Bill Zielinski

Today's Yellow Shoot: The MBA Mortgage Report

Awesome article; you put together a lot of data points to show what the real situation is.

U.S. Markets: Keep on Rockin' in the Free World

Jim,
Thanks for another real good analysis.
It's obvious that the powers to be don't seem to comprehend the serious situation that we are in. The only "solution" they have is to borrow and spend more, as has been the case for decades now.
Only when it becomes blatantly obvious to everyone that we are at the edge of the abyss, will the impetus for the right kind of change happen. By that time, of course, it may be too late.

Does Gold Beat the DJIA? It Depends

Awesome piece of research. It's very interesting to see that gold has outperformed the Dow since 1960. So much for the buy and hold theory for stocks.

A Stairway to Retail Heaven (Part 2)

James,
Another superb article. The fact that your logic eludes so many,however, tells me that the battleis over. The over leveraged negative net worth individuals crying for help due to their poor andirresponsible decisions will wind up being subsidized by your paycheck and retirement savings.

Sorry Geithner, The Market Is Not That into You

Well crafted article with great writing style.

But you need to be careful - if you keep slicing and dicing him like this, he might just quit! No more Geithner comedy. Then again, not a problem. I can give you a short list of 50 other bumbling idiots in Washington to write about.

Will 2009 Bring Ring Three of the Financial Circus?

A very well written piece. I agree that the many problems you list will not be solved overnight and we will have a lot of bad news on the economy this year.

I guess the big questions is, to what extent have the markets already discounted these issues?

Is America on a Downward Slope?

An incredibly well written dissertation on the financial disaster that the Fed and our political leadership have brought down upon us.

This country is incapable of accepting the fact that the cure to our financial fiasco involves pain and sacrifice rather than more borrowing. The illusion of prosperity, promoted by unsavory and deceitful political and business leaders is still accepted by an uninformed public.

The monetary authorities will do whatever they need to do to keep the bubble from bursting but their success is subject to much doubt. If they are "successful" it only means that they have postponed the real day of reckoning to a later date and increased our debt levels beyond what can ever be managed or repaid.

Maybe some day before it is too late, an uncommon leader will rise to the occasion and talk straight to the American public. Maybe someday this honest man will explain how we have spent our future and that the cure is not more borrowing but pain and sacrifice so that we can have some hope of a better future for our children.

Time is running short.

Here Comes the Foreclosure Cavalry

There will be foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies until we get to the point where only those with sufficient income to actually service their debt are allowed to borrow money to buy a home.

The government seems to be obsessed with making everyone a homeowner when in fact this is not a desirable for many individuals. By the time this crisis is resolved, we may all decide that we would have been better off as renters!

Low Rates, Big Problems

A significant number of the foreclosures that we are seeing now were the result of the ridiculous leverage and lack of sound underwriting policies that were the norm during the bubble years of mortgage lending. Mortgage loans were being made almost regardless of credit, with no income verification and no down payment. It should not be a surprise that once the bubble popped and prices started dropping that we would experience a large number of foreclosures.
There's a lot of different parties to blame for the housing fiasco but I would tend to blame the lenders more than the borrowers. Given the widely held belief that real estate prices would only go up and with easy no money down financing available, many buyers were acting rationally since they were receiving a risk free long term call on the price of real estate. If prices kept going higher, you sell or refinance and make a killing; if prices dropped you simply walk away.
I would say that the government's attempt to prop up the artificial prices of the past by delaying inevitable foreclosures will only prolong the time it takes to eventually reach a bottom in housing. If someone is in foreclosure, that would generally mean that the homeowner, for whatever reason, can't make the payment or prefers to simply walk away due to negative equity, etc. These people become renters, the foreclosed home is sold at a market clearing price and eventually supply and demand in housing is balanced.
Going forward, if the mortgage industry can restrain itself to lend money only to those that have a documented ability to service the debt, another housing bust will be avoided. Unfortunately in the meantime, there are many innocent homeowners paying a very dear price for the lending insanity that brought this housing crisis upon us all.

Are Loan Modifications a Salvation for Former Mortgage Brokers?

Bluesbuff,
I can assure you that I have nothing to do with loanmod.com
I was generally assessing what appears to be a new get rich quick business which is somewhat related to the mortgage industry, which I am involved in.
I think most readers reading my post would pick up on my general disapproval of this loan mod business, especially when I say that this field is populated with "coarse idiots"!
If you visit my site you will see that I cover a wide range of topics on the economy, mortgage industry and current financial issues.
Thanks
Bill Zielinski


On Nov 24 03:49 PM Bluesbuff wrote:

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