Bits Bucket For September 9, 2008
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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http://www.thestreet.com/story/10436149/1/cramer-the-fanniefreddie-bailouts-good-news.html?puc=homebigrelated
From the article:
“It is what I have been calling for. It is what I have wanted. So I can’t turn around now, even as I have been the world’s most vocal critic of the Treasury, and that it’s bad.
I will first put, in plain English, what I believe this plan will help do (the operative word is help, as opposed to hinder).
1. It will help stop the root of all financial evil right now, house price depreciation.
2. It will make mortgage money cheaper and more readily available.
3. It will slow the rate of foreclosures.
4. It will, if done right, not cost the taxpayer anything and could actually return money to Treasury through the preferred and common stock that the government is buying.”
The only way to stop house price depreciation is to continue to make available loans with very low credit and down-payment requirements. I am not seeing any talk of this at all in connection with these takeovers. If such loans continue to be made available, future foreclosures will continue to be created at a record rate. Bottom line when you are burned you are going nowhere
The bottom line for Wall Street is that they cannot foresee a functioning economy without incremental increases in debt. Every effort is being made to ensure that more debt can be arranged. There is a day of reckoning for the US in terms of having to actually address our growing dependence on other countries to buy our future debt. This system is ultimately bound for financial failure. The simple answer is that we need more affordability.
In regards to yesterday’s latest bailout: It won’t work. I can almost guarantee it. Home prices are going to fall anyway because the damage to the overall economy: jobs, stagnate wage inflation, and the overall lack of consumer spending power will ultimately land us in the exact same spot if the Government hadn’t spent billions trying to stop the slide.
Speaking of jobs, airline employees have been told, more jobs being slashed.
GOV is paying to keep American flying into Jamaica.
And loads are softening. I would say, based on my travels, that this year is going to be tough.Or after the elections is will be worse.
Bingo.
Personal debt is like a drug. In good times, it makes the highs higher, but eventually, you need a certain amount just to stay “even”. Then later, you need more and more just to stay even. That’s where we are now, with debt.
If there is a shock - like a supply disruption, such as the credit crisis - then, a withdrawal occurs. And that can be very painful.
So Wall Street is trying to find ways to make sure this drug - debt - continues to be as available, heck, MORE available, than it’s been in the past.
I mean, look at mortgage rates. 5.88% is quite low, at least over the past 30-some years. And yet, while a few years ago, that kind of interest rate was the spark which set the real estate market on fire, today, it’s not enough to get things back to “even”.
>> …with very low credit and down-payment requirements…
You have to have high down payments to weed out the walkaways. (It’s also known as “skin in the game.”)
One of the elements that’s new about all of this is that investors (also a new concept to all of this) were enouraged that they had nothing to lose if things didn’t go their way. That is why high down payments used to exist.
>> The only way to stop house price depreciation…
Why would you want to do this?
I just re-read your post GH and I should not have responded.
Sorry, just woke up.
The only way to stop house price depreciation is to continue to make available loans with very low credit and down-payment requirements
Even this might not work
Many people borrowed a lot thinking real estate can only go up. That’s all they had ever seen.
Now that they know real estate can crash in value, are they going to line up for loans. I think that even if loans were made available that it would only slow the decline.
One of the great misquotes from the Christian bible is “Money is the root of all evil” the quote from the Christian bible reads “The pursuit of money is the root of all evil”. What happened on the Street is “Pursuit” and discarding investors as useless.
The route of all evil goes right by Wall Street.
LOL
1 Timothy 6:10 for those who might be curious.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Thou shall not covet~
Yada, yada, yada.
Leigh
“1. It will help stop the root of all financial evil right now, house price depreciation.”
When you start with a bad premise, all further conclusions are null and void.
You don’t seem to get it packman. If houses were affordable buyers would pay less interest, which would mean less interest income for wall street. Less income for wall street is evil.
Precisely. Then, the “Masters of the Universe” might have to get real jobs (and they are barely qualified to flip burgers since they’d probably loot the register while nobody was looking), so we can’t have that.
Besides, debt-serfs are easily controlled. People with savings and good jobs, not as much. So, we know how they want this to play out.
“1. It will help stop the root of all financial evil right now, house price depreciation.”
Right, because keeping housing prices high and above the reach of average workers, unless they get interest-only/ARM mortgages of course (which started this whole mess to begin with), is going to be what saves the economy.
“Jim Cramer: Actually, we are building 60% fewer homes than we did two years ago and while the unsold inventory is up to 1991 levels — highest in 17 years — we have 40 MILLION More people than then, so it ain’t so bad. The demand can catch up to supply if supply is shrinking and demand is pent-up.”
Not sure where he gets his data from. While we may be building 60% fewer homes than we did two years ago (a stat which is doubtful but also meaningless given the stratospheric level of two years ago), last I check unsold inventory is way way above 1991 levels, per the U.S. Census:
1991 peak: 1,115,000 units for sale
Current: 2,169,000 units for sale
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/hvs.html
That’s my big problem with Cramer - not only is he an arrogant blowhard but he very often gets his facts completely wrong.
You take away Jimbo’s collection of audio-visual aids, and there isn’t much there.
Here is one he should use.
http://www.halloweenexpress.com/images/VA11.jpg
I’d like that. The show would go down to about 7-10 minutes.
I liken his show to what we experienced being babies hanging out in our cribs, with all sorts of things that made noise and moved around…
Back then we were less concerned about return on our deposits~
I’ve always taken a slightly different view of Cramer: he’s actually a pretty smart guy, but he’s not trying to help people invest better. He’s just trying to sell stock to help out his buddies. I think his show is a reflection of how stupid he thinks his audience is.
Can you imagine the contempt he must have for them that he plays animal noises to get their attention?
I think you hit the nail on the head with Cramer. There is nothing more important for to him to go to whatever cocktail party he’s attending and to be treated like royalty by CEOs, fund managers etc. He wants to be a celebrity in that world and the only way to do that is to pimp stocks, call for government bailouts, interest rate cuts or whatever else he thinks will help his friends. It also helps him get guests. A sure way to get Cramer to recommend a company’s stock as a buy is to have the CEO go on his show and genuflect before the great Cramer.
I always thought he was bipolar. Although you do witness much more manic than depressive.
“I’ve always taken a slightly different view of Cramer: he’s actually a pretty smart guy, but he’s not trying to help people invest better. He’s just trying to sell stock to help out his buddies. I think his show is a reflection of how stupid he thinks his audience is.”
in some ways Cramer is like Soupy Sales, except Soupy pandered to children…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_OioLUqcFo
Cramer has the unique ability to completely disregard things he has said only 24 hours ago. I saw him yesterday during the market rally saying that this proves “the bears were wrong”. I just watched a short piece on CNBC he did and there was no mention that the market has given back most of the gains it had yesterday.
His main goal is to be popular with his friends in the financial community and to get CEOs to come on his show. If I were a CEO that wanted him to say good things about my stock I would agree to do an interview with him, it’s a sure way to get him to talk about what a great guy you are and how great your company is.
40 million people didn’t arrive in the US yesterday. The population growth has occurred over time, and the housing market has (over time) dealt with it.
The difference in population between 1991 and 2008 is completely irrelevant when talking about excess inventory. What is relevant is how many people need housing but don’t have it and how quickly these people are buying the housing that they need.
It would be more accurate to say that since 1991 the growth in housing units has outpaced growth in population. However, I doubt Mr. Cramer would find such a statement to be in his best interests.
“I’ve always taken a slightly different view of Cramer: he’s actually a pretty smart guy, but he’s not trying to help people invest better. He’s just trying to sell stock to help out his buddies. I think his show is a reflection of how stupid he thinks his audience is.”
This is giving this fool way too much credit. I don’t think he has much intelligence at all. I believe there was some study that showed a monkey picked stocks better than he did. Maybe he does well be cause he is dishonest. He admitted to manipulating stocks when he was a trader.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202007/business/cramer_reveals_a_bit_too_much_business_roddy_boyd.htm
He also has says he didn’t say things he has said in the past or has taken credit for knowing things before others did (which he really didn’t). I really can’t believe CNBC lets him stay on, I would think he could end up being a big liability (i.e. Bear Stearns).
I”ve always thought he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Like “W”, this guy continually reminds me of why I disklike him so much. Both are major idiots elevated to positions exceeding their abilities.
Two painfully obvious examples of the Peter Principle.
If the 4 points above are so great and promise a bright future, then heck, let’s have the gov’t take over all our industries. We’ll have cheaper money to buy everything we could want and the gov’t will earn a profit and we can pay down the national debt.
*Snicker* Nice point. Sarcastically stated. I like it.
and the stock market will soar to new heights, to boot! oh, wait a minute…
A lot of people get Buzz Lightyear and Jim Cramer mixed up…
To Infinity and beyonnnddddddddddddddddddddddddd
The thing that i don’t really buy is that investors in F&F didn’t know that the investments were not legally backed by the full faith of the USA government . I’m sure that investors got disclaimers that stated this . To me this is just a excuse that Paulson used to do the bail-out and take-over.
In addition ,to even suggest that the taxpayers could come out ahead of the game with this bail-out is just plain BS. Same with the Bear Stearns bail-out .It’s always been about switching the bag-holder to the taxpayers being the bag-holder . It’s all about unrecoverable losses and who is going to pay them . It’s all about avoiding criminal and legal liability in a lot of cases .It’s all about taking the folly,greed ,and fraud of a entire industry and the borrower gamblers that went for it and passing on the loss to the taxpayers ,(or at least part of the loss ).
It was all set up legally who would win and who would lose if such a event would happen as a melt down of real estate prices . I don’t care if it would of caused Companies to go belly up .
Giving loans to get Companies through some bad times is
acceptable ,if it’s warranted ,but these outright bail-outs are
just money down the rat-hole . Who cares if Companies have to sell off their assets to survive or be eaten up by a stronger Company or just die . Sure there would of been a lot of pain ,but its seems like now the taxpayer is still getting a lot of pain and at the same time the economy is still crashing and people are getting laid off right and left .
As far as Crammer is concern ,he only cares about having a bull run on the stock market ,so his show is kept alive ,so he can make his little stock picks ,so people can make MAD MONEY and think hes a genius . So much for a bull run in that the stock market is going down today .
I care about not having to wait to get my money out of any of my several financial institutions who may well have failed in quick succession.
But the FDIC insurance would of covered you and I think most pension accounts are insured .
So, we all know the Auto industry is up next at the window, for a taxpayer handout. Then what? The airline industry? State pension funds? I would guess “they” will be sending out more ’stimulator’ checks around Christmas so retail will get a boost. It’s almost surreal, the D.C. and Wall Street gang are bound and determined to send us down the crapper, as we venture into areas no man/woman (p.c.correct) has gone before. I don’t intend to swirl down the toilet bowl.
A Risky High-Wire Act…
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Published: September 8, 2008
Is the definition of companies that are “too big to fail” getting broader? Or are some industries simply more important than others?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/business/09big.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
At least the automakers are promising to pay back the loans. Of course, if they go under that won’t happen.
RE: I don’t intend to swirl down the toilet bowl.
What’s your plan WMBZ?
I’m exploring dual citizenship.
A liberal-conservative?
IRS will collect unless you denounce your US citicenship.
Yep, IRS… Just ask Charlie Rangle of course his excuse was the well thought out…I didn’t know I had to.
Consider Panama.
They offer many attractive incentives to Americans and their banks are, shall we say… , known for their ‘creative’ solutions.
Interesting little slip there, methinks:
IRS will collect unless you denounce your US citicenship.
Actually, they will collect until you RENOUNCE your US citizenship, and even then under some circumstances they continune to collect.
If you only “denounce” your citizenship, as many people these days are perhaps prone to do (grin), you still have to pay taxes.
One need not surrender their U.S. citizenship to live overseas…
An example:
As a tourist you can stay for up to 3 months in NZ (extension to 6 months is easy to do), and pop over to Aussie for a few weeks, and come back and do another 6 months.
The downside to this is you can’t work, so you’d need some big bickies* to make it work…
* Aussie slang for a lot of money
Yeah, you can do that till NZ immigration catches on.
Or maybe they’re not as keen on catching people as Aussie immigration when I was there. Or UK immigration which invited a close friend of mine to a little “chat” for a few hours in temporary detention after playing that too often.
And yeah, the “can’t work” thing usually knocks that out anyway. But when I was in Oz, you could live dirt cheap — just so long as you didn’t drive, and didn’t have fancy dreams of living in Sydney/etc. A good little bush town, a cheap house with a tin roof and no aircon, outdoor dunny. Your bikkies can go a long way like that.
