DIAMONDS Trust, Series 1 (DIA)

All Comments on DIA

  • commenter
    richjoy
    May 16 08:42 PM
    Foreclosures Prove Loan Modification Isn't Working [view article]
    What?...an article on home forclosures with 11 responses...and no one has mentioned the obvious solution?

    All we need to do is give courts the authority to change mortgage contracts (that's right, lower the rates to whatever the borrower thinks he can afford...presto! problem solved!)

    Of course, there will be consequences. First, mortgage rates will go up several percentage points; second, qualifications (credit histories, down payments, etc.) will be tightened so fewer people will qualify; third, there will be vastly more people signing rental contracts where rent payments apply to the eventual purchase; fourth, (what the hell, does it matter?)

    I absolutely assure you, those who think they will lower the price of gasoline by adding more taxes to the oil companies, are just the people who will be pushing legislation to give courts authority to modify mortgate contracts.     Reply
  • commenter
    iThinkBig
    May 16 06:31 PM
    My Website
    Foreclosures Prove Loan Modification Isn't Working [view article]
    And the end of the tracks for those banks Negative carry are the overleveraged, pinched consumer whom is 70% of our nation's GDP. The real question is, can the consumer recover in time before the banks can fix the balance sheets? So the consumer continues to buy less non-essentials and GDP shrinks, what jobs will American's have to recover?

    I guess a hefty portion of Americans will have to prepare to go from service jobs to farming or perhaps we will declare energy independence and create millions of jobs. Don't I wish that would happen, but no, that would create a competing product and force some wealth from global oligarchs!

    I assume the government will offer job retraining programs in 2009 which is why I like a stock like Apollo Group, but without major innovation into something the global consumer needs more of (like affordable energy and food) I am not encouraged.

    I guess a side benefit of the California courts being so clogged (and other courts) is perhaps they will stop activism of there liberal, no justice except for deadbeats, theives and perverts agenda. That is getting pretty sickening to me these days as well.     Reply
  • commenter
    iThinkBig
    May 16 06:19 PM
    My Website
    Want to Fix the Fed? Get Rid of It [view article]
    Bearfund probably has the best comments of this group and solutions and I disagree with Richjoy that should consider the long-term economic effects of the bottom 97% going broke and if that is good for our GDP or not... I would speculate the path we are on is one of first massive socialism and then depression shortly thereafter.

    The mistakes of the Great Depression are being repeated, although I will say Ben Bernanke made the only choice he could have made with Bear Stearns by lowering rates. It's like the Kobi-Murashi Maroo test in Star Trek movie where there is no complete solution for the cadet to save the entire space vessel in the test, it's only lessening degrees of loss of life aboard the ship. I vehemently disagreed with the last .25 point cut but do not think we are yet at the point to follow Volker's solution to inflation by massively raising rates either.

    I have repeated many times to many people that going energy independent could be the only real solution to avoiding a depression three to four years from now, but the politics and human nature our nation (most likely just human nature period) tend to have us go over the cliff and be 10 feet to the ground before we open the parachute of American ingenuity and willpower our nation can muster in any emergency. secondary chute to open to avoid some pain I wish it     Reply
  • commenter
    grammarcheck
    er
    May 16 04:43 PM
    Under The Radar News - Friday [view article]
    Fewer ads, not "less ads". (The paragraph under the headline uses the correct term.) Reply
  • commenter
    User 193849
    May 16 03:59 PM
    SPY: The Myth of a Decline in Corporate Earnings [view article]
    Good work!! Reply
  • commenter
    icandoitdon
    May 16 03:48 PM
    Want to Fix the Fed? Get Rid of It [view article]
    those who defend the federal reserve miss the salient point of it's critics, which is this:

    the federal reserve has been the big enabler of the credit culture our economy has become beholden to. those who believe this is how it should be are usually beneficiaries of the system, i.e. consumers who don't have a pot to p__s in, retailers and credit card companies who boost their sales and recover the cost of defaults in the form of higher prices for their product/services, mortgage companies who have securitized and sold their loans, ridding themselves of credit risk by shifting it to naieve investors desperately looking for yield because the fed keeps interest rates artificially low...all to feed the credit cycle that keeps this economy going.

