bowlmar

Walking Away: The Next Mortgage Crisis

Is this why the market rallied this week? Same guys who brought us the mortgage crisis are "investing" our money in stocks.

Citigroup's Flush

Citi stored their losses this quarter on the Fed's balance sheet, trading junk for money. Come on now, enough of the CNBC speak.

Recession Will Be Short and Shallow

Short and shallow? That's what my FORMER investment "advisor" said the entire ride down from the NASDAQ peak above 5000. That bubble was created by the financial industry - THEY formed the dot.com IPO's and peddled them. Everyone "sold" them equipment on credit. So much for collecting.

Now you have a consumer-led credit crunch - consumers buy homes, cars, and major appliances on credit. Now they're buying groceries and gas on credit. Credit debt isn't decreasing.

Nope, this won't be a shallow recession. The investor class won't be hurt as much, but Joe sixpack and the retirees will be hammered to dust. That's the problem, too much money in the hands of too few.

Tinkering with Inflation Calculations: The “Pollyanna Creep” Phenomenon

So, what is the outcome of all the fudging of data? I'm seeing parts of the country in what appears to be a depression. The Detroit area has gotten worse every year since 1970 - they've been in the toilet for almost 40 years. Do we continue to ignore the depressed areas in our country, just as we ignore the Katrina zone? Will DC put up a wall or a fence to protect themselves from the rest of America?

Commercial Real Estate Imploding

Socialism is a word which often crops up under the Bush administration. Socialization of risk, and privatization of reward is the true goal of the Neocon without a doubt. But perhaps we should view much of the current actions as Imperialism. We've lost countless liberties and rights over the last 7 years in the name of "terrorism", and we've been quite complacent about it.

Let's face it, Americans are forced to save for their own retirements using 401K and IRA instruments - this is a MASSIVE piggy bank of easy money for the financial industry to skim. We are witnessing the greatest engineered transfer of wealth in our history. I'm not sure it is Socialism, but I am sure it is yet another cynical and perverted twist of a Democracy.

Unintended Socialization of the Housing Market and Its Consequences

Looks like I'm getting a Heloc and maxing it out. Can't get these kind of guarantees from the stock market.

8 Stocks to Benefit from the Coming Uptrend in Housing

Housing has a decade of weakness. Take Colorado as an example. Their housing boom led the nation by 4 years, and Colorado did not enjoy the real estate boom from 2002-2006. Home prices were flat or declining in most areas, while the most "desirable", landlocked areas increased slightly. Home prices are falling somewhat, but are mainly stagnant. Home sales and prices will stagnate in Colorado for at least another decade, giving them a 20 year period of no real appreciation. Home prices should fall 20-30%, but Realtors, banks and lenders will do what they can to prop up the market. This will result in a stalemate between buyers and sellers, and stagnate the market further. Plenty of rentals here though, and they are cheap.

The Great Television Price Inflation Scam

The fudging of numbers was a Clinton/Greenspan invention. By fudging inflation numbers and keeping them artificially low, you keep wages LOW, Social Security adjustments down, TIPS levels lower and so forth. This scam saves the government and industry a fortune. Remarkable, actually.

What Went Wrong at GE?

GE infrastructure looks good, but the problem is that the LEASE their products. This helps the Ponzi pyramid in good times, but in slowdowns, they'll get killed because the leases won't get paid. They own most of those jets flown by bankrupt airlines.

A Debate Over Citi

There's a lot of stuff not on the balance sheets. How exactly can a company operate like this, and why it it viewed as beneficial?

A Tale of Two Coasts

No jobs in Florida, and the income of the senior set depends on pension, SS, and investment returns. All the "real estate investors" hit Florida to scam feeble minded retirees.

The Folly in Calling a Housing Market Bottom

I like the attempt to predict increased DOMESTIC violence and divorce on Realtors, appraisers, mortgage brokers, banks and Wall Street. Ponzi schemes always work, because there is NEVER a shortage of greed, and the greater (greedier) fool is right behind you. Its the PEOPLE and their personalities who got themselves into this mess. My wife and I decided homes were overvalued in 2001, and bought a cheap, small marker home. We invested the rest, and pulled it out last July. Sold our market home in 28 days by August. We're doing fine, because we aren't ruled by naked greed. We have no need to keep up with the Joneses, and if we need more money, we EARN it.

Folks like us tend to have low incidences of domestic violence and divorce. The housing boom just provided another road for the greater fool to follow.

Whoah! WSJ.com Quietly Makes Big Traffic Strides

WSJ Online is only about $100 now. You don't have to get the print edition, which is around $400. So, $100 is cheap. The print version is easy to navigate, and you end up reading more - believe it or not. But I spend more time online.

Larry Kudlow is Dead Wrong: CRA Didn't Start the Meltdown

Spare your words - Kudlow is an ideologue, and a dogmatist. In other words, he's an idiot. CNBC uses him to get some Fox viewers.

The Folly in Calling a Housing Market Bottom

Investors don't place "bets" on anything - traders do.