What do you do for health insurance? Correct me if I’m wrong, but you cannot qualify for the national health scheme in Australia (or other countries) unless you are a legal permanent resident. Which, incidentally, isn’t that hard to achieve, if you qualify for the “skilled migrant” visa, which essentially grants you the equivalent of a green card without any need to be sponsored by an employer. It’s even easier to qualify for New Zealand’s analogous visa.
For health insurance, we just bought private insurance. It wasn’t too dear, about $A 3k per year for a couple, maybe a bit higher now.
And in some other countries, you don’t even need a permanent residence visa to get free health care (paid for by your 10% tax surcharge, for example) — I still have my NI number from the UK/NHS, though whether it’s usable now when I have not even a short term work visa there, I dunno..
But if we’re talking about dual CITIZENSHIP, then you’re sweet, mate. You’re on the public medical system.
“I’m exploring dual citizenship”.
As am I… Honestly I am not sure what the best move is. So much “is” different this time. A few very level headed people that I know are voicing serious worry about our stability for the first time in their life’s. (We are in our 50’s)
These D.C. clowns, (both sides) are running us to ruin and we have to protect ourselves, they sure as hell are not looking out for our best interests.
Only problem with that is that most any other Western Country is as expensive, if not more so than the US. Want to go to Australia? Too bad. All their major cities are stupidly overpriced. As is Canasa ( where they make it impossible for non-original citizens to find work ahead of born citizens), New Zealand, where they- like everyone else had a boom and their only major city is again- overpriced. The same especially goes for most of Europe, the UK, France, etc etc.
Then again, I have relatives who live in Thailand.So if you don’t mind social unrest… its cheap as hell. Trust me- I’ve thought about dual citizenship too. My best chance I think still remains to be moving out of California and into somewhere cheaper like TX, TN, GA, NC, etc. I’m close to having enough saved from my California jobs to buy a house in any of those states, have a degree of retirement saved up,and so on. Even if I were to get a crappy little job, I’d still be better off than living here.
You can’t do that CA/TX dual citizen thingy here boyo. We’ll give ‘ya a horsewhippin’ and es-steal your CA driver’s license first thing. Besides, CA will still probably income tax you!
Only problem with that is that most any other Western Country is as expensive, if not more so than the US. Want to go to Australia? Too bad. All their major cities are stupidly overpriced. As is Canada ( where they make it impossible for non-original citizens to find work ahead of born citizens), New Zealand, where they- like everyone else had a boom and their only major city is again- overpriced. The same especially goes for most of Europe, the UK, France, etc etc.
Then again, I have relatives who live in Thailand.So if you don’t mind social unrest… its cheap as hell. Trust me- I’ve thought about dual citizenship too. My best chance I think still remains to be moving out of California and into somewhere cheaper like TX, TN, GA, NC, etc. I’m close to having enough saved from my California jobs to buy a house in any of those states, have a degree of retirement saved up,and so on. Even if I were to get a crappy little job, I’d still be better off than living here.
New Zealand is about the most reasonable place to live in the 1st world, right now.
Their $ has gone under 70 Cents, and their housing bubble is falling apart, a nice development in the scheme of things.
We’d like to buy a nice little place somewhere near the Southern Alps, but are in no hurry whatsoever.
Prices are still a little sticky and sales are dreadful, the prelude to a big drop…
NZ RE prices have been very sticky (near their all time high) for about a year now, despite building inventory. I’m not sure that a big drop is going to occur as wages are rising quickly compared to most of the developed world, and rates might go down a little (like in Oz). If the carry trade continues like in the last years, maybe the correction in the housing market will be relatively small?
Inventory is still pretty low, mortgages are cheaper than they have been for years, and sales volumes are not ‘dreadful’ - more like ‘typical for the season’, as compared to the irrationally high numbers of the past few years.
But the median annual income is still $46k or so, and the mean income is around $35k. So housing affordability is still poor and getting on the housing ladder is really difficult for wage-earners here.
Health care is part of the package if you’re a legal resident or citizen, but you do need to be a legal resident (and, naturally, tax resident) to get access to that ‘free’ health care. That said, private insurance is available and the ACC (disability programme) covers everyone, even visitors.
RE: Honestly I am not sure what the best move is. So much “is” different this time. A few very level headed people that I know are voicing serious worry about our stability for the first time in their life’s. (We are in our 50’s)
Well, “WMBZ”
I’ve always formulated a decent “back-up” existence plan my entire life.
At this moment I have no plan and am very unsure about which way to move.
But there’s no doubt about it. The US has had it’s day. Once the foreigners cut off the fed debt funding the system and the euro or yuan becomes the world’s reserve currency, the
fat lady has finished, and ya better make for the exits.
This F&F nationalization is the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent on the road to totalitarism.
It’s all very disconcerting.
I am 100% in agreement with you
We are a republic. We were founded by men who had studied the history of every great republic in history in detail. They did everything they could in the Constitution to maintain the republic from the issues that tempted and corrupted republics in the past.
They will go down in history 1000 years from now as heroes.
Over the past 100 years - the population of this country has little by little chipped away all the stop-gaps they tried to place in the Constitution and now the end is upon us.
People think we are at the same place in Roman History as their empire. People are wrong. We are currently at about 100 BC or so before the days of Julius and Augustus Caesar. It was a time of massive corruption. They, too, had two political parties in the Senate - the OPTIMATES and the POPULARES. Interestingly enough - they were philosophically almost identical to our two parties - one was Conservative and “business” oriented - the other more Progressive and “people” oriented. The one big difference I have been able to tell is that the Roman military was 100% aligned with the progressive liberal party - as opposed to our society. The two parties so hated one another - and almost always balanced each other out - that they never NEVER allowed the other side to get a “win”. Rather, they went through decades of sex scandals, political scandals, impeachments (executions, actually) and moral morass. There were major, huge, overarching issues that simply were not addressed - they could not come to an agreement without one side getting a win over the other - and sex scandals were so much more fun anyway. They then experienced their version of 9-11 - except in their day the death tally was 80,000. This too was at the hand of a loose band of terrorists. Their Osama was named Mithradates and they lost all direction and moral compass for a decade. In the end, the checkmate continued relentlessly in the Senate - until the people had had enough - and began to demand action - and thus the concept of “dictator” for life began to be bantied about - and on came Pompey and Caesar - the rest is history.
Our founding fathers knew this story and all the details - tried their very best to protect their offspring from the trial of history - but we have failed them.
History does not repeat itself - but it echoes loudly. We are at a critical turning point - I actually think we have already passed it. I firmly believe - that the pivot of history was in 1989 - that had we extended the TRUE hand of friendship to Russia in the 1990s instead of sending them our worst demons in the form of oligarchal capitalists - the world would be a much better place right now. But we had leaders - not unlike many Roman proconsuls - who were more interested in oil revenue and lining the pockets of their friends rather than the true interests of the country.
Such is life and such is history - I have come to peace with what is about to happen - and to those of you thinking about an escape to another country - it is times like these which happen at critical pivots in history - where there is NO SAFE HAVEN.
So as my beloved Republic is in its death throes ( just think about it - did you ever think you would see a Vice President candidate seriously considered who would be more appropriate for the Jerry Springer show ), I salute you and wish for you the best. The first thing that came to my mind when her name was announced was one single word - INCITATUS. What is that, you say? The Roman Emperor Caligula - had such absolute contempt for the legal and proper political process in his empire - that he decided to stick it in the eye of the Senate - the People and the Media - he appointed his HORSE, INCITATUS, to be the proconsul of the Roman Empire - basically his Vice-President. (The claim that Caligula was a wackjob and this pick the sign of his insanity is long-held but factually untrue - he was most definitely sane.) This is the same contempt behavior I see in McCain and the current Republican (OPTIMATES) party for their system of government and the people/media. This is exactly how this pick will go down in history - another INCITATUS - It just remains to be seen if the brain rot that sat in on Romans is as entrenched in Americans to knowingly elect someone who holds their intelligence in this contempt.
Good day all.
RE: So as my beloved Republic is in its death throes
Hellava post, Dagan68.
thanks for the great post!
Caligual was… wait for it…. around 29 years old at his death. He had a reasonable chance to outlive his horse.
I have been wondering about this as well. On the one hand the US has screwed up big time perhaps semi-permanently. On the other all the problems the US has are global so most places an American may go have the exact same problems and in many cases larger than the US versions of those problems. Sure the euro (for example) is doing better than the dollar now, but just wait for the bubbles in Europe to start collapsing. China and India have their own bubbles and (particularly in the case of China) have their own unique problems to will come to a head when the US falters more.
The only real ideas I have are Japan (since they have already had their housing bubble and Brazil (which I’m not entirely sure about).
The state pension funds are certainly in trouble, but they are in trouble slowly. It will be nearly impossible for them to justify a bailout for years and years. So, yeah, keep them on the list, but I wouldn’t count on them being the squeaky wheel for quite a while.
It would be a shame if GM/Ford/Chrysler all went under.
What would happen to all of those manufacturing plants in Mexico?
I think that they would actually survive. If the big 3 fold, they would probably be bought out by the Chinese, who would move any remaining UAW production away from the US. Some would go to China and whatever is already in the 3rd world would probably stay there.
Of course before this happens the big 3 might sell off their higher quality foreign divisions like Opel/Vauxhall and Mazda. The Mexican plants produce a mix of US and Euro models, some for export and others for the Mexican market itself.
I think good things could come from GM. They have the Chevy Volt coming out in a year or so. Toyota has pretty much “pulled the plug” on introducing a plug-in contender for the near future. Additionally, there’s marked improvement in the cars I see coming from both GM and Ford. I’m a serious Toyota enthusiast, but I have to admit that a lot of what GM has out there is nicer in many respects compared to the stuff Toyota makes today, which seems to be cars that increasingly resemble shapeless, un-sexy jelly beans.
I was thinking it would be a shame if the big three went under, until I remembered what horrible POS’s they build. My GMC Sierra, purchased new in 2005, has had more trips to the dealership than any vehicle I have ever owned in my life. Some of the problems have been major (replace front end (axel, etc.) at 40,000 miles which took weeks due to the striking parts manufacturers). I bought a new Toyota Tacoma prior to this truck, which I later sold never having had so much as a single problem. I’ll be buying a Toyota again. To hell with the “Big 3″.
Typical ignorant American car bashing. Go to your beloved Toyota dealership and look in the service department. You’ll see it full of various Toyotas in various stages of disasemble/reassemble/repair. Duh! Toyotas are no better than GM cars/trucks as a whole. Sure there are oddities and model specific problems, thats why Toyota mechanics are no more Maytag repair men than are GM mechanics.
Using the Tacoma as an example is laughable. You got lucky with yours, many are not so lucky with that POS. GMC Sierras are universally loved and have a fantastic reliability record. You were one of the unlucky few with the GM truck:
“The Tacoma is putting a big dent in American automakers’ truck sales but it’s also putting a big ugly dent in Toyota’s reputation for quality, reliability and service.”
http://www.mycarsucks.com/rants/toyota/2001toyotatacoma.htm
You gotta read this! Hilarious, tranny problems, unintended acceleration, brake probs, weird noises and……. frames breaking in half.
Tell me; just how awful does a Japanese vehicle have to be before people will bash a Toyota?
Personally I owned a Toyota pick-up with the 22r engine and it had the following record:
1) Valve job at 40k (blew huge puff of smoke when leaving from a stop)
2) Rear wheel master cylinders out at 65k.
3) Alternator 70k
4) 85k, first and second gear no longer work.
5) 85k, Traded on a Chevy Astro van which went 130k with just an alternator.
I had a Nissan Altima, total POS. Had a 1989 mustang, also POS. Dodge truck w/160K never in the shop, not once!
We Americans build good cars and trucks too!
I don’t speak from a position of ignorance, but rather knowledge and experience. It’s quite obvious you can’t say the same.
If you want to cite pathetic, unscientific examples such as message boards, etc., there are hundreds upon hundreds of pages of unhappy Sierra owners as well. Here are just a few of the problems plaguing Sierras of my configuration, all of which I deal with. Piston slap resulting in engine knock, excessive engine pinging unless using octane boost or premium unleaded, slip yoke grinding, extreme lash in the drive-train resulting in violent clunking during transmission shift, clunking steering shaft which needs repacked every 10 to 15 thousand miles, substandard front brake rotors which warp due to excessive heat buildup, lightweight gauge body steel which causes excessive highway noise as cabin roof wrinkles in wind. All of these, with the exception of the brake rotors, are not fixable as they are due entirely to substandard engineering. Not included are the many problems, such as the entire front end replacement, which I’ve had to repair.
