W. Holmes- I think?

My retirement is subject to the whims of idiots.

“Ha!”

Here I had thought the market rallied because I bought the dip yesterday. (April Fools — again!)