HARM

Avoid the U.S. Until the Subprime Mess Really Hits the Fan

Every time you say you dont believe in real estate, a Realtor® dies. All you need is trust and a little bit of pixie dust!

Negative Reaction to Third Fed Discount Rate Cut No Cause for Concern

--"derivates"
+"derivatives"

Foreign Investment in the U.S.: Is Bernanke Facing a Death Spiral?

--"Pepple Beach"
+"Pebble Beach"

Must remember to spellcheck.

Foreign Investment in the U.S.: Is Bernanke Facing a Death Spiral?

<i>I seem to recall that in the mid '80's after the recession the Japanese handled this problem by buying U.S. commercial real estate and other tangible assets at bargain prices instead of U.S. paper investments</i>

I seem to recall the Japanese using bubble equity from their own twin RE & stock market bubbles and paying top dollar for inflated U.S. real estate (recall "Rising Sun", Rockefeller Center & Pepple Beach anyone?). And then having their asses handed to them.

RE: "bargains" in U.S. real estate, yeah right --at 11:1 median price:median HH income ratio, those CA properties are looking mighty "affordable". Keep repeating the "everyone wants to live here", and "wealthy foreigners will pay any price" mantras --maybe it will come true through will power alone.

Q: Are you a real estate agent or mortgage broker (or both?)

Negative Reaction to Third Fed Discount Rate Cut No Cause for Concern

"It's only a flesh wound."

Yup, no reason to be concerned here people. So what if a few $Trillion in mortgage-backed derivates evaporates between now and 2012 (Google 'Credit Suisse ARM reset chart')? The Fed will just drop short rates to zero and inflate the heck out of everything else. Nothing to see here people, move along.

U.S. Home Prices Go From Bad To Worse

@User 118927,

Amen!

U.S. Home Prices Go From Bad To Worse

Even though this was a fairly straightforward data-driven post, I thought it was interesting it was titled "U.S. Home Prices Go From Bad To Worse".

Why are falling prices (especially in hyper-inflated markets) invariably interpreted by the media as a "bad" thing, while rising prices are invariably greeted as a "good" thing?

When prices were rising at double-digit clips, reckless lending was going gangbusters, and affordability levels dropped to single digits here in CA, very few pundits showed much concern. And yet this was a very real bread-and-butter problem for the 98% or so of residents whose main reason for purchasing real estate was for (*gasp*) actual shelter --not speculation.

What falling prices means to me (and I suspect, the vast majority of the home-buying public) is a long-overdue correction, and a much needed boost to real affordability. I could give a rat's ass whether some crooked Wall Street financial alchemist gets his multi-million-dollar bonus this year, or whether some lazy, greedbag Casey Serin clone can retire rich at 30 by driving up prices on me (preferably 'not' to both). However, I DO care whether or not I --and millions of other working class people like me-- can afford to buy shelter in the communities in which they live and work.

I tend to put working-class peoples' interests ahead of speculators and Wall Street banksters, but I guess I'm just crazy that way.

Credit Problems Delayed are Not Credit Problems Solved

<i>Everyone is doing their part to make people debt slaves forever. Even financial counselors are in on the act.</i>

Exactly, because that's precisely what the system is designed to do. Regardless of how ill advised and costly it may end up for the borrowers, every credit transaction generates commissions and/or interest income for the financial intermediaries involved. Those profits accumulate and ultimately support the banksters and big boys on Wall Street (the ones whose opinions really matter to lawmakers).

Fiscal responsibility and rational self-interest for peons has no place in a financial system built on the assumption of perpetual credit expansion and the growth of debt-based consumption. Unless/until the Reeves wise up and recognize this truth, they will continue to be pawns of the bankster's chessboard, perpetually cycling through being squeezed for every last cent, cast aside when dry, and then later re-entering the cycle to start it all over again.

Cutting Rates Further Will Only Lead to Disaster

Very nice summation of the "conundrum" the Fed is facing. Nice to see someone "gets it". Overreliance on cheap credit begets asset bubbles, asset bubbles beget inflation, inflation + post-bubble aftermath begets flight to quality (metals, commodities & stronger currencies).

Too Many Zeroes For Paul Krugman

The scoundrel's last retort: When you can't attack the argument, attack the man.

Too Many Zeroes For Paul Krugman

Oh, and prefacing one's criticism with "You'an idiot" and no facts to support it conveys little credibility.

Too Many Zeroes For Paul Krugman

@jjjmiller46,

Owner equity as a percentage of house's market value has dropped significantly since the government started tracking it, DESPITE the enormous run-ups in prices over the past 6 years: patrick.net/wp/wp-cont....

This is of course easily explained by the enormous amounts of "liberated" home equity over the past several years in the form of cash-out refi's, HELOCs, questionable cash-back at closing "deals", etc.: www.irvinehousingblog....

Also, house prices (estimated market values) are always set at the margins --i.e., by that small % of houses that actually turns over each year. Considering that prices are already falling across most MSAs nationwide, and that most neg-ams, option-ARMs, interest-onlys and assorted "exotics" still haven't seen their first reset, we have a very LOOOOONG way to go before we hit bottom.

In other words, as house prices continue their inevitable death-spiral, that owner equity figure is guaranteed to drop like a stone. Regardless of what precise number --if any-- Krugman had in mind, a cumulative national loss in the $Trillions is completely within the realm of probability.

Miracle: Bush To Part The Bankrupt Sea

<i>What will get hurt? Nothing that we can think of.</i>

Riiight. Just savers, taxpayers and people who DIDN'T participate in this enormous Ponzi scheme of a housing bubble. Other than that, it's totally cool.

Here's a nice thought to ponder:

<i>“Democracy is an upside-down homeowner, a mortgage investor, and a tax-paying renter, voting on what’s for dinner.”</i>