Consumer Reports rates Toyota Tundra the most reliable full size pickup. Toyota Tacoma was rated the most reliable mid size. I’m sticking with my experience and knowledge, as well as theirs. Perhaps you know a thing or two about “ignorant Americans”.
Typical ignorant American car bashing. Go to your beloved Toyota dealership and look in the service department. You’ll see it full of various Toyotas in various stages of disasemble/reassemble/repair. Duh! Toyotas are no better than GM cars/trucks as a whole. Sure there are oddities and model specific problems, thats why Toyota mechanics are no more Maytag repair men than are GM mechanics
Using the Tacoma as an example is laughable. You got lucky with yours, many are not so lucky with that POS. GMC Sierras are universally loved and have a fantastic reliability record. You were one of the unlucky few with the GM truck:
“The Tacoma is putting a big dent in American automakers’ truck sales but it’s also putting a big ugly dent in Toyota’s reputation for quality, reliability and service.”
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota_tacoma.html
You gotta read this! Hilarious, tranny problems, unintended acceleration, brake probs, weird noises and……. frames breaking in half.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota_tacoma.html
As a long time Toyota owner, let me add my two bits. I have owned a Forerunner (80k miles), a T100 p/u (205k miles), and currently own an FJ Cruiser (35k miles) and a new Tundra (4k miles).
I have friends who have run their Toyotas for over 400k miles with nothing but standard maintenance. No troubles. I also drove an 82 Celica for many years (ex’s car) and never had a problem.
With all the miles on my Toyotas, the only thing I ever had to do was replace a clutch on the T100 at 100k miles, I tend to wear out clutches with the way I drive (lots of backroads and I tend to clutch and brake rather than gear down).
There’s a reason Toyota has so many loyal customers. When I traded my Forerunner off, the value exceeded the new T100 pickup, so I basically traded straight across. When I sold my T100, I got twice what a comparable American-made p/u would have fetched, had it still been running.
My dad was a Ford man, and we always compared vehicles, mine would be tight and steady and like new while his would have the knobs falling off, etc. He garaged his and babied them, I drove mine through hell. He finally bought a Toyota as his last vehicle, even though he swore he’d always buy American.
(BB, if you see this, lost your email)
As posted earlier,
Gov is paying AMR to continue flying into Jamaica.
But svc has stopped into other islands.
Ben
Maybe you should post more articles about what conditions people are getting or ‘aren’t getting’ when they apply for a loan. The prices going down everywhere story is so interconnected with financing. I’d be keen to know more about what terms ‘investors’ are picking up when buying second homes etc.
One recent article you posted showed how difficult it can be to get funding for ‘investors’. Thanks
Anecdote from S.C.
The receptionist at my wife’s office who is around 23, 6 months pregnant doesn’t have any saving lives pay check to pay check. Her husband has very poor credit, just closed on a house last week. They got an FHA loan with the 3% down as a ‘gift’ from that program that’s shuts down in Oct. Supposedly.
Condo sales in downtown Columbia have slowed way, way down. So of course a large developer from Atlanta Ga. Holder Company is building a huge new complex in hopes all the College kids parents will buy them.
When I was a lad, precious few people had college loans and even fewer had condos near campus bought on spec by mom & dad.
The debt cord has ben laid and the fuse lit…
I wonder when that industry geared up. I worked in the financial aid office at my school 79-82. They were pretty busy. Back when even the private schools were only asking in the low $10k’s and the state schools were much, much cheaper.
same here in Netherlands: in my college period students rode a bike (if it wasn’t stolen again), now most of them drive a car. Housing was something you could rent after being on a waiting list for at least a year or so: now students (or their parents) buy student rooms or complete homes in the big cities. The cost of these student rooms is as much as a complete home some years ago - thanks to the fact that you can get a mortgage (and government subsidies) to buy such a student room. Tuition is still far cheaper than in the US, but also climbing at double digit rates especially for medical and other ‘elite’ educations.
One of my lab partners lived in a family condo back in ‘83. Very convenient for our project that involved sanding. (The woman I rented a room from would not have approved of the dust.)
The receptionist at my wife’s office who is around 23, 6 months pregnant doesn’t have any saving lives pay check to pay check.
A first-year attorney at my wife’s firm is living paycheck-to-paycheck. No savings, no 401k. Starting salary at the firm is $160,000 so that’s somewhere in the range of $7000-8000 a month after taxes. The attorney has just a small amount of student loans, but is presently bailing out her parents, who went out and bought a vacation home last year… My wife was shocked, told her about how just $100 a paycheck into a 401k is a start and that the paycheck will be reduced by less than $100 due to the tax deferment, etc. Nope, the young lady can’t spare a dime in her paycheck.
At a law firm I used to work for, a first year associate had managed to save only about $1500 in the first year working (with high salaries, though short of today’s $160K starting point). She decided that there was a pair of leather pants from some high end designer that she simply had to own. She cashed out the 401k (with penalty) to buy the pants. I couldn’t believe it.
This is not a direct answer to your question, but it may shed some light.
Federal Reserve Statistical Report
Consumer Credit
http://federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/Current/
Leigh
But, you fail to understand that there never were any “investors”.
All those loans were for “primary residence” or a second vacation home.
The really did intend to move in, when they sold off their other houses.
So…….nothings really changed, so long as you can write fraudulent loan applications and sell them to the secondary market, now the Taxpayers of the USof A.
So, i guess there is a change. Some of us will pay for the speculations of others.
Well, i guess, that’s not really new, either.
That’s the kind of woman I run from.
I can speak for central Fl and it is darn tough to get a loan with a good credit score and 20% down. The reason is simple. We are still in free fall and even though you hear we are near a bottom noone has any confidence in the news.
Who could after all the lies we hear daily? So many experts. It is like walking point on a patrol. Don’t trust what you hear and see, only your gut.
I am sweatin’….
Central FL won’t be near bottom until homes are about 75/sq/ft (including the land) for “nice” cookie cutter homes. Central FL doesn’t have the job engine of coastal FL (which isn’t saying much), and there’s simply NOTHING but land as far as the eye can see in every direction. The climate is not like coastal FL, it’s cold in the winter, and unbearable in the summer.
You might see homes at 50/sq/ft in that area, I don’t know how overbuilt it is, but there’s NO way it can support coastal FL prices, and they are already approaching 100/sq/ft again.
Its one thing to vacation there, quite another to live and work for a living there. The Mouse mostly pays menial wages.
People in Orlando are still dreaming. I live over in the Lake Nona area. Wishing prices are still between $400k and $600k. Nothing sells. Homes will be listed and be taken off after 90 days only to reappear a few weeks later. If you look at any of the wish prices and compare them to Zillow, they are usually $100k more than Zillow has them at.
Took my kid to meet the teacher a few weeks back and I felt like i was in a third world country. It is an A-rated school but for Florida, I am not sure that says too much.
Because almost no one spoke English or was dirt poor? Or was it the physical condition of the school?
Likely the overwhelmingly latin contingent is what disturbed the poster above. The schools there are generally brand new built to support the boom in housing/population growth. A lot of the newcomers are latin though. My kids had a soccer game there last weekend - everyone spoke spanish, coach and kids.
Which is good, I think, as it generally gives some flavor to what was a backwoods redneck area.
His class was going to be 80% hispanic. We actually moved him to a class where it is 60/40 but there are about 6 Kindergarten classes and i would say the split is about 50-50. With his first teache, was speaking Spanish to the kids and to the parents.
The condition of the school is beautiful. It is a combo YMCA and grade school.
Lake Nona Country Club is right next door. (sergio garcia and others reside there) There are a few “upscale” areas right around there so I am not sure how the district is set up but i was unpleasantly surprised.
A 90% Spanish speaking school district in TX recently couldn’t place a (hispanic, not that it matters) student into an English speaking class the parents wanted. So much for basic assimilation.
You are in a 3rd world country. For 30 years now, the floodgates of illegal aliens have been open. No one stops them. we have “latino’ gangs all over the County here in Florida. So, now, we have to expend resources to control the gangs….. and pay for all their criminal activity.
They should have been rounded up and deported. Instead, we provide breakfast and lunch for their kids in our schools.
Welcome to the new “multi-cultural” Amerika.
And, who exactly let them in?
And, the question Lou Dobbs never asks: why where they let in?
—
There is an answer to the second question.
I don’t know why you’re bashing Lou Dobbs. I suppose the answer you’re looking for is that businesses want cheap labor that is intimidated into not demanding employment rights. I think Dobbs has been vocal about that reason, and the Party/ies responsible.
It’s already at $75/sq ft., for cookie cutter homes in central FL. Depends on area of course. I’m paying $90/sq ft. at tax appraised price, which is 15% higher than what I could sell it for.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. It costs $50 sq/ft +- $5 to build a quality house with very nice features. Well built, much better than what is usually sold.
So wouldn’t most people with bulletproof credit and plenty of money for a down-deposit on a house, already own one already?
Why yes, they would.
Another one of those “underreported” things out there, but to get NET new buyers we need to have the homeownership rate go UP in this country. Otherwise, with a death rate > birth rate (which, I believe we have) and slack immigration, there’s nothing to drive more homes to be sold. Yes, the mega-rich can buy a few more each, but that’s a drop in the bucket.
People (like many of us) with good downpayments and good credit can’t save the market. First off, most of us (who don’t own) aren’t looking to buy anytime soon. Second, we are going to be vultures, looking for rock bottom pricing. And third, there’s not NEARLY enough of us to make a dent in the problem.
Even if you take away the downpayment requirement, there’s not enough people with excellent credit left (who don’t already own a home) to absorb the inventory. Add in the 10-20% downpayment and normal DTI ratios….. Game over.
And don’t for get $500K at ZERO percent is still…$1389 a month, then add in TAXES, insurance hoa/condoze fees, any repairs…plus heating and cooling….
easily $2500+ a month $30K a year…at Zero interest for 30 years..
Yes, but if I sell it to you for more than I “paid”, then you sell it back to me for more again… Suddenly the payments become affordable. We need a Government Sanctioned PONZI scheme for the next bailout (GSP). Vote YES for prop: GSP!
And Central Florida (where I own some property!) was ground zero for people selling condos to each other. That’s all anyone was doing for the past 5 years there. Even though there were some levels of indirection (it didn’t go directly back and forth from party A to party B) it was pretty close. Little sh*tbox condos would be bought and sold 5 times before they were even built!
And there was almost NOTHING in Orange County FL priced under $417 (the old conforming loan limit). Basically, since anyone could get some I/O or option-ARM, the floor quickly rose to the conforming loan max.
And! There’s still a TON of empty land even in Central FL. Why would anyone buy “investment condos” between two empty 60 acre parcels? But people lined up to do it!
So what are $10/hr Disney employees doing these days to supplement their income?
But if it’s a zero interest I/O loan, then it’s affordable.
In my business I deal a lot of Disney people.
Many,. many of them were trying to flip condos for profit. And it seems like everyone’s wife was a real estate agent….
Many,. many of them were trying to flip condos for profit. And it seems like everyone’s wife was a real estate agent….
Well, if they made a 40K profit on the flip they basically tripled their income, or even more, as many are only part timers.
Its no wonder so many people pounced on the bubble. They earn poverty wages in their day jobs.
A few of them did make money. But most were bagholders. The only ones I know who made anything got in and out. Buying things while they were being built and then selling them. Folks who thought they’d rent it out for a couple of years and make some really big bucks almost always lost.
>death rate > birth rate (which, I believe we have) and slack immigration
Not according to the US Census Bureau:
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States, projected to 09/09/08 at 13:35 GMT (EST+5) is
305,104,068
COMPONENT SETTINGS FOR SEPTEMBER 2008
One birth every……………………………. 7 seconds
One death every……………………………. 13 seconds
One international migrant (net) every………… 29 seconds
Net gain of one person every………………… 9 seconds
It seems to me the trend in deaths/sec. has to skyrocket at some point given the current demographics.
1st & 2nd world immigrants must be coming in at a trickle, and 3rd world immigrants here already are going back home in droves, so like most current government statistics, it doesn’t pass the smell test, when logic assails it.
“1st & 2nd world immigrants must be coming in at a trickle, and 3rd world immigrants here already are going back home in droves, so like most current government statistics, it doesn’t pass the smell test, when logic assails it.”
Yep. Given that those stats include illegal aliens, which the census has no way of accurately measuring, they are most likely way off.
> 3rd world immigrants here already are going back home in droves
If you are talking about Mexicans & Central Americans, yes but that is a very recent phenomenon. Up until 2007 it wasn’t really true with the housing bubble still going strong so the Census data maybe 1-2 years out of date. Going forward there will be less immigration into the US whether it is 1st, 2nd or 3rd world just because US economy won’t be in a good place for a long period of time.
