PutMoneyDown

Recession, Depression, Deflation, Inflation, Collapse or Recovery?

"then read articles like the one written by a Argentinian citizen to figure out where my priorities should be.

Good idea here. The book is "Surviving the Coming Economic Collapse" by Fernando Ferfal Aguirre. He tells a scary story of the bad changes that quickly happened when TSHTF in Argentina in 2001. A sobering read.

I know the doom and gloom camp can get to be a bit much. But before one dismisses this stuff out of hand, remember Hurricane Katrina. Remember how quickly things fell apart there. Our modern lifestyle is pretty fragile. Grocery stores are all into "Just in Time" inventory control, no spare stuff in the stockroom. Without power for a few days you end up with no food, fuel, or cellphone service. Things can get bad pretty quickly.

It's always a good idea to be prepared.

Housing Woes Are Far from Over

I couldn't agree more. NOTHING that caused the housing crisis has improved. All factors are still getting worse.

A little anecdotal evidence. I inquired about a foreclosed on 4plex next to a few that we own. The mortgage servicer who foreclosed is on the other side of the country. The rep I got told me their process is to have a local RE agent list it. And that should happen in 4 to 6 MONTHS! I pointed out that given the neighborhood it would be a burnt out junkie den by then. He said he knows that, but that's their process.

I just took a short trip to Manhattan. I was quite impressed by the number of empty/for rent storefronts that I saw. The friend I was staying with (a native Manhattanite) said he's never seen anything like it.

United Airlines Shows How Not to Run a Business

I"ve lived in Asia the last four years and have traveled extensively. Luckily my travel has mostly been on Singapore Airlines. Unfortunately several flights to the US, and within the US; have been on United. What a difference! United is uniformly AWFUL: schedule, employees, aircraft... Singapore Airlines on the other hand is a pure JOY to be on. And it's mostly the little things: flight attendent behavior, food quality, and so on. You clearly see that the Singapore employees CARE. The United ones couldn't seem to care less. They can't go bankrupt fast enough if you ask me. And this time (please also include GM & Chrysler) let them be liquidated.

Oil and the Mysteries of Iran

Another tangent on the Iranian petro-infrastructure. How easy is it to destroy, and on the flip side; how difficult to rebuild Iran's oil infrastructure? No major oil producer has ever been attacked by a truly modern, powerful military. And no; the Iraqis and Iranians of the 80's aren't what we're talking here. Now while I seriously doubt the Obama folks would do that; Israel is a whole differnt kettle of fish. We constantly hear that the Iranian nuke program would "only be delayed" by an attack. But what of their one cash generating business? Wiping out their oil infrastructure would be fairly trivial for either the US or Israel and there is no real defense. Surely Israeli military planners would prefer to face a future where Iran has as little oil income as possible.

It'll be an interesting 2009 no doubt.

Hey, Congress, Guess What? WaMu's Toast

What happens to folks who have loans with these bozos? We have four mortgages with them. The good, old fashioned kind: 20% dn, 30 yr fixed, etc. Last I talked to them they claimed they still had our mortgages.

Two Ways To Profit from Frontier Markets

TRAMX is a Middle East play, not a bad idea; but also not a frontier market. The new true Africa ETF (AFK) has just launched. It has 50 stocks from several African countries; not just South Africa like GAF. I too look forward to a SE Asia ETF. I currently live in Vietnam, but have yet to invest there. The market is so new, and so opaque; that I find it too daunting. On the other hand something with Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, etc. would be great. With maybe a little Vietnam and Cambodia thrown in.

IndyMac Bancorp Failure: Sen. Schumer vs. OTS

Well, how many of you complainers are New Yorkers who keep reelecting this moron? And then there's that Senate seat you gave as a "gift" to your junior Senator. Thank you sooooooooo much NY!!