NoFate

151 Comments

    • ON: Sat Oct 11th 15:48 PM
      Commented on:
      5 Reasons Stocks Will Keep Falling
      Guys - If everything is priced into the market and the market has a 6-9 month forward view, then why did it get cut in half in a week? The market is an emotional crack whore, not a crystal ball. It's favorite drug (credit and high leverage) got cut off a week ago and what we are seeing is DTs.

      Further, Obama's increased likelihood of election didn't cause the crash! That is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard! His numbers went up because nobody believes McCain can fix it ...your causation is backwards.

      In addition, I also disagree with the author on oil and the US$ for the same reasons as the first post.

      Finally, it just stuns me how much disinformation is out there ...and what you all buy into sometimes! I am a Libertarian and am sick of being lied to by both parties and their media outlets.
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    • ON: Sat Oct 11th 15:24 PM
      Commented on:
      How to Handle a Snap-Back Rally (If We Get One)
      We are in a level 5 hurricane ...there is no investing right now. Investing in this environment is like starting construction on a new office building at the same time Katrina makes landfall.

      Back to my trading...
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    • ON: Fri Oct 10th 04:39 AM
      Commented on:
      How NOT To Think About Investing
      It is not about counter-party risk ...it is about transparency.

      When we can finally read a financial statement for a bank without worrying about "mark to myth" or off the books SIVs ...and actually figure out what they are worth... then there will be no counter-party risk.

      It's good to see that you are finally bearish Jeff ...too bad you are still not understanding the root problem.
      View article »
    • ON: Sun Oct 5th 16:19 PM
      Commented on:
      The Next Bull Market Could Be Rentals
      I agree that the DEMAND for rentals will go up as more people get foreclosed on ...or simply can't get financing to buy a home.

      I would also point out that the SUPPLY of houses (and apartments) increased dramatically in the past 7 years also.

      So demand for rentals should increase, but supply of rentals should increase as well. I would be very careful with the author's thesis.

      I would also point out that the C-S Index is still dropping like a rock and will likely shoot past the mean before it starts to flatten out. Banks are demanding 30% down on rentals because they realize this (i.e. grew a brain). So even if you get positive cash flow, you will likely lose equity immediately (unless you get a really good deal).

      I plan to buy houses to rent, but am waiting for blood in the streets. When the Case-Shiller index is almost flat in another year or two I will start looking. Until then I am very happy sitting on cash.
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    • ON: Thu Jul 17th 16:04 PM
      Commented on:
      The Media Has Mistaken a Major Re-allocation for a Recession
      What we have is a sucker rally ...it should go for a while, then we plunge again. My responses to the points in this article below.

      1. The enforcement of SEC rules against naked short selling will provide stability for the financials.
      - Didn't help China much did it? I think it will smooth out the race to the bottom though.

      2. Non-financial earnings results to exceed lowered expectations.
      - Energy, sure. The others had their expectations lowered about a week ago. We have been in an earnigns recession for a year now with no indication of a turn around.

      3. Probable 2% GDP growth announced for 2nd quarter.
      - Maybe, because of the stimulus checks ...if you can even believe the government statistics. There will not be the huge growth expected in the 2nd half everyone was predicting though.

      4. Evidence of a significant decline in oil demand.
      - Oil demand declines when emerging market growth slows down. Think this is a good thing for stocks?

      5. Booming exports.
      - Somewhat, but this is because the US$ is weak. The exports do not come close to making up for the food and energy price increases.

      6. Low stock valuation.
      - Huh? The PEs on the S&P are still over 20. The historical norm is around 15 I think and we are overdue for a mean reversion. Oh that's right ...it's different this time!

      7. Low interest rates, low taxes, and an additional stimulus package on the way.
      - Hmmmm, maybe liquidity trap, reduced government revenues and increased government deficits. Sound like fun?

      Anyway, banks have 100s of billions of additional unknown write-downs since they can't even predict how many more foreclosures there will be or how far down home prices will go. Banks margins are going to continue to be stretched. The Fed is damn near out of bullets. The consumer is in debt up to their eyeballs. Unemployment is rising, profits are declining, etc...

      Anyway ...SOLD TO YOU!
      View article »
    • ON: Wed Apr 2nd 17:30 PM
      Commented on:
      Stocks Rally on Financial Writedowns: Overly Optimistic?
      Imagine what will happen to UBS stock a year from now when they will still be making additional writedowns!

      It will probably take another 2 years for housing prices to bottom ...at which point they will finally be able to "mark to market" all their mortgage backed securities ...and take their final writedowns (if they are not off-balance sheet on SIVs)!
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    • ON: Tue Apr 1st 03:56 AM
      Commented on:
      Calls For A Market Ready to "Rocket Higher"
      Usually the person who writes the article is not the troll, but in this case I think you are.

      Sure, we hit a bottom ...and subprime is contained ...and the rest of the world will decouple ...and earnings will rebound in H2 ...and if you click your heels together 3 times the economy will fix itself!