It seems to me the trend in deaths/sec. has to skyrocket at some point given the current demographics.
Maybe burial plots will be the next bubble industry. I say this only half in jest.
Yep. Given that those stats include illegal aliens, which the census has no way of accurately measuring, they are most likely way off.
In Texas the Census “estimates” and then the state sues to get the “estimate” revised upwards to get more Federal dollars and another House seat.
Why would illegals return home? Here there is food, free medical care, law. Why return to a place where all three are missing?
“So wouldn’t most people with bulletproof credit and plenty of money for a down-deposit on a house, already own one already?”
Exactly. I believe nearly everyone who could walk upright already “owns” a home. There now exists a major Catch-22 situation. Even assuming they can qualify for another mortgage (big assumption), they can’t buy another home until they sell their existing home. Gridlock.
It’s the impasse that will take down real estate prices much further than anybody could anticipate…
“most” but not “all” persons who could buy a home have already done so
How about us here at HBB? Most of us could buy a house with appropriate down payment etc. We are just choosing not to.
RE: I am sweatin’….
DD-
Are you doing any conventional appraisal work at all?
If so, what is are the processor/underwriters like?
I read somewhere that banks et. el had trashed a lot of their experienced people and implemented “B” teams so as to save money. Th A Team was certainly never the brightest on the block, so I can’t imagine what these terrified (oh, you can bet the whip is crackin’ in the back room) newbies must be like.
Are the reports repeatedly being kicked back?
Are the “known” number hitters and hacks in your territory still in business?
I have no idea why any bank would waste $$$ on an appraiser if they’re not obligated by law to use a “licensed professional” to do this work.
Wouldn’t it be more accurate just to find the 5 most recent comps, be 15% lower than the most recent one, plus an additional 3% per month if the comps are old. Maybe do a drive-by and subtract another 25% if the place has been trashed.
There! An accurate appraisal for much less money.
RE: I have no idea why any bank would waste $$$ on an appraiser if they’re not obligated by law to use a “licensed professional” to do this work.
Why a bank would waste $$$ on an appraisal…To get an idea of exactly WTF it is you’re lending money on….but with securitization, it was somebody else’s money. So who gave a rat’s azz.
However;
Your quick and easy analysis was pretty much standard for the appraisal biz when I left.
A couple of pix from a drive-by; some stale or bogus data and a pre-determined number picked from the air.
You can see the result.
Your quick and easy analysis was pretty much standard for the appraisal biz when I left.
A couple of pix from a drive-by; some stale or bogus data and a pre-determined number picked from the air.
You can see the result.
But that’s not what I proposed at all! I suggested finding the lowest price of *any* sale (which includes foreclosures, auctions, etc.) and undercutting it by a healthy amount.
What was going on before when you were doing it was an inflating of prices.
I have no idea why any bank would waste $$$ on an appraiser if they’re not obligated by law to use a “licensed professional” to do this work.
The bank waste $$$ on that? Sure, it’s not their dollars! It’s the buyer’s dollars. When you look at the sales forms, there it is, $300 appraisal fee.
Interestingly, when we refi’d our house with ING, the appraisal cost $15. Nice! But that’s one reason we chose them. I think they followed your advice, just took the lowest prices, knocked off some %, and made sure the house still existed.
I see that the talking heads on TV today (I’m out in oil country - big time difference) are saying that this F/F bailout is great for first-time homebuyers? Ya think? You mean those people who don’t have a home they have to sell first and have no chance of unloading without bringing cash to the table? I agree with Dime and Michael - we’re headed to $100/ft fast on the coast, so inland should yield much less. $50/ft (including land) might well be the bottom but IMO that’s a very decent price relative to current incomes. I’ll pay $75-100. but I want pretty good quality, concrete block vs. stick, etc.
I suspect that this is the preamble to the return of funny money.
First they are going to “save” Freddie and Fannie, next they will save FB’s, then they will reignite the bubble.
I wonder if mortgage debt will become like a tax liability now that the debt is to the federal government…. no way out via bankruptcy… This would likely only apply to future loans from this socialized mortgage program. Time will tell.
At least the government can get enough workers to do deficiency judgements. Or they can contract it out.
I can’t wait to hear a story about a deficiency judgement. “But but but … I didn’t know they could DO that!”
A co-worker of mine recently bought a home with 3% down - good credit - engineering job. Has credit tightened that much in the last three months?
Our buyers closed 31 days ago at 6.5% interest with 8.5% down. They sold a $120k house and bought a $230k house.
Many fiscal conservatives are unhappy with the Paulson move:
Many conservatives were unhappy with the implications of major government intervention in the financial markets. Peter J. Wallison, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, called the takeover “very un-conservative” and said the government would have been better off placing the companies into a regular receivership.
“I don’t think Bush and the White House had very much to say here, and I don’t think they thought it through much,” said Wallison, who served as White House counsel for President Ronald Reagan. “They thought [Paulson] would make the right decision, but he didn’t.”
Whatever you think of the Fannie/Freddie maneuver, Paulson was apparently given wide latitude on both the implementation and the details.
The White House, of course, claims they were aware of the dangers all along. Press Secretary Dana Perino said, “It is exactly the kind of event we warned about and tried to prevent over the years.”
Many fiscal conservatives are unhappy with the Paulson move
The “duh” was implied, but I figure I’ll say it before someone else does.
“I don’t think Bush and the White House had very much to say here, and I don’t think they thought it through much,” said Wallison, who served as White House counsel for President Ronald Reagan. “They thought [Paulson] would make the right decision, but he didn’t.”
That has got to be the most ridiculous quote to come out of the AEI ever. Didn’t have much say? Even if Paulson deceived the White House about wanting the blank check but probably not needing to use it, the law that gave him the power to do it was passed by Congress and signed by Bush. Paulson works for Bush directly. The idea that this wasn’t approved by the White House is moronic. Not thinking it through is another story. The deal hasn’t gone through yet. I bet they can still take it back.
I think Wallison is right in the sense that the White House leaned on Paulson to figure everything out without really “managing” him — as in, just get it done, we don’t need to hear a lot of blah blah blah about numbers and stuff.
The move had to have been at least tacitly endorsed by the WH, of course, but the current denizens of 1600 Penn. Ave. seem singularly incurious about policy issues, even critical policy issues like this takeover.
That’s the way I read the quote, at least.
I think lots of decisions are left to departments. There are lots of tax cases where the legislature has passed some broad law to tax a certain thing, and then left it for the IRS to figure out how to define what qualifies as that thing.
Actually, i believe the story.
What i have witnessed under the Bush Administration is Croney Capitalism at its best.
Bush, apparently an incompetant idiot, will find someone like Michael Brown to run FEMA, or a good-ole boy from Goldman-Sachs, like Paulson, and just let them run things……til they go wrong.
He just trust the people he gave the job to fix everything and goes along and signs whatever documents they draft.
I think Bush really believes he is doing what is best for the country because he has been sold the plans by his cronies.
He trusts them and their decisions, which is why he has been all the more a bungling fool in the highest office in the world.
Deciding to do whatever your subordinates want to do is making a decision. And if you decided to let whatever they wanted to do go, you did have something to say about it, but chose to rubber stamp. Hands off management is still management - it just isn’t always good management.
Deciding to do whatever your subordinates want to do is making a decision.
You got it. It can be a decision to make a bad decision. But it’s not the first time we’ve seen that. Sigh.
Keeping in mind that I’m not anti-Wall-Street in most cases, I really think that here the guy at the top of this mess sees this as a chance to help not only his friends in Wall Street but also to keep alive that ridiculous and misguided push he’s been making over the years to get more and more people to be homeowners — and to saddle the rest of us with the inevitable side effects of that policy.
Bush is, after all, “the decider”.
Yawn. What makes you think that the president doesn’t get briefed about how deep the banks black hole is. If not, I’m sure the Chinese mentioned it. And I bet Quadaffi brought it up with Secretary Rice.
“That has got to be the most ridiculous quote to come out of the AEI ever.”
When has any statement from the American Enterprise Institute StinkTank ever been serious? They’ve long since been established as professional liars.
WH spokesperson,Dana Perino, couldn’t say shit with a mouthfull.
It is just easier for citizens to hear bullshit from a pretty blonde white woman than it is from a man. Humans tend to overlook the truth when a speaking ‘pretty person’ is talking.
For all Congress and the Senate knows ,Paulson could be a madhatter ,yet this man is given this sort of power to make a deal over the weekend .At the very least, Paulson was one of the Wall Street Boys and he would be bias toward whatever benefits Wall Street . His objectives going in are to spare Wall Street any pain .
Housing recovery begins:
http://tampa.craigslist.org/hdo/reb/832975080.html
Yeah, right.
I don’t see what they’re advertising (?) since they can’t “sell” a housing recovery…
Anyway I’m motivated to chime in on “housing recovery” because last night on Charlie Rose’s show, Nouriel Roubini said house prices would decline another 15% before bottoming out in late 2009. I don’t believe he thinks this at all. Roubini knows the Zelman chart as well as we do. He is probably just playing CYA for fear of being accused of trying to promote a panic. I believe (and I think he does too) that the housing decline must persist into 2012 at least.
the internationalist think it’s cool that we socialized our mort system- like eu and japan
0 growth to come
Anybody seen this year’s must have for CEO’s?
Cordless Golden Parachutes
HOLD YOUR NOSE FOR THIS ONE…………………………
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September 9, 2008 –
MICHAEL Jackson’s notorious tighty whities are up for grabs. A pair of size-28 Calvin Klein white briefs once belonging to Wacko Jacko will be auctioned on eBay tomorrow, with a reserve price of $1 million. The unwashed underpants have a sensational past. They were part of the evidence confiscated in 2003 by then-Santa Barbara DA Tom Sneddon, who wanted a DNA sample for his unsuccessful child-molestation case against the washed-up King of Pop. The briefs are part of a stash of Jacko artifacts offered by New Jersey businessman Henry Vacarro, who obtained them in a bankruptcy case. For extra authenticity, the briefs come sealed in an evidence bag and wrapped with police tape. Also being sold are the Gloved One’s handwritten note explaining why he wants an annulment from Lisa Marie Presley and a used half-ounce tube of skin-bleaching cream.
Mr. Brownstain.
That is disgusting!
1000 Apologies. My disgust for Mr. Jackson knows no bounds. The man is a society endorsed pedophile.
He must be pretty desperate for cash again.That guy has turned into a real wierdo for sure.He should have been in a prison cell a long time ago.
According to the post, it’s not him that is selling the items nor he who will benefit from his personal items being sold. Someone else is selling property of his that the gov’t confiscated from him and did not return. The same gov’t that did not get a conviction of him (proven innocent, no?) Yes I think he is a freak, but I can see where it was caused by his parents / family / upbringing.
“Yes I think he is a freak, but I can see where it was caused by his parents / family / upbringing.”
Isn’t that the truth for all ‘Freaks’?
Agreed.
Small story. I took kids roller skating this summer few times. For those of you in your 50s and above and may not know, they play LOUD music at such venues. I can handle, enjoy even, all kinds music. Plus, the place is for kids. However, I can not handle Mr. Jackson singing Beat It while the kids go merrily around the oval. So I go over to the manager, and without hemming and hawing, tell him that he should pull Mr. Jackson from the play list for reasons you espouse. Manager listens, it seems. Then he says he’ll talk to the owner. She calls house later in week (we leave emergency contact phone numbers at the rink on file case adults sneak out for some reason). And she says that she agrees and that she’ll stop playing the music. Whether they do or not, I’m not sure, but speaking up can make a difference.
ABC, it’s easy as one, two three.
Such a waste of talent.
A wasto of a human being.
How much would my payments be on the nut-huggers?
I wouldn’t want his underpants, but I would love to buy Neverland! I think it’s off the market again.
So I watched ’ssshrubery’s hottie going all 1984 on us yesterday (masquerading as Dana Barrett from Ghostbusters?) talking about FanFred, in a press conference, and she laid the blame on everybody else, not surprising.
Who ya gonna call?
Truthbusters!
========================================
“Meanwhile, Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) of 55 Central Park West, explains to the Ghostbusters of a paranormal experience in her kitchen centering around the name “Zuul”. Peter sees the opportunity to get romantically closer to Dana, and explores her case on his own. He explains to her that Zuul was a demigod worshiped around 6000 BC by the Hittites, Mesopotamians and Sumerians and a minion of Gozer, and then offers to go on a date with her. However, on the night of the date, Dana is abducted and possessed by a dog-like beast in her own apartment; Peter arrives to find her awash with paranormal energy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters
I posted the other day about a couple, my wife works with her, who is buying what I thought to be an overpriced house. A new tidbit I thought I would share. They are waiting to see if the appraisal is going to come in high enough because “according to the realtor, our offer was top dollar.”
