Mark in SF

The Toxic Assets Plan - Yes, It's a Subsidy

"You keep hearing the term "private investors" that is going to be Goldmans Sachs......any bets????? "

Yep. They will bid as high as they can get away with. Buy calls and equity in Citibank, then proceed to tunnel 100's of billions of taxpayer money in to Citibank using the 3% investment. Then they will let the private/public SIV burn, and end up with all the taxpayer cash.

The Toxic Assets Plan - Yes, It's a Subsidy

"If there was any value to be found in this bad loan paper, private investors would have sniffed it out long ago."

Yep. Why isn't buffet buying up this stuff for 1/2 it's "real" value.

Sad fact is we now live in a oligarchy. The rich are bailed out under they guise of "rescuing the economy". The only upside would be if the rich are then asked to pay for it by a 70% tax rate over $1M. I might put my pitchfork away if I'm not going to be asked to bail out some $10M net worth person that had an AIG CDS insured wealth management fund at Goldman.

The Geithner Plan FAQ

Paul: "Seems like on this site, we have a lot of bitter GOP supporters who would claim the plan is a failure no matter what."

I voted for Obama. Krugman voted for Obama. We all hate the Geithner plan. It a blatant handout to banks, that obfuscated just enough so to public can't really get it.

The Geithner Plan FAQ

GEITHNER PUT.

How to avoid it? What's to prevent some hedgee bidding face value, and letting the private/public SIV crash and burn? So long as are LONG in some other hedge fund on the bank they are handing the taxpayer cash over too, they are golden.

Smells like an invitation to tunneling to me. It stinks and makes me sick to my stomach.

Where Are Jim Rogers, Marc Faber and Doug Casey Investing Their Money in This Market?

I think Rogers if full of it. Every time I've seen him over the last 5 years he says he recently bought some more of XYZ commodity. If he's such a commodities bull why wasn't he already heavily invested? Is he dollar cost averaging or something?

Face it. People like Rogers are rich "Financial Celebrities" who have their groupies. Networks like CNBC have them on to boost viewership, and the Financial Celebrities get to have their egos stoked. It's not at all clear that his fortune was not primarily the luck of having been with Soros when he was cleaning up in the currency markets.

Inflation: Demand Destruction and Wealth Erosion Trump Money Growth

Tetrapod: "Monetary inflation is the change in the ratio between money-supply and GDP"

Amazing how often I hear this. Just spend 1/2 an hour studying the economic history of post 1990 Japan, and you'll see this is not true. Monetary base tripled 1990-2005, and every other money supply measure vastly increased as well. Yet inflation never gained traction. If you want to really understand what's going on, look at the ratio between DEBT in private sector and GDP.

Let's Have Inflation

Yes!! Let's reward imprudent home buyers and by making their debt burden go away. Brilliant!!

Let's punish savers and and the prudent that that did not get involved in the bubble!!

Let force the world to bail on the dollar as a reserve currency!!

Oh, and while were at it, let's wipe out pension funds, insurance reserves, and all the corporate savings accumulated over the last decade!!

I love it!!

A Deflationary Spiral? Not Likely in the U.S.

"I know that I am way out of my league here - but what would happen if we suddenly declared all debt forgiven? Instead of pouring trillons into the banks to stimulate lending - imagine what would happen to the economy if the american consumer and business had not debt - no credit cards, mortage, car payment, ect... Talk about a stimulus. As a small business owner, lack of debt would certainly allow me to hire more people and start new projects. "

Mr. B, turn it around: Imagine if all savings were wiped out. All pension funds. All insurance company reserves. Social security reserves. Your companies cash holdings. What do you think savings are? It's all somebody else's debt.

Citi's Flip-Flop on Mortgage Cramdowns: A Really Bad Idea

nino: " I do home loans and lend hard money. As of today, I do not do hard money loans at any price. "

Hey nino: I suggest you do not lend more money than a property is worth, if the only collateral is that property.

DUH!

Citi's Flip-Flop on Mortgage Cramdowns: A Really Bad Idea

This article is absurd. If someone someone has made a legitimate claim to bankruptcy, they will be walking away on the property anyway, leaving the bank with the collateral worth what their crammed down loan asset would have been worth.

In other words: The bank will take the hit in bankruptcy, or take the hit when they foreclose. What's the difference?

Citi's Flip-Flop on Mortgage Cramdowns: A Really Bad Idea

Ah... so cram downs, which are the norm for commercial property owners under bankruptcy, should not be for the common folk.

No, no, no.... somebody had got to be the debt slave.

Estimated Change in Home Prices

Griz: "I've been thinking of writing a book on "How to Live for Free" as a squatter in many of the vacant homes across Southern California; would anyone be interested in receiving a copy? "

Start a blog. I bet you'd get lots of traffic.

Are Home Prices Still Too High?

"People who jumped into houses with no risk"

Ask yourself this: What kind of idiot lends somebody money when they have no skin in the game? Of course they are going to default if it doesn't pan out for them. You says no-recourse is "bad enough" but that is what it means to be a SECURITIZED LOAN. This is what businesses do every single day when they can't meet obligations. It's capitalism 101.

What you fail to see is this: If it's not a cram down, it will be a 100% loss. The borrower will not pay. This is not Russia, but what you seem to want is 18th century England when we had debtors prisons.


On Jan 02 08:06 AM nobull wrote:

> The forced loan modifications by judges is what scares and disgusts
> me the most. Thats worse than Russia. People who jumped into houses
> with no risk had the option of walking away from a loss and sticking
> the bank with the loss with the loss. As if that wasnt bad enough,
> now they also get rewarded for it.

Option ARMs: The Banking Backdrop of 2009

I don't see how we will pull out of a recession before 2011. Housing clearly will not bottom before then, and the gov't seems hell bent on keeping that correction from happening quickly.

Option ARMs: The Banking Backdrop of 2009

the solution to the option ARM's is to REFINANCE the damn thing!!!!!11

@ishortyou:

you are *completely* missing the point. These loans will automatically refinance (recast) to a standard amoritizing 30 or 40 year loan. How is refinancing early going to help? I suppose it could for a lower rate. If they had enough equity, but... OOPS. That equity is gone.