rockerchic

Three Sides to the Housing Story

"...maybe the company should be called Reality Track" –that was great!

Credit Card Delinquency Jumps 131.3% - In China

Coreopsis....may I state the, hopefully, obvious? Checking accounts are not debt-based. You don't borrow thousands of dollars against a checking account (unless you are laundering money). You would simply bounce a big check. Are you confusing the term debit with debt? Debit means to remove money from your account (i.e. money you own in an account). You are not borrowing the bank's money to do this. This article is about credit card debt and delinquency – money owed to a bank that isn't being paid. I don't see the need for an agenda here.

Four Major Developments Gold Investors Should Watch

Correct. And It is very easy to find the prospectus, people can just google it. Interesting though, the pdf is a 'picture' of the prospectus... you can't copy and paste the info. So I will type the holding info here:

"The (GLD) trust holds gold bars and is expected from time to time to issue Baskets in exchange for deposits of gold and to distribute gold in connection with redemptions of Baskets"

They go on to say that HSBC Bank USA is the custodian of the gold and oversees the safekeeping. I would have picked a different company myself... let's just hope they don't tap it to cover their fraud and loan default losses.


On Sep 15 01:50 PM kohalakid wrote:

> There is NOTHING in the prospectuses of SLV or GLD that allow them
> to hold "paper" gold or silver. They are allowed to hold only physical
> metal.
> Show me anything in either prospectus that allows what you say they
> can do.

Four Major Developments Gold Investors Should Watch

LOL, they are not passing it out, they are encouraging ownership of it- over cash. Having their citizens holding gold is practically liquid for them. All they have to do is then seize the gold locally, and at will, and give the people cash for it. Great strategy... worked well for the US govt. in the depression and stabilized our finances. At least the Chinese govt. is in tune with reality, wish ours was.


On Sep 15 11:01 AM DVW wrote:

> It is a mania! That much I agree with.
>
> I can turn on the radio and hear several different commercials trying
> to sell the public gold, and I see guys out on the street corner
> to holding up "buy gold" signs. Any gold post on this site attracts
> tons of bullish comments. It's a certain mania and they make dangerous
> investments.
>
> Interesting-- the China story. They cant buy enough of our treasuries
> at rotten rates of return. Why cant China get enough low rent dollars
> despite bad mouthing the buck in public to run it down further? Hummm.
> Obviously they're expecting a RISE in the dollar and they want in
> cheaper, otherwise they're screwed.
>
> If they thought they might get screwed on the dollar, wouldnt the
> government be hoarding gold instead of passing it out to the citizens?
>
>
> It doesnt add up.
>
> Unless some country decides to go back on the gold standard, gold
> really has no practical value except for jewelry or a trading vehicle.
>
>
> Be careful with gold!

Four Important Housing Charts

Ah, yes... just like the govt. stealing billions of taxpayers (hey, no one asked me if they could do this!) to give to new car buyers. And Wall Street rallys at the green shoot. And GDP moves up. Another Obama miracle! So the new paradigm is simply this: stealing/borrowing = economic recovery. Hey, if we all rob the corner liquor stores in our neighborhoods, then we'll solve this economic mess once and for all. Consumer confidence will sky rocket and we'll all spend again. A least for a few months. Then.... well let's not go there. No one worries about 'then', that isn't politically correct to talk about.


On Aug 26 11:34 AM Mr. Ed, Jr. wrote:

> So, a summer (home-buying season) rally, coinciding with slightly
> increased demand due to the November expiration of the $8k tax credit
> is suddenly a housing turnaround ?
>
> Has anyone bothered to check the NOD's filed in the last few months
> ? RealtyTrac says 600,000 homes are being held off the market by
> banks, in order to not do more pricing damage.
>
> Good luck sustaining this slight uptick with a glut of foreclosures
> on the way and high unemployment.
>
> But perhaps we really have created a new paradigm...one that is able
> to overcome high unemployment and all known aspects of the economic
> law of supply and demand.