I just don’t get some people. Literally all they would have to do is check craigslist or the paper to see they are paying too much.
Some places aren’t so cut and dry. I live in a rural area where comps are hard to come by. We don’t have many development so the homes aren’t cookie cutter. You have to match the style, size of home and size of lot to find something comparable and it might not be in the same town. There were 3 homes sold in my town last month. Try finding 3 comparables!
There are plenty of comps. It is a town entirely full of subdivisions. It’s basically a suburb of Little Rock.
RE: MICHAEL Jackson’s notorious tighty whities are up for grabs.
More evidence of a society in full decline.
Let me pose a situation and get some feedback.
Relatives are in a tight spot and we are wondering
if we should help them out.
They bought new in 2006 for $480,000, now the house
is worth less than half. Infact we saw a house in their sub-division
with the same square footage sellling for $149,000.
They have about $100,000 in the house, so they are
upsidedown. If they walked, and we bought them a house
for cash and they rented from us,they could eventually
pay us back from a sale of 2 other condos they own.
We could purchase a house for about $170,000.
Are we crazy for wanting to help???
Could the bank go after the 2 other properties they own outright
if they walk from the house???????????
Don’t walk from this deal. RUN!
You are certifiably crazy for wanting to “help”.
You’re helping no one. Run away, girl, run away!
That was funny and made laugh.
I don’t think anyone is going to give you advice about this beyond “go talk to a lawyer.”
I agree.
Or just give them the money and pretend the money never existed. If they pay you back great, if not no sweat.
Do not count on getting the money back under any conditions. If banks are folding
Now is the time to stand behind the free market mantra. Stand back and let that mess come apart beachgirl.
What locale do you speak of?
Never get involved with family members when it comes to money. You’ll end up with less money than you started with and strained conversations at the next Thanksgiving dinner.
beachgirl:
We plan to help family & friends out financially, but only after everybody’s hit bottom and there is no schizoid set of parameters to contend with, like yours…
Your relatives need to become renters, but you don’t need to become a landlord.
i wouldent even trust my own mother in a situation like this (shes already proven herself untrustworthy). people always think you dont need the money when it comes time to pay back the loan.
i would like to make my comment more clear( i dont want to look like a tyrant). my mother borrowed alot of money from me to keep the IRS off her due to a failed business venture. i dident want to see her lose everything she worked so hard for and i was glad to be able to help. it was when she pulled up into my driveway 2 months later in a brandnew ford explorer that pissed me off. she told me that she couldent get a loan when she asked me for the money. when i talked to my father about it, he told me she said “they dont need the money back, their rich” i came unglued, that was all the money i had and it was my daughters college fund that i started when she was born. i did get the money back in payments, but i will NEVER again loan money to anyone.
My philosophy is that if a bank won’t lend them money - despite its much greater capacity to absorb the risk than mine as an individual - then I would be foolish to do so. And if a bank WILL lend them money, then let them borrow from the bank. So in short, I don’t lend money to anyone. No exceptions.
Assuming they can’t afford their payments, which you didn’t say, but it sort of sounds that way, tell them to rent an apartment before their credit rating tanks. Then they can try to talk to the bank about a short sale (very unlikely since it sounds like the bank would have to take bath on over $200K). Then they can mail in the keys and just walk away if their mortgage is non-recourse. Then they can try to sell the other places. Then they can wait for their credit rating to come back and use the money from the sales of the other units as a down payment or buy another place for cash.
Or, if their credit is so bad they can’t rent an apartment, they could just move into one of the condos and sell the other while walking away from the house.
If the mortgage is recourse and the lender knows about their other assets, they might be in trouble, but other than that, they have lots of options. Why would you get involved?
Also, how the heck do you know they can sell the condos for what they told you they can?
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO
NONONONONONONO
NONONONONO
AM I SCREAMING AT YOU LOUD ENOUGH????????
NO they were so DUMB they couldn’t use a calculator and figure out they couldn’t afford the place
“There is no analysis [about how much this will cost taxpayers.] We didn’t sit there with a calculator and figure this out.”
‘abacus’ Paulson
God forbid they do this without doing the appropriate homework first
There are worst case estimates of total financial armageddon, and rosy best case estimates. They no doubt aimed in the middle. The estimate of exactly where in the middle it was is kind of worthless.
DON’T. DO. IT! You’ll all be sorry! For one thing, they’re probably upside-down on those other two condos, even if they don’t think so.
And if they’re not, and they like the house they’re in, they should sell the condos, take the profit, and stay put. They bought three houses with get-rich-quick goals. If, as they believe, two of their investments made them some money, they should take the money from those two!
Separate “business” from relations. They have three houses. Houses are their “business.” You’re not helping relatives, you’re bailing out a stupid get-rich-quick scheme.
The locale is Florida.
Ya, Fort Myers.
Did I mention they are both 57 years old too and his
business is not doing well and their health is not
the greatest either.
This is just really tough because they have been so good to us over the years and we hate to see them in this situation.
Want to be a hero?
Get them a rental in your name and you make the monthly payments…
That’s really the best you can do for them, right now.
If you can afford to give them help, and you feel obligated, then do so. But consider it a gift to them, not a loan.
Or put an addition on your house and let them live there.
I said this before and I’ll say it again.
My income was more than twice my rent with t bills and now it’s 300.00 less than my rent.
I could never qualify to rent here with my “new” income.
Get a place and hunker down.
Who wants corn chips?
Sorry beachgirl…….the answer is still
NONONONONONONONONO
They have some serious decision to make asap…..like um where to live? And choose one to homestead and protect in bankruptcy.
Buy them FOOD, put gas in their tanks, pay for medicines, maybe an occasional electric bill if you really want to help….but NEVER EVER their mortgage
If you don’t have a problem making their problem YOUR problem, then by all means go for it.
If you don’t have a problem with the inevitable strain on your marriage, especially once your relatives start to hem and haw about paying you back and then screw you over, then go for it.
Otherwise……..NO WAY.
RE: they could eventually
pay us back from a sale of 2 other condos they own.
Parents (who should know better) with 2 condos and underwater to the tune of $230k on a 3rd residence.
So why do you have to buy them a house? Why can’t they go live in one of the condos?
LMAO…The lunacy of the FB stories knows no bounds.
hd74man
they can’t live in the other condos because they are too far from work.
If they have any equity in those other condos, they should sell them ASAP, before they default on the one that is the biggest issue. Otherwise the bank can probably lien those 2 properties for a deficiency judgment of the $230k that looks like it is coming. If the loan is non-recourse then just let it go….. If not get some planning to protect any equity they have in the others…..
I missed the “they own the condos outright” part.
Let them borrow against their free and clear properties.
IMHO, knowing the above now, YOU ARE CRAZY TO DO ANYTHING FOR THEM.
I knew I could count on the bits bucket thread
throwing a little cold water in my face.
When getting weak, I will remember your posts.
Thanks
Could the bank go after the 2 other properties they own outright
if they walk from the house???????????
they own 2 condos outright they don’t need your help
RUN
Run so damn fast your legs are spinning in circles like in cartoons.
No way. They can jingle the keys to bank and become renters like the rest of smart people everywhere.
I have posted here in the past about my amazement that small, local builders continued to start spec homes in my community even into early 2007. I thought they were nuts, but that’s not been the case.
It turns out that some entity (I don’t know how to characterize them) was soliciting specuvestors from places like Atlanta to buy a package that included a lot and a brand new home with the “promise,” once the house was built, of an appraisal that would be at least 25% more than what the specuvestor paid for the package.
It’s not quite working out. This entity bought the cheapest lots that were available (often nearly unbuildable), and in most cases put up totally unsuitable homes (given the 55 and up target market) on them.
Of the 25 or so houses built this way, only two have sold, at least six are already in foreclosure, and one is advertising a short sale at almost 25% below the original wishing price.
With just under 1,500 dwelling units in the community, 25 foreclosures will hurt but the wound won’t likely be fatal.
“…Government officials are letting Wall Street banks pull off what makers of defective cars, computers and condos can’t. After the collapse of a product banks created and controlled, they’re charging the customers for repairs.
The customers include taxpayers from New York to California, as well as not-for-profit institutions such as hospitals and universities. They sold auction-rate bonds, whose interest rates were set in periodic bidding. Since the market for those bonds began to fall apart last year, the issuers have had to pay an extra $2 billion in interest. …”
Bloomberg
God its great to be a bank! We make money - you dear customer will pay; we screw up and we lose money, you dear customer are paying our losses.
I take it when you say “computers” you don’t mean software.
It’s great to have your industry’s largest member (aka the Fed) in charge of U.S. economic policy.
Prices at 99 Cents Only Stores are edging closer to a buck.
The discount retailer on Monday announced the first price increase in its 26-year history, raising the cost of household items, food and other items by almost a penny. The company blamed inflation and rising food and energy prices for its new 99.99-cent prices.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26618980/site/14081545/
Credit Default Swaps
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/business/09credit.html
So, this isn’t going to be as bad as we feared yesterday? Hoz? Please, talk to me.
” Farewell Fannie and Freddie
So farewell
then
Fannie Mae
and
Freddie
Mac.
You were
like the relatives
who wouldn’t
leave….being
magnanimous by
sharing with your friends
the best bottles
from my
cellar.
And drinking
my beer…
but not
replacing
it.
At least
you could have had
the courtesy
to put some of
my warm ones
back in the
fridge.
Then…
You went
Berserk…
(with an
upper-case
“B”)
Stealin’ money
from my purse
and using my
charge cards
to pimp and party
with every lowlife
in town.
Some people
were happy
you were shacked-up
at mine, but
it wasn’t
me.
But the thing
that I really
wanted to ask you was:
WTF-ingF were you
thinking?!?!
Cassandra
The Rolling Stones gathers no moss…
Well, Fannie used to loan out all night long
She made me cry, she done me wrong
She hurt my eyes open, thats no lie
Tables turn and now her turn to cry
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Well, she used to loan around with every house in town
She spent all her money, playing her high class game
She always put out, it was a pity how I cried
Tables turn and now her turn to cry
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Well, I used to wake & bake in the morning, get my headlines in bed
When I’d gotten worried she’d ease the dread
But now shes here and there, with every condo in town
Still trying to take me for that same old clown
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
Because I used to love her, but its all over now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjLX7BjJJM
OK guys. I need help!
We thought we’d covered our behind with the rental as we rented from the original owners of a home built in 1968. I figured the house was probably paid off as it had origianally been their primary home. He’s a doctor warmly regarded by the neighbors. And the place has been a rental for quite a while.
Last night I received what looked like junk mail addressed to my landlord. Yeah, you know where I’m going with this. I opened to make sure it was ok to throw away and found myself looking at a default notice. It was only for one payment in August so maybe it’s just an oversight. But what made it scary was that that one payment was for over $3400! This house can’t be worth more than $135k to $185k as it has has been a bit neglected and a few more major issues. So I’m thinking the owners pulled every bit of equity they could out of it.
I remember Lost in Utah getting some great advice during her foreclosure and subsequent squatting and I’m hoping you won’t mind repeating for me how to best proceed.
Oh yeah, the kicker….the Countrywide Home Loans is the servicer.
Thanks for any and all advice.
It’s a shame that no legislator anywhere has proposed anything to help True Victims of the housing bubble, like you.
Actually, in New Jersey, the bank has to be the landlord until the lease is up. I suppose that’s better than nothing….
Hey cynicalgirl,
Where are you in NJ? I am in Princeton Junction.
I am from Sussex County, in the far Northwest corner.
I don’t have an answer for you but having lived 15 years in your city (left 4 years ago), I can assure you of 2 things:
1. You are a right, level-headed thinking young lady
2. CNY physicians are amoung the dumbest investors on earth.
Come on, how much IQ do you need, to see that RE investing in a metro area with both an **absolute economic decline** and an **absolute population decline**, is a really dumb idea?
Cincy–first you made me smile and then you made me laugh out loud. Thanks
I’d advise that you call Countrywide and offer to pay the rent directly to them.
Thanks WT.
I wonder if they’ll be happy to take my $1600 when the monthly nut due is $3400+.
So glad I didn’t rip out and redo the neglected garden. (Blush) I was sitting inside reading/commenting on this blog instead. LOL
See Ben–ya saved me again!
Doctors like to “invest” in real estate. They are just not very good at it. He probably stripped every penny he could get out of your house to “invest” in more no-down payment homes.
(needed the money for closing fees and repairs).
