Poor and Unemployed

9 Comments

    • The Dummy's Guide to the U.S. Financial Crisis [view article]
      seemingly unaware that low interest rates were masking large risks.
      ======================...
      Do you believe that the bankers did not have common sense while taking home hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses??

      Elliot Spitzer, Bear Stearns bailout, AIG - Greenberg, Lehman .......
      Sep 25 09:04 PM
    • Today's Other Bailout: $25B for Auto Makers [view article]
      I work in a coal mine and we dig the coal with hand. If the company could get $10 billion in federal money - they will be able to buy robotic diggers and pay me $100 / hr instead of $25 - I am making now.

      It is unfair that the Chinese mine workers get paid so little to dig the coal.       Sep 25 12:24 AM
    • If You Think the Dow Did Well Today, You're Wrong [view article]
      While I do not like government interference in the markets – I try not to fight the tape. This is not an “American Problem”. We may be the leaders in the invention and distribution of sub-prime and so on but rest of the world has far more toxic debt than one can imagine and have buried their head in the sand.

      Basic houses in Colombia, Brazil, India, Odessa not to mention Timbuktu were and in some cases are selling for over half a million US dollars with borrowed money. In most cases banks cannot recover the properties or the losses.

      Industrial loans specially to shipping sector, which financed the new building boom over past few years is a replica of housing boom. Twenty-year-old rust buckets are selling for $40 million dollars instead of scrap price. All paid not by the traditional ship-owners but banks and funds.

      Hopefully, we will put all this behind and move ahead while others face hyperinflations and defaults, which will restore our position in the world markets. Our biggest strength lies in our unique ability to cut the losses and move on with business of making money.

      Print this comment and read it again in 2 years time. But all bets are off if OBAMA is elected. That man has never held a proper job in his life. Leave alone buy a house with his own money.
      Sep 21 10:01 AM
    • Don't Believe Everything You Hear About Sirius [view article]
      This "Short" selling rule - may be if they had instituted a rule to prevent people from buying houses which they could not afford, we would not have had this mess.

      Are they going to impose rules to prevent hedge funds from buying up stocks with the money they do not have?       Sep 17 08:07 PM
    • Crunching Numbers: Why I'd Buy AIG [view article]
      Why on earth any small investor want to touch financials at this time? You are not running a fund with other people's money!

      Watch out for Master card and Visa in which banks have major stakes. They may have to unload them to raise capital apart from both of them having their own problems.

      Today's move explains why all the pundits were pushing financial sector etf (XLF) on TV shows for past month and the run up.       Sep 15 10:46 PM
    • Case/Shiller Index: Are We Close to a Bottom? [view article]
      After seven years we are still to see recovery in dot com sector. Till the C-S index gets back to 2000 level there is no bottom. Lot more banks have to fail before we see the bottom.

      Sure sign of bottom would come after the homeowners accept the reality of their house price. But once the owner can only reduce the price to a level when their equity is entirely wiped out, after that it is out of their hands and in the lap of mortgage holders. So till the mortgage holders accept the real value (not appraisals conducted by incompetent realtors) there will not be gloom and doom, which is market bottom.

      Do not confuse housing with homebuilders, who tend to accept the realty very quickly and adjust their business models, which reflects in their stock price.

      So when you hear despair, glom and doom, realtors start driving the cabs or return to their old jobs - that is bottom! When you hear a New York Cabbie telling you about his dreams of returning to real estate business as soon as he cleans his credit report – that is bottom. When media stops asking for opinions from NAR – that is bottom. When $100K house returns back from $500K asking price to $100K - that is bottom.
      Sep 14 06:29 PM
    • Debating the Lehman Collapse [view article]
      Great post Gramps2. Very refreshing!
      Most important aspect of this weekend is what is not being said!
      1) What is the real value of these securities?
      2) If the real value is placed on the Lehman's assets, how much more write off is due at from players?
      3) What about exposure from other countries – Europe, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe? Remember – condos in Rio, Guatemala City, Prague, Odessa, Mumbai, Dubai, Shanghai and last but not least – Timbuktu ……… are more expensive than one overlooking central park in New York. All financed with same toxic securities if not worst.
      4) Will we allow Middle East Money or Chinese money to buy Merrill?
      5) Is this a precursor for federal bailout of Merrill?

      We do not elect government to run business. No one is indispensable. We have to cut our losses and move on. If that is the bitter medicine we have to take to recover, so be it. It is better than being a Banana Republic.
      Sep 14 05:41 PM
    • When the Going Gets Tough, the NAR Advertises [view article]
      I have cash and I am in market to buy in Miami. I have contacted banks about the specific foreclosure properties to make a bid. I havn't heard back from any. Countrywide required prequalification, which I did but they would not issue the letter. Plain simple good old stonewalling. Do they know something that we dont? Is government going to bail them out so they would rather keep the properties on books at high price instead of selling? Most properties are being offered through brokers at 8% commissions even if you approach the banks directly. Any comments?? Feb 02 11:42 PM
    • A Bear's Questions: Floyd Norris [view article]
      Thanks to the banks! We lived past few years using our homes as credit card. Most of the increased value generated by the real estate was shipped off to Oil producing countries and China. Dollar will have depreciate further by 30% to briing that back to US.

      Private equity will buy the condo buildings and turn then back to rental properties. People will have to start renting and start saving for the down payment the old fashion way. No more $50 K cars parked on the street and TV screen size will have to come down to 32" max. No more $4.00 coffee at Starbucks and no more cruises to nowhere.

      Just like our neighbors from south have to live from time to time......       Jan 16 10:39 PM
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