Housing Bottom? The $1.55 Trillion Effect

Man I tell you, some people have green shoots growing out of their wazoo... and what's worse is all the followers grazing on them, calling it hope.

An Angry Banker's Foreclosure Solution

What about the first criminal in line: the mortgage broker? They knew the ins-and-outs of the loans and spoke right to the person advising them of their situation and what they could afford. They're the ones who need to be in the unemployment lines and fined for each loan they sharked.

And the regulators? Also fired for not doing their job.

Just a dream of course, like some of the things listed in the article... but it would be nice to see some justice served.

Countrywide REOs Move Back to Early 2007 Levels

Note the words 'listed for sale' which make all the difference here. There are many REOs that are not on the market (or taken into account here), but held up, they are 'not for sale' at this time. And these are not all loan reworks, many are vacant homes (I see many out there that are long vacant and nowhere listed). Agents are frustrated in the area I'm looking to buy because inventory is down but should be higher. There are many more REOs in total and one can't look at a fraction of them and say, 'look a recovery!'. Although the media does it all the time...

Good News Points to Recession's End by July

Dude, share some of that stash, will 'ya?

More Housing Charts: Existing Home Prices vs. Median Income, Interest Rates

Shrivman and Hmmm... you read the chart wrong. Look at the left side numbers on the bottom chart, not the right.

Gold's Relationship with Real Estate

I disagree that homes and gold are equivalent enough to parallel as tangible assets. They are truly different:
Houses are susceptible to flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, fire damage, etc.
Gold? No.
Neighborhood values plummet when regional employment/industries go down in the area.
Gold? Take it with you when you move.
Lumber rots, gets eaten by termites, and deteriorates with time.
Gold? Imperishable.
Aging homes become less desirable, lose structural integrity and depreciate.
Gold? Just as precious as it was 7000 years ago.
Home design and architecture changes. Tastes change (who prefers cathedral ceilings and larger bedrooms compared to designs 40 years ago)
Gold? Just as popular as it was in Cleopatra's era.

When everything is crashing and burning... Gold doesn't burn. It just melts and hardens back into solid, beautiful gold. Every civilization has valued it and will continue to. As a safe haven during rough times, it has remained a popular choice for many reasons.

5 Reasons Why the $700B Bailout Could Translate to $250 Oil

Oh how I wish the bailout plan would do just that (bailout), but it won't. It will help only delay and dissipate the losses to the general public over time, and lessen the perception of impact. BUT... the bailout is to cover the subprime problem. Hello America, meet Option ARM– your newest nemesis to fear. The one that most are as blind to as we were to the subprime problem last year. It is happening again, except Mr. ARM has much higher mortgage balances than Mr. Subprime. And starting the end of 2008 to early 2009, Mr. ARM will begin his massive reset cycle. Economic recovery? Industry Growth? $250 Oil?... in our dreams. That would be a blessing if it happened... compared to this.

Well At Least Inventory Is Declining [Housing Tracker]

Here are some new indicators shown in this article:

www.realtytrac.com/New...

Well At Least Inventory Is Declining [Housing Tracker]

It is interesting that no one is really spending much time discussing the backlogged inventory that is being withheld from appearing on the bank's balance sheets and quarterly reports. By not recording these losses, banks put off till tomorrow of having to show these negative assets which allows them appear 'more stable' than they really are. This tactic prevents massive sell-offs in their stock prices (I should say more massive) which could bankrupt them (are you looking at WaMu today...slaughterhouse meltdown). It would be nice to have analysts do their homework on this and publish the true NOD, pre-forclosure rates that are going to come as a result. I've seen prediction charts and it is a mess... don't even tell me about inventory looking brighter. WaMu is not failing (failed by tomorrow?) because the future is looking brighter, dear.

All That Gold Is Really In the Gold ETF, Right?

So who actually oversees, regulates and confirms the gold holdings of these ETF companies anyway... and where do we find this documented info?