You might look to see how many other properties he “owns”.
If there is a list at the Courthouse, you are screwed.
If yours is the only one, then he’s probably just behind on this payment.
And while at the courthouse, you might be able to even check to see details on any mortgages on all those other properties as well. Mortgage documents/liens are public record in a lot of places (all places in the US?). Some states even have them available online. We checked out a friend’s landlord on that count before he leased a townhouse, making sure that the rent covered the mortgage amount.
Good luck, and let’s hope he was just out on vacation and forgot to mail just that single payment.
I tried to do this online but guess they need to see me in person. Will do. At least the taxes were all paid up as of January (before I signed the lease).
Thx, dio
Hi Carrie, my landlady’s loan was also with Countrywide. I tried to call them and had a heckuvva time. They have a special number for people going into default, something called mortgage assistance division or something like that. I could never get through. I’m wondering if they will even talk to you, since you’re a renter and not the owner. Might be good to call your landlord and tell him what happened and see what he says, then maybe call an attorney. I could still be squatting at my old place, but the lack of appliances and general run-down nature of the place got to me, but I would’ve saved a lot of money. According to the neighbors there, no one has even set foot in the palce, and it’s been over 2 months since I left. Ride it out if you can.
RE: my landlady’s loan was also with Countrywide.
Hope your landlady isn’t one of those unfortunate 2 million who had their loan ap info stolen and sold to identity thieves by a pair of Countrywide exec’s.
I always worry when letters show up at my address for my landlord. Fortunately, the latest is just a card from AARP.
I’m still looking for the accounting report supporting recent F&F actions. Has anyone seen it? Don’t bother. Despite all the adequately capitalize confidence building attempts, the invisible hand had the last say.
“…While the short-term debt (F & F) looks safe, uncertainty still hangs over anything that matures after 2009. Nobody knows what the firms will look like after next year, when many of the government support facilities expire….”
WSJ
If the spreads widen out again, the entire plan from Mr. Paulson failed. The spread is 6 bps higher this morning.
“If the spreads widen out again, the entire plan from Mr. Paulson failed. The spread is 6 bps higher this morning.”
Probably depends on what housing does…. I think home prices will continue down after all we are in a Recession.
Where do you get your up-to-date info? Latest I see is that mortgage rates shot down below 6% this morning. While treasuries are also down, it appears not nearly as much.
Not sure if anybody noticed during Sunday’s FanFred press conference, but never was heard a discouraging word about definitive Dollar amounts, and the skies are cloudy all day.
Haven’t you heard?
The sun will come out, tomorrow.
Bet you bottom dollar that tomorrow
There’ll be sun.
And in true Wall Street pay:
Pay Packages for CEOs
Likely to Spur Scrutiny
“…Freddie Mac’s departing chief, Richard Syron, could walk away with an exit package totaling as much as $14.9 million…
The exit package for Fannie Mae’s Daniel Mudd, including stock he already owns, could total $9.2 million, Mr. Schmidt estimates…”
WSJ
It is truly wonderful to milk a company and screw the investors !
Pocket change for the likes of Arnall and Mozillo.
Peter Schiff on the FF bailout:
http://tinyurl.com/6fchfw
“The original idea that gave birth to Freddie and Fannie, which is to make housing more affordable to average Americans, should now be seen as farcical. Their new goal is to keep housing prices high. Absent Freddie and Fannie, housing prices would fall sharply and the mortgage market would stabilize. Americans would once again be able to buy affordable houses with mortgages they could actually repay - just like their grandparents did. Instead they will keep overpaying for houses, burdening themselves with excessive payments in the process, and ultimately sticking taxpayers with the bill when they default.”
“Of course the biggest collateral damage caused by Paulson’s bazooka is the large hole ripped through the already tattered U.S. Constitution. If the government can do this, does anyone believe there is anything it can’t do? In effect the Federal government now has absolute power to corrupt absolutely.”
“In effect the Federal government now has absolute power to corrupt absolutely.”
And do so, they will, while stuffing their pockets as fast as they can!
Lost in all this conversation is that all this originally happened long ago under FDR (who originally created F&F as a single government entity). The constitution was already in tatters when he left office. There aren’t a lot of intact pieces left to blow holes in. At least we still have a 9-member supreme court, despite his best efforts.
The size of the Supreme Court is not specified in the Constitution.
The number of Justices has varied between 6 and 10.
True but the constitution does specify that the number of justices is set by Congress, which FDR tried to bypass by allowing for a new justice to be appointed by the prez whenever an existing one got old - up to 15 justices, in order to try to cram through his (also often ruled unconstitutional) New Deal.
Previous to that justices had been normally added (up to 10 as you say) due to new circuit courts due to the geographical growth of the U.S. That only happened up until 1869 though - ever since then it has been set at 9.
I think Schiff is getting hysterical. I think there is no danger that the FF bailout will stabilize house prices on a permanently high plateau. I agree with his remark about the Constitution, but I believe J6P knows the housing market is a disaster, and he will not be chasing after investment properties and so forth.
…but I believe J6P knows the housing market is a disaster…
Not the J6Ps around me. This blog is still the only place where I can find a collective group who thinks like I do.
Last summer I made quite the attempt to make my family know what is going on presently, and one time in a phone conversation, I explained the extent of fraud going on to my devout neo-con brother-in-law (retired engineer in the war industry), and he accused me of using the term “fraud” too loosely, and jumped all over me…
I can only imagine how little the average J6P knows about what’s happening~
(retired engineer in the war industry),
Alad,
I to was duped.
I found out to late that I was a pansie.
I believed in America.
Little did I know, I sold her down -
Trusted the ones who said outsourcing is good for the ecomony.
I am angry with myself - first and foremost for not following my gut feeling.
I hang my head in shame.
Leigh
Leigh,
I believe in America, but not our leadership, which has quite simply sold us out.
Cleaning house in both Washington D.C. & Wall Street is a priority of the highest order…
WSJ today:
“Home-sale forecast deteriorates”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122096835506814763.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
As we all knew, last month’s gains were just a dead-cat bounce
“The association’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said the index was oscillating monthly but was essentially flat for many months now.”
he getting more and more tighted lipped every month.
Lawrence Yun, the trade group’s chief economist, forecasts U.S. home sales are on a pace to fall 11 percent from last year to just over 5 million in 2008. Yun also says that stringent lending criteria by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the mortgage finance companies taken over by the government this weekend held back sales activity.
Many in the real estate industry are hopeful that these standards will be relaxed with Fannie and Freddie under government control, but the outlook remains uncertain.
From the Guardian, Rogoff:
The idea that the world’s largest economies are merely facing a short-term panic looks increasingly strained. Instead, it is becoming apparent that, after a period of epic profits and growth, the financial industry now needs to undergo a period of consolidation and pruning. Weak banks must be allowed to fail or merge (with ordinary depositors being paid off by government insurance funds), so that strong banks can emerge with renewed vigour.
If this is the right diagnosis of the “financial crisis”, then efforts to block a healthy and normal dynamic will ultimately only prolong and exacerbate the problem. Not allowing the necessary consolidation is weakening credit markets, not strengthening them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/08/creditcrunch.economics?gusrc=rss&feed=commentisfree
IMHO Gov. Sarah Palin is the most incompetent person that could have been selected by Sen. John McCain as his running mate.
Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said, “The fact is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers. The McCain-Palin administration will make them smaller and smarter and more effective for homeowners who need help.”
This from the mayor of a town that had zero long term debt when she was elected and due to her incompetence ended up causing every resident $3,000.
“When Palin took over Wasilla, the town had no long-term debt. By the time she was done, debt service had increased by 69 percent, the town had close to $19 million in long-term debt, making the debt around $3000 per capita. And the Mccain campaign is asking us - seriously - to consider her a fiscal conservative.”
Same old, same old.
Harriet Miers lasted 24 days from being ’ssshrubery’s choice as a Supreme Court pick, until she un-nominated herself, for the position.
Sarah Palin is a bit stickier, as were McCain to drop her, he’s melba toast and Obama coasts to a victory, not unlike his Senate election, where his main contender dropped out, once his ex-wife spilled out matrimonial details…
And you sound surprised because …?
Not surprised by her lack of credentials, surprised by Sen. McCain’s lack of judgment in selection. I happen to like Sen. McCain as a person, I won’t vote for him as President and I won’t comment on the presidential election again because it is boringggggggggggg. ( ‘g’ bubble formation).
She was selected as Bread and Circus for the masses, but by McCain? That last minute choice story was just too dramatic to be likely.
Barely discussed is the idea that nobody really wanted to be a v.p. in a losing battle.
Bobby Jindal seemed to be a great choice, an immigrant success story not unlike Barack Obama, intelligent, worldly & wise.
I thought Jindal was the GOP’s best bet (being as objective as I can). Smart guy, lots of positives.
I like Jindal. He’s sharp and (seems) honest. But if he went for VP and somehow saved McCain’s bid for president, poor Louisiana. They finally have themselves a really competent, sharp governor, and it’d be a shame for them to lose him and then go back to business as usual with the next party-crony-in-waiting (from either party, take yer pick).
I wonder if McCain dropped the idea of Jindal at the last minute because of the Hurricane forecast? i.e., if New Orleans was flooded again during the convention, the Jindal nomination might not go over too well.
Jindal was born in this country. His parents were the immigrants.
I concur about Palin. Any person dumb enough to vote race or gender should not be voting. The U.S. is in a vortex of an economic storm of 1930’s magnitude, and our candidates are boobs. I’m staying away election day.
But, as an Ex-Repuke, I must admit Obama is one smart guy, and his demeanor is calm.
Obama leans Socialist, McSame leans Fascist. Same destination.
All or most of Europe is Socialist now, and I seldom hear about concentration camps or crematoriums running 24/7, as back in the good old days of Fascism…
aladinsane-
Good point (as usual), but the choices are still totalitarianism. Sometimes I wonder if democracy is but a dream.
I think we need some form of solid universal healthcare. I was brainwashed to think it is a privledge, but now think its a right (for citizens that is). I was “Hanitized”, and the trance (propaganda) wore off.
Healthcare premiums are priced to the moon.
Democracy in it’s purest modern form probably had it’s day in the sun from 1946 to 1966…
Never before in the annals of war had the victor been so benevolent to the defeated, as we were.
“Sometimes I wonder if democracy is but a dream.”
Well, it is more dreamlike if you don’t vote.
“Obama leans Socialist, McSame leans Fascist. Same destination.”
–
I think Obamba is outside the fence leaning back toward the inside.
Your mention of financial mismangement at the town/city levels made me think of this story:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=1472883
The of Lavonia, GA town actually used sewer bond money to buy a piece of property that held a strip club from a middleman because they didn’t like the club.
I pity the slobs that bought those bonds…good luck getting back your principal and woe be the taxpayers who have to pay for this debacle.
This type of thing makes you realize yet again how wacked out our financial system is even in the locality level.
I’d posted this story the other day. The townfolk seemed pretty pleased with it even if it will cost them big time. It is the bible belt afterall.
Oh, well whatever yanks your chain.
Or in this case, NOT.
Didn’t she also increase taxes? Local sales tax up 25% is what I heard, but I don’t remember if the base number was reported.
Oh, and she spent money on that sports center that was supposed to revitalize the town and make enough money to pay off the bonds that were issued to build it. And lots of people like the sports center, but it has run in the red every single year since it was built and, obviously, can’t create enough income to pay off the bonds.
Borrow and spend. Doesn’t sounds like a lot of change to me.
More gaffes to come — if she’s allowed to speak offscript. The campaign is trying to manage her tightly.
(I do have to admit that she’s a pretty good (scripted) public speaker, though, if nothing else.)
“(I do have to admit that she’s a pretty good (scripted) public speaker, though, if nothing else.)”
Watch what happened when the emperor had no close (the teleprompter goes down 25 seconds into this video and he is utterly lost, speechless, in fact.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ZlXHCCzaE
I can’t help but think that McCain or Palin will say something so colossally stupid that the election will tilt to Obama. Stay tuned for the debates, people. Or for other unscripted moments.
Back in the 1976 debates, Gerald Ford incorrectly stated that Poland was “independent and autonomous” from the Soviet Union, though at the time the Soviet Union dominated Poland and much of Eastern Europe. When pressed, instead of reconsidering, Ford responded more firmly that “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration”. Ford’s misstatements were considered a major factor in his loss to Carter, and are cited again every four years as among the worst gaffes made in any televised political debate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8rg9c4pUrg
You mean like “my Muslim faith?” lol
The problem with gaffes nowadays is people make so many of them, and there’s always some joker with a cell-phone camera gaffing them.