      Nice job Jason ...any credibility you did have is now gone.
      View article »
    • ON: Mon Mar 17th 02:21 AM
      Commented on:
      How to Trade This 'Bear' Market - Barron's
      $2 a share ...we finally got MARK TO MARKET!!!

      Now the rest of the investment banks have to drop to $2 and we might be at a bottom.

      Disagree? Great ...SOLD TO YOU!
      View article »
    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 19:53 PM
      Commented on:
      The College-Educated Are Getting Richer
      Another thing the chart points out though ...on average people are making less than they did in 2000.

      This is probably due to off-shoring and globalization ...although this should begin to turn around. I've read places like China and India are starting to have shortages of educated workers and this is why their inflation is starting to rise.

      I'm guessing more educated workers will further increase the spread over the next 10 years.
      View article »
    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 17:38 PM
      Commented on:
      Here's Hoping Tuesday's Fed Move Spurs a Recovery in Credit Markets
      I took the opportunity to buy more shorts today! Thanks Ben!
      View article »
    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 17:25 PM
      Commented on:
      The College-Educated Are Getting Richer
      I'm with locke on this.

      Very interesting and supports what I have been thinking. I think this is what underlies race also ...more whites/asians have more education (on average) than blacks/latinos ...and on average make considerably more.

      Class warfare and Race warfare evolves into ...knowledge warfare!

      This is hard to swallow for many people because they can't blame society and have to accept it is their own fault they didn't go to college.

      View article »
    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 13:31 PM
      Commented on:
      A Sensible and Refreshing Move from the Fed
      Here is an analogy ...your teenager has maxed out their credit cards and is to a point they can no longer make payments. You step in as a co-signer and get the limits on the cards doubled.

      Is this the right decision? This is what the Fed did for the banks yesterday.

      What they should have done is "tough love." Step on their damn necks and tell them to take their proper write-downs (that are hidden on their SIVs or are still inflated due to "mark to myth").

      Until there is trust and responsibility, more liquidity will not solve the problem.
      View article »
    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 13:12 PM
      Commented on:
      Nowhere Near a Real Estate Bottom
      jcrash - I don't know about anyone else on this board, but I have an Econ degree from UCSD (summa cum laude) and an MBA from UW. I never post this info due to modesty, but I've never been compared to a bank teller either.

      I also find I get better information from blogs than from the mass media. These days I trust The Economist and that's about it.

      Finally, I will short this bear to the bottom and will probably make a ton of money doing so. That doesn't mean I find it amusing. In fact I find it rather disgusting that we are currently being run like a banana republic. Monoline ratings are a joke, banks are technically insolvent and the Fed is unwilling to make the hard choices required to fix it. Think about it ...if you had a teenager who constantly maxed out her credit cards and didn't make payments would your solution be to double her limits? Nuff said...
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    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 04:53 AM
      Commented on:
      Nowhere Near a Real Estate Bottom
      The banks who decided to hand out free money over the past 5 years to anyone who could fog a mirror ...have created $4-6 trillion in inflated housing value that will evaporate very soon.

      Someone now has to eat that debt! Let me repeat that ...someone now has to eat that debt! The money is spent and/or the LTV >100% (and people are walking).

      Someone will also have to eat the bad debt in auto loans, credit cards and CRE ...also all ready to go off like a bomb shortly as well.

      We are looking at bad debt equal to at least half our GDP (which is $13 trillion). The big question is who will eat the debt?? I think there are only 3 choices:
      - Investors in mortgage backed investments. They will eat it if nothing is done.
      - Banks. They created the mess, so Bernanke's recommendation has some poetic justice.
      - Taxpayers. This could take the form of buying mortgages, insuring mortgages, giving people money, etc.

      The banks are the only reasonable answer. If it's the investors the financial system comes unraveled and the banks never come clean creating a Japan style deflation. If it's the taxpayers it creates moral hazard and a host of other problems.

      Two huge problems remain though:
      1) Bottom line is the banks need to come clean and go public with their true issues or the credit crunch continues due to lack of trust.
      2) Nobody knows how low housing prices will go yet ...so nobody knows how many foreclosures ...so nobody can really estimate true losses yet. And prices are sticky ...they take alot of time to drop compared to other investments.

      The worst part though is the Fed auctions and interest rate cuts don't address either of these two core issues. Bottom line ...the US is sceeerewed for at least 1-2 years ...much longer if this doesn't get fixed.
      View article »
    • ON: Wed Mar 12th 04:31 AM
      Commented on:
      Tuesday Was 4th Largest Point Gain in Dow's History
      This seems to provide strong evidence we are in a bear market.

      If I counted correctly, it appears only 1 out of the top 12 point gains were in a bull market.

      10 out of 12 were during the 2000-2002 recession (and thus sucker rallies).

      The final one was today. This would anecdotally indicate that there is a 10/11 probability (91%) we are in a bear market ...though I agree percent changes are better indicators than points.
      View article »
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