    anyone who thinks this kind of foundation is healthy for our economy is simply ignorant...i'm sorry. the federal reserve, in flooding the system with cheap credit, has caused the problems of today. instead of facing them squarely and enduring the pain it would cause, which would be significant, it has kicked the can down the road. as a country, we've become good at that, whether in foreign policy, social policy or economic policy.

    the federal reserve is a disgrace. so is the congress. so is the executive branch of government. we've met the enemy and he is us.

    i took note that fannie mae today announced that they have decided to not raise downpaymet requirements as previously announced...to "help" the housing industry. help it go broke, that is, because it's exactly that type of policy that created the housing/credit crisis. it's more of the same crap from a quasi-federal organization.     Reply
  • commenter
    DaveW
    May 16 02:25 PM
    A Sideways Market For the Next Decade? [view article]
    space-time,
    In my opinion, your best bet is to go with a sector rotation approach. Currently that would be energy - oil (DIG, OIL, or DBO); natural gas (CHK or UNG and COG or REXX); alt. energies (FSLR, PBW), including nuclear energy & uranium (CCJ, USU, PKN); Platinum-based metals (SWC or PAL); Copper (PCU or TGB) - and agriculture (POT, UYM, DBA, MOO, or JJG). This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a primer for thought and research. Most of what I mention have price targets significantly/modestly higher than current levels. Only REXX comes from my personal research, all others come from better investors than myself.     Reply
  • commenter
    Kunst
    May 16 02:22 PM
    1990 All Over Again? [view article]
    H-Bomb says, "...the end is neigh." You been getting advice from Mr. Ed? Try "nigh". Reply
  • commenter
    cfish
    May 16 02:05 PM
    Foreclosures Prove Loan Modification Isn't Working [view article]
    I totally agree that banks are impaired from doing thier best to clear out the inventory, but I didn't realize that they needed more cash infusion to do it. This depression could to be long. I don't think it will be as long as Japan's bubble crash because Americans are much more willing to clean up the mess, but if they have little power to do that, we have a lot more trouble ahead. Reply
  • commenter
    granger
    May 16 12:37 PM
    Portfolio Review: Diversification and Asset Allocation [view article]
    My favorite topic as well. Thanks Reply
  • commenter
    Snuggles
    May 16 12:35 PM
    Foreclosures Prove Loan Modification Isn't Working [view article]
    "...In the meantime, because so many problem mortgages are securitized in pools, banks cannot act even if they wanted to..."

    I don't understand why more hasn't been made of this fact. Securitization has made it infinitely more difficult to conduct work-outs with borrowers. I find it highly ironic that a tool that was supposed to mitigate risk is actually going to help accelerate losses.     Reply
  • commenter
    njgolfer
    May 16 12:26 PM
    Under The Radar News - Wednesday [view article]
    NO way is Accenture being bought out. Think HP buying EDS will be challenging? Try buying out a 170,000+ person company which is what Accenture is right now. Reply
  • commenter
    lost-in-spac
    e_time
    May 16 12:23 PM
    A Sideways Market For the Next Decade? [view article]
    I agree, one of the best posts/comments seen on seekingalpha in a long time. HOWEVER I hope for some concrete suggestions in response to punk-ash's question: In what else could one invest?
    Looking out to my 5 - 10 "retirement" (is there such a thing anymore?) horizon, what defensive postures are viable?     Reply
  • commenter
    Tom Lindmark
    May 16 11:44 AM
    My Website
    Foreclosures Prove Loan Modification Isn't Working [view article]
    I'm all in with those of you who see this as just another chicken little article. Need more data and fewer quotations and anecdotal sidebars. Reply
  • commenter
    flow5
    May 16 11:09 AM
    Want to Fix the Fed? Get Rid of It [view article]
    "Sadly, we are moving the opposite direction towards more government intervention, nationalization of banks, nationalization of housing, and more regulation on top of regulation, with increasing power to the organization most responsible for creating the mess we are in." Yes, yes, and yes, - that is an understatement.
    Reply

Trading Center