George Stephanopoulis (sp??) wasn’t some joker with a cell phone if I recall.
That said, gaffes are sometimes blown out of proportion by both sides, IMHO. Like that one.
Hmm…I knew exactly what he meant when he said it. Much ado about nothing.
My post got eaten which said something like gaffes are blown out of proportion by both sides, like this one IMHO.
Kind of like McCains Christian faith?
Obama’s problem is that they are being covered. It’s not 80%-20% anymore. Hence, the de-bounce.
Palin was a Journalism major, and then a Sports Anchor. First substance, than orator. She gets on my nerves.
And the Mccain campaign is asking us - seriously - to consider her a fiscal conservative.”
Remember, the neo-con definition of being fiscally conservative is to “borrow and spend”, as opposed to “Tax and spend”.
IKE
“When Palin took over Wasilla, the town had no long-term debt….”
Can you post a link to this story? Mom back home needs a little education.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122065537792905483.html
we’re wasting our time on this, the election was decided the day the democratic primary ended. Its not about issues/personality or any of that crap, its about race. The sheeple were looking for any excuse to vote for ‘their’ kind and now they have it. Game over go home.
OMG, give this guy a mirror!
actually, US of A needs a mirror and it won’ t like what it sees.
we are in a recession, foreclosures are spiking, stocks are 25% lower and the incumbent has an approval rating about as good as nixon and this election is too close to call? mirror indeed…
Do not worry, Jesus will save us (most of us) the rapture will b______________________________________________________________________
FWIW, only evangs subscribe to the “rapture” concept. Its not a universally accept doctrine throughout Christendom.
Save me, my ass. Last time I was moaning to God about something or other he just told me to shut the H up, and he’s usually pretty tolerant of my nonsense.
“Do not worry, Jesus will save us (most of us) the rapture will ”
The rapture theory is a “fig-newton” of the imagination!
“…the words I speak to you are SPIRIT and life.” john 6:63
US Treasury credit default swaps hit record wide-CMA
Five-year credit default swaps for Treasury debt traded at an all-time high of 17.5 basis points, or $17,500 a year to insure $10 million of debt, while 10-year swaps traded at a record 21.4 basis points, according to data from CMA DataVision.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0927040220080909?rpc=44
Loss of foreign buyers confidence in Treasuries? I don’t know, but it is not good. I heard that this morning, but this is the first time I have seen a verifiable report.
“London’s efforts to challenge New York as the dominant financial centre will receive a boost today with a new study by the World Economic Forum showing that the UK ranks alongside the US as the world’s most developed financial system….
Weaker points for the US included the regulation of security exchanges, the protection of intellectual property rights and the relatively high risk of banking crises - an issue that has come to the fore since the onset of the credit crunch. Corruption and the regulatory burden were also seen as US weaknesses, the report said….
In a surprise finding, the report ranked Malaysia’s banking system as the second best in the world, based on its size, efficiency and financial disclosure, behind the US but ahead of the UK.”
FT
I advised you to take your stimulus checks and invest in Ringitts. lol
William Norman Grigg argues we’re more socialist than China:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w43.html
It’s an amusing read, even though he argues with anecdotes.
Good bye Lehman
Regulator warns Korea bank on stake purchase
By Song Jung-a in Seoul
Published: September 9 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September 9 2008 03:00
South Korea’s top financial markets regulator has said that the state-run Korean Development Bank should think carefully about buying a stake in Lehman Brothers given the state of international markets.
The statement is the strongest signal yet that the government would not support such a deal….”
FT
Wake up Hankzooka; LEH needs another bailout! And don’t forget F, GM, C, WM….
In honor of Lehman smelling like rotten Kimchi, let me play an excerpt of a Carroll…
“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html
Lehman must have seemed like so much spoiled Kimchi to the Koreans, I suppose…
A Carroll in their honor~
“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html
didnt know where I could put this so you might see it.
one dolla, holla.
FNM-30% bagger
turnaround time under 24 hours.
ba-ba-ba-boooo-yaaaa
Awesome you ex-Californian commie hippie Oregon redneck transplant. I’ll drink a Lienie’s Big Butt tonight to celebrate your success!
you flatter me…
I’ll knock a couple back tonight as well…maybe I’ll give you a bit more, if I told you what Im looking at right now…..you would add fvcking lunatic to the list.
Ok, I am back after getting my mean and nasty shots.
Pray tell dear Voz, what you are looking at? I did a hedge, high risk, trade today, bought 3 WM and shorted one WB ($10 credit). This trade is suitable for me myself and I and not suitable for any else but and I mean but the most lunatic. LD50 Exit point is $5 credit and/or Oct 2, 2008. Stop loss at $11.23 credit. WB looks to be in far worse shape than WM. Maybe they can both be nominees for the Sunday nominations from the Banana Republic .
you left out: lazy, stupid, good for nothing know-it-all jerk,
now go fix me a turkey pot pie.
Looks like LEH is getting the shotgun bailout, I wonder who the lucky bride to be is?
Morgan?
IF its Morgan….puts go in the money hard, book it.
long the shotgun,
short the groom.
check my final post below….if ben lets it run.
selective long……hmmmm, I wonder.
The only reason might be the CP market. Lehman is out of the CDS market, out of the swaps and out of equity. What else is left?
So take that you lazy, stupid, good for nothing know-it-all jerk, that eats pot pies (?). Man you oughta try a Yooper pasty!
I thought about it for a few seconds - putting reality away and looking at from Washington and the treasury.
A reasonable gamble, if it fails it makes Mr. Paulson look like a bigger buffoon. The treasury has to make it appear as if there is some stabilization coming into the market. That things are getting better, not worse.
But I still think the final price of Lehman rhymes with Hero. And I am a coward, not a hero.
I’m not worried. Lehman is too big to fail. I can’t imagine the market falling on this news like headlines show. Or maybe that’s the idea: markets must fall to demonstrate that the Fed must not let Lehman fail.
Spoken like a true stockholder…
How many share do you own, Michael?
Spoken like a true idiot…
and I don’t own any, loser.
Such hostility!
Lehman is not likely to get bailed out. When it is trading around 30% of book - it is possibly a buy ~$3/share.
Why buy though unless to liquidate?
The company has no future prospects, has no earnings and has no public business. Mr. Dick Fuld screwed the company over.
True dat. I have plenty of hostility toward him. It’s mutual. My guess is because I don’t worship at his altar.
My post on Lehman was mostly tongue in cheek, but we’ll see what happens. The Fed seems to be doing most anything these days. I can no longer rule anything out.
WaMu’s stock looks like it might be going through the same death throes F/F just went through.
Does anyone here have any anecdotal information on commercial real estate loans? Just curious.
Two towns in my area are fighting development. One mini mall was just rejected by the board and a shopping center with a supermarket was turned down in the next town. Neither had any named tenants. Land owners are screaming bloody murder that they can’t develop their land, yet one third of the storefronts in the town are empty.
My local paper reported that in the county seat, 14 businesses have gone under in 7 months. The Main Street project is running a program offering half rent for the first six months in the downtown area.
In another nearby town, there was an auction of commercial property on a major roadway (right off interstate 80) where 119 acres went for $150,000.
Here’s my question. When someone applies to the zoning board, does it mean they have a bank that wants to finance the project? Are there banks stupid enough to lend money in these cases? Obviously there are people who are stupid enough to think their property has some value, but why would a bank lend money to build in an area that won’t find tenants?
RE: and due to her incompetence ended up causing every resident $3,000.
I understood the debt was for sewer and infrastructure re-building.
Gotta be able to flush those toidy’s.
I’d much rather pay $3k for a new public sewer, than put a $20k septic in my backyard.
Politico’s here in the Northeast prefer to ignore infrastructure problems and concentrate on adding to their own pensions.
Anyway, Palin’s just a piker…
Mazzlander’s got struck for $15 billion, that’s “B” as in BILLION for a 1.5 mile tunnel that’s never stoppped leaking and is falling apart as we speak.
No. “The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land.” It did not own the land and this was to pay off the landowners.
source: WSJ
The cost to the small town was supposed to be 130K, to date it is 1.4MM and rising with over 300K in legal costs. Chump change by major cities standards, but enormous for a small village.
It takes a village of red ink…
Would that be the Big Dig tunnel? The one that already cast a big section of concrete down on a passing car?
But she didn’t spend it on the sewers. She spent it on a sports complex that still operates in the red. Infrastructure is a good thing, but making speeches on a sewage treatment plant isn’t as much fun as doing it at a high school basket ball game.
When I started reading Peter Schiff a few years ago I thought he was being overly gloomy in order to sell books. Sadly, he has been right on every major point he has made. Here is his latest:
http://www.safehaven.com/article-11191.htm
Except Schiff’s a big proponent of decoupling which so far we’ve seen no evidence of. Expensive misstep.
The one aspect of Schiff’s thesis that seems to be wrong. I wish he would address it and how he thinks it will play out in the next ten years.
I like and respect Peter Schiff, and you’re right, he’s been right. I like aspects of Jim Puplava’s schick on his weekly show, but it’s so repetitious. Peter and Jim together is always interesting. Both see hyperinflation and the collapse of the USD.
but their position on the US$ collapse (vs. euro) was very wrong over the last month or so … the euro is crashing just like the mighty dollar, no way to hide.
I think the main weakness that Schiff has is his tendency to ignore problems in economies outside of the U.S. The Europeans have big problems as well.
Exactly. I keep up a lot with the UK situation and to a lesser extent Continental Europe, and especially the UK is on the same gloomy bender that we’ve been bemoaning.
When it comes to currencies, the USD is far from the only one with people pointing out shaky underpinnings.
And I suspect they will continue to be wrong on the US$ collapse, due to the fact that the world will not decouple.
When we all go into the crapper together, I expect to see a return to $$s, as the world panics and loses faith in other currencies. In other words, we led the way into the crapper, but we may lead the way out as well.
Every last banknote currently in circulation around the world, is in reality, a promise-sorry-note backed by nothing whatsoever…
Any asset class, even gold, is dependent, in part, on perception. When people think something is not worth anything, it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I’ve seen dozens of countries currencies reduced in use to mere toilet paper, but Gold has never lost perceived value, as money.
Gold doesn’t go to infinity. It goes to the point of barter.
1 oz of gold will buy you a suit, three chickens, 20 lbs of tomatoes, whatever.
It’s not a panacea like you think it is.
Of course, and “real estate only goes up in the long run” and “they’re not making any more land”.
and a plane ticket to anywhere in the world….
1 silver 1 gold….
its escape.
its food.
its clothes.
its need in panic…..whose panicing? whose escaping from desperation in deflation?
Uh oh, Hankzooka blew a hole in the Treasury AAA rating.
NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The cost of protecting U.S. Treasury debt with credit default swaps hit record highs on Tuesday after the government bailed out mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Five-year credit default swaps for Treasury debt traded at an all-time high of 17.5 basis points, or $17,500 a year to insure $10 million of debt, while 10-year swaps traded at a record 21.4 basis points, according to data from CMA DataVision.
The cost for the U.S. government from taking on liabilities of the mortgage companies was said to be behind the rise, according to Lou Brien, a strategist with DRW Trading Group in Chicago.
Hank scored a direct hit on a A.R.M.ored Truck with his Bazooka, but he’s out of rounds now…
Why would you buy CDS on treasuries?
Aren’t CDS totally discredited as a concept already? Who do they think will seriously pay up if the Treasuries default? What am I missing here?
Everyone hopes if we just wait awhile the demand will catch up with supply. I say B.S. Look at the demographics and the trend is NOT your friend!
Check out this presentation by Phillip Longman given to the Long Now foundation:
http://media.longnow.org/salt-slides/Longman.html
Bottom line, no help till 2050 at best.
I’m really beginning to think that we could have a definitive financial collapse happening this Thursday, 9/11/8.
Irony is so common nowadays, the rule rather than the exception…
Why this Thur? You know something the rest of us don’t?
Were things to fall apart this Thursday 9/11, it would be the perfect bookend to that other 9/11.
Atadinsane, oh sorry … freudian slip, you sound hopeful.
It would be a fitting end to 7 years of bad luck, call it the:
Broken-Mirror-Economy
Smoke&Mirrors Economy brought to you by the borrow and spend dough heads.
>> perfect bookend to that other 9/11.
Sir, you are really weird.
Sir, you are really weird.
Well of course we all know that. But that’s why we love aladinsane, even if we might headshakingly disagree with the occasional odd point.
What’s the difference between 9/11 then and 9/11 now?
Destruction from without, vs. Destruction from within…
Just another street in NY collapsing.
TWO FREE HOUSES. JUST NEED TO CARRY THEM AWAY.
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/zip/832595028.html
“Comment by BanteringBear
2008-09-09 09:08:23
I was thinking it would be a shame if the big three went under, until I remembered what horrible POS’s they build. My GMC Sierra, purchased new in 2005, has had more trips to the dealership than any vehicle I have ever owned in my life. Some of the problems have been major (replace front end (axel, etc.) at 40,000 miles which took weeks due to the striking parts manufacturers). I bought a new Toyota Tacoma prior to this truck, which I later sold never having had so much as a single problem. I’ll be buying a Toyota again. To hell with the “Big 3″.”
Typical ignorant American car bashing. Go to your beloved Toyota dealership and look in the service department. You’ll see it full of various Toyotas in various stages of disasemble/reassemble/repair. Duh! Toyotas are no better than GM cars/trucks as a whole. Sure there are oddities and model specific problems, thats why Toyota mechanics are no more Maytag repair men than are GM mechanics.
Using the Tacoma as an example is laughable. You got lucky with yours, many are not so lucky with that POS. GMC Sierras are universally loved and have a fantastic reliability record. You were one of the unlucky few with the GM truck:
“The Tacoma is putting a big dent in American automakers’ truck sales but it’s also putting a big ugly dent in Toyota’s reputation for quality, reliability and service.”
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota_tacoma.html
You gotta read this! Hilarious, tranny problems, unintended acceleration, brake probs, weird noises and……. frames breaking in half.
Tell me; just how awful does a Japanese vehicle have to be before people will bash a Toyota?
Personally I owned a Toyota pick-up with the 22r engine and it had the following record:
1) Valve job at 40k (blew huge puff of smoke when leaving from a stop)
2) Rear wheel master cylinders out at 65k.
3) Alternator 70k
4) 85k, first and second gear no longer work.
5) 85k, Traded on a Chevy Astro van which went 130k with just an alternator.
I had a Nissan Altima, total POS. Had a 1989 mustang, also POS. Dodge truck 160K never seen the inside of a shop.
We Americans build good cars and trucks too!
Trucks are not reliable. If you want reliability buy a car.
Cars are not reliable.
If you want reliable get a bicycle.
And you can always (barring any unforeseen round of comppicated regulations and mandates) repair your bicycle yourself! Never a worry about a $900 gasket job or $2k rear end job that you wouldn’t be able to do yourself even if you had a week of evenings to spend at it.
I’ve actually had times in my life (post-university, yet!) where I commuted by bike and owned no car. It’s just a pity that it’s honestly just about the most dangerous way to commute on a deaths-per-mile basis. With all the money we spend on new infrastructure development (I’m thinking of new developments in the DC burbs and exurbs), can’t we put in interconnecting bike routes that aren’t just haphazardly-marked sections of dangerous road shoulder ending in a jersey wall or earthen berm?
“Never a worry about a $900 gasket job or $2k rear end job that you wouldn’t be able to do yourself even if you had a week of evenings to spend at it.”
Speak for yourself university boy…
Disclosure: Sucessfully accomplished both more than once.
Right on Brian. Anyone out there with a Turdcoma want to hitch up to my loaded livestock trailer and do a 60 mile haul? I’ll laugh as I watch your TurdComatose floating down a river of puked out transmission fluid.
There is a reason why ALL the heavy iron out on the highway is from Detroit. Because nobody else builds it. Not toyota, not nissan… none of them. If you want a commuter ride, go get the best your money can buy, i.e. corolla, civic, accord etc. If you need horsepower for heavy lifting and hauling, Detroit is your sole source.
Buddy had a Tacoma….engine was blown in under 10K. You’re right about bashing cars, they all have issues. Another friend of mine finally got rid of his newish Honda Accord after the electric windows went out, along with the AC, couple half shafts and tranny problem the shop insisted wasnt there.
Pimco Total Return Fund had best ever day Mon-Gross
NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The world’s biggest bond fund, Pimco’s Total Return Fund, had its best ever day on Monday relative to its benchmark index as mortgage-backed securities prices rose after the government seized control of mortgage finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“Our mortgage overweight and the performance of mortgages on Monday gave the Total Return fund its greatest one day relative performance (compared to our index) in its history,” Bill Gross, chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. told Reuters on Tuesday….”
When Mr. Gross speaks, traders listen because the government is forced to listen.
Dah, comrade.
Back in the USSR.
You don’t know how lucky you are:
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=4921#comments
Gross Domestic Profits
(GDP)
It’s good to be the pimp?
One of my favorite authors is Jared Diamond, and one of his masterpieces “Collapse”, ties right into what is happening right now, very nicely…
Here’s a review of it, and the reviewer calls “Collapse” the flip-side of Diamond’s opus “Guns, Germs and Steel”. I agree.
Both books come with the highest recommendation from yours truly…
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/14/190031.php
I’ve read “Guns, Germs and Steel”. Excellent.
http://www.cityscape-usa.com/
Anybody heading to the Cityscape Conference at the Javits this week?
Cityscape USA 2008 – Bridging US and Emerging Real Estate Markets – will be a showcase for unparalleled investment opportunities in emerging real estate markets namely India, China, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Latin America. It will also be an opportunity for the US real estate industry to network with some of the most significant real estate investors and developers from the emerging world and to attract investment into US real estate assets, projects and vehicles.
Would love an HBB fly on the wall’s report!
New Thinking for a New Financial Order
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=F0809A&ml_issueid=BR0809&ml_subscriber=true&pageNumber=1&_requestid=144394
“…All this has happened as the world’s capital markets have undergone an extraordinary transformation. The value of the world’s financial assets—including equities, private and public debt, and bank deposits—has soared from $12 trillion in 1980 to $195 trillion in 2007 (see the exhibit “An Explosion of World Financial Assets”). In fact, those assets have grown faster than the world economy, a phenomenon my colleagues and I at the McKinsey Global Institute call financial deepening. …”
The rest of us call it the monster bubble from fantasyland. Funny (not funny, ha ha) How FPSS and I keep coming up with the bubble start occurring in 1980.
“Monster Bubble from Fantasyland”
I almost fell out of my chair with that one. Well put.
I’ve been off the boards for a week or so while we moved in to our new rental. Its great to be reading again here.
Over the weekend, my parents had dinner with a banker. He was soooo excited about the Fannie/Freddie bailout. I think they(parents & banker) misunderstood what is going on: from what my parents said, this banker seems to think that - in addition to taking over Fannie/Freddie - banks would be able to get low cost loans (through Fannie and Freddie???) to carry REOs on their books longer in hopes of holding out for a higher price. The banks already get 2% loans at the FED discount window. None of it added up, which is why I think the guy was confused (he’s a smart guy, so that’s why what he said had ME confused). I am NOT trying to start a rumor here, so much as point out yet another example of how deeply the housing delusion has permeated the system.
It all sounded like garbage to me. Fortunately, that mental garbage was kicked to the curb via a refreshing reading of the HBB this afternoon.
It might be that the next move of the dictatorship is that they will re-spike the punch-bowl and create easy money loans .
But what if he’s right? There is the lender of last resort concept, isn’t there? Watch NHZ’s posts. I sincerely hope that the government will not be able to prop up the bubble. Otherwise, I will just buy a house! Either way, I don’t want to be left behind. To tell the truth, I’m in a bubbly area having sold in 2005 and have a downpayment 20-30%. Just waiting for price drops, but I don’t see anything dropping under 200K yet. It’s dropped about 100K overall, but how long do I ave to wait, if ever for further drops amid people with more resorces tan sub prime borrowers? I think it will take 3 years. What do you think?
*have and than.*
Sorry, I’m actually having trouble with my “H” key. Thanks.
We must be Englis.
Notes on a scorecard…
I’m quite a fan of the book “Since Yesterday”, a chronicle of the years 1929 to 1939, written by Frederick Lewis Allen…
A couple of similarities between the crash, circa 1930-33, and our situation now, are:
Extreme swings in the stock market
The powers that be claim they are working all hours of the day-including weekends, to address the problems. (Paulson said words to that effect, yesterday)
If you haven’t done so already, read Galbraith’s “The Great Crash.”
So many comments he makes about what went on during the Crash period could be applied to what’s been going on now that it was downright creepy, to me anyways.
here’s the difference.
In 1930, the information flow did not happen this fast….why do you think newspapers are dying?
few can see the bottom, in anything…
and even fewer can see the top.
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) — Senator Jim Bunning said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, by rescuing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is acting like China’s finance minister and both Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke should step down.
…
Paulson “saw and knew what was happening, and didn’t tell the truth to the banking committee,” Bunning said yesterday.
That’s what I like about Jim Bunning ,he tells the truth . I saw those hearings and I agree with Senator Bunning . I saw the whole way that Paulson was misstating how dire the situation was and his BS of the old
“just give me a gun in case i need to use it .” As far as I’m concerned Paulson misstated the situation regarding F&F,just so he could get the remedy he wanted without having to debate it .
Roubini takes the gloves off…
“Like scores of evangelists and hypocrites and moralists who spew and praise family values and pretend to be holier than thou and are then regularly caught cheating or cross dressing or found to be perverts these Bush hypocrites who spewed for years the glory of unfettered wild west laissez faire jungle capitalism (and never believed in any sensible and appropriate regulation and supervision of financial markets) allowed the biggest debt bubble ever to fester without any control, have caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression and are now forced to perform the biggest government intervention and nationalizations in the recent history of humanity, all for the benefit of the rich and the well connected. So Comrades Bush and Paulson and Bernanke will rightly pass to the history books as a troika of Bolsheviks who turned the USA into the USSRA. Fanatic zealots of any religion are always pests that cause havoc and destruction with their inflexible fanaticism; but they usually don’t run the biggest economy in the world. But these laissez faire voodoo-economics zealots in charge of the USA have now caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression and the nastiest economic crisis in decades. So let them be shamed in public for their hypocrisy and zealotry that has caused so much financial and economic damage.”
http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/253529/comrades_bush_paulson_and_bernanke_welcome_you_to_the_ussra_united_socialist_state_republic_of_america
“Like scores of evangelists and hypocrites and moralists who spew and praise family values and pretend to be holier than thou and are then regularly caught cheating or cross dressing or found to be perverts these Bush hypocrites who spewed for years the glory of unfettered wild west laissez faire jungle capitalism (and never believed in any sensible and appropriate regulation and supervision of financial markets) allowed the biggest debt bubble ever to fester without any control, have caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression and are now forced to perform the biggest government intervention and nationalizations in the recent history of humanity, all for the benefit of the rich and the well connected.”
Got ramble?
Good read aladinsane .
It seems to me that the public in general doesn’t even get what has just taken place here with this F&F take-over . The takeover is really really really making me nervous . I always get nervous when something is done for so-called emergency reasons without details . Just based on Senator Bunnings reaction ,I’m getting the impression that the majority in Congress and the Senate have a attitude of see no evil,think no evil, ask no questions ,just don’t blame us for our loose regulation policies and catering to Wall Street as far as lawmaking in the last 10 years .
Every time I see Paulson say,” Don’t worry I worked the weekend”,I’m insulted beyond belief .
Now I’m saying to myself ,”Whats Next ?”
The founding fathers knew that one of the problems with either an oligarchy (rule of the few) or a democracy (rule of the majority) is that they are both very susceptible to policy overreaction during “emergency” conditions, and that such overreaction tends to invoke the law of unintended consequences. That is why they set the U.S. up as a republic instead of either a democracy or oligarchy.
Unfortunately the U.S. is morphing away from a republic and into a democracy/oligarchy hybrid. This hybrid is indeed resulting in what we see going on now - policy overreaction.
Meant to add - the key characteristic of a republic of course being “rule of law”. Such being the case they made it very difficult to change laws (”Bind them with the chains of the constitution” and all that), thus naturally tempering policy overreaction.
Do you ever get the impression lately packman that the game lately is not to change laws but to simply reinterpret the laws? I mean the powers are redefining powers and expanding them and I think there is a big avoidance of normal due process . Look at the avoidance of fraud laws being violated and Contract law should of dictated the remedies with all this mess .
Of course the different government agencies have been given emergency powers ,but I think anyone with common sense
would say that those emergency powers don’t mean bailing out
investment gambling . I mean I admit that a terrible mess was created regarding investment wealth ,but again the laws already set up the remedy . Wall Street just doesn’t like the remedy .
I saw an interesting thing today,
Somebody using a Payphone.
I saw an interesting thing today,
Someone using a Payphone. You know, those things people put coins in to make a call. I have walked by that payphone once a week and did not even know it was there until I saw sombody using it.
Aladinsane,
where/how to look up - link to auctions in Pico Rivera..
goggled, kinda got lost.