D. McHattie

Douche Bag Of The Year Award

I realize I already nominated someone but I would like to give a 'dishonorable mention' to whoever the douchebag is that went through here and gave every single comment a thumbs-down.

Who does that? A real douchebag, that's who.

Dubai World: A Great Precedent

"Would that Treasury will follow suit when it comes to the creditors of state-owned companies like AIG."

And Fannie and Freddie.

And GM.

And Goldman Sachs.

Yen, Gold and the Perfect Desert Storm

It's an interesting characterization: failure.

You use the word a few times even though gold is just shy of its nominal all-time highs even against currencies that are rising.

If you hold gold and bought it prior to this past week you're still in pretty good shape despite a significant drop today.

How to Live with a Financially Illiterate Population

derryl, I couldn't agree more.

Those at the top of the corporate ladder are, for the most part, our best and brightest. And I believe that it is right and good for the system that they receive more wealth and income than those of us lower down in the chain.

But there has to be a limit to the disparities of wealth and income produced by this arrangement.

The 'corporation' is a creature of statute. We should not be afraid to fine-tune statute to minimize this unequitable, unjust and infinitely growing disparity between the lucky and smart on one hand and the unlucky and not-so-smart on the other.

Looking at $5 Trillion in Losses and Zombie Debt in Residential Mortgages

1) As a culture, we lack the courage to face this reality.

2) We also, mistakenly, tend to not think of government money and obligations as being connected directly to our own personal savings and income.

The result is that we throw our own money, future, children into the bottomless pit, thinking it's someone else's money, future, children we're sacrificing.

Such a pitiful race we have become.

Case-Shiller Still Predicts Massive 45% Fall from Today’s Values

Good article. It's a shame that some of the other readers here refuse to see the inescapable truth: residential real estate is still significantly overpriced, even after such significant declines.

3.5% FHA mortgages and the first-time homebuyer tax rebate have dramatically improved the ability of low income, young, inexperienced and naive people to purchase a house or condo.

The government should be ashamed of inducing these people to make the worst decision of their lives.

Obama will rise and fall with the dollar: The electorate is only as happy as the value of the greenbacks in their pockets.

B-b-b-but what about hope? Don't you guys believe in change? C'mon, we elected a black man, aren't we just so damned enlightened now?

</sarcasm>

Mort Zuckerman backs the Fed as systemic-risk regulator, saying there's "no other institution - certainly not Congress - with the sophisticated understanding and detailed knowledge to monitor the financial health of the banking firms." Should Congress undermine the Fed, he says, we could face a world-wide collapse of confidence in the dollar.

If you want the Fed to regulate then you must create the proper incentive for them to regulate.

Greenspan enjoyed 2 decades being hailed as 'the maestro' precisely because he did not regulate.

Douche Bag Of The Year Award

I nominate Larry Summers because he is the 'brains' behind our current administration's brainless economic policy.

Make no mistake, Geithner doesn't go to the bathroom without approval from Larry Summers.

When Paul Volcker tries to inject some sense into the discussion, it is Larry Summers who shoots him down with withering economic sophistry.

BO has trusted Summers completely and the result is a jobless, Wall Street-only recovery fashioned out of the debts of our grandchildren.

I submit that it is Larry Summers who rightfully deserves to be this year's Douche Bag of the Year.

Thank you for your support.

Eliot Spitzer on How Geithner Was Fleeced by Wall Street

I don't see how Geithner and Summers still have jobs.

They are miserable failures.

Home Sales at Highest Level Since February 2007

"[T]he worst is definitely behind us." This is an absurd statement.

With 3.5% down payment mortgages, FHA has become the new subprime. These mortgages will perform just as well as subprime mortgages did.

Foreclosures are far from over and there will be no lasting housing recovery until foreclosures subside.

Existing Home Sales on a Sugar High

Bear in mind that 'owning' a home and then going through foreclosure makes life a whole hell of a lot worse.


On Nov 24 05:09 AM prairiedog555 wrote:

> When is the best time to get into the stock market? To get married?
>
> To switch jobs?
> Life is uncertain. One of the things that makes life better is owning
> a home.
> Find one you like, make an informed choice, make the best deal you
> can, don't get screwed on mortgage, pay off ASAP, live happily ever
> after.
> I have two homes Free and Clear, and it feels pretty good.

FHA Shenanigans Continue:When Will We Ever Learn?

One thing I learned in business school is that people's willingness to change is highest at the peak of a crisis.

I think it's going to take a real crisis before we change, something even bigger than the failure of Lehman.

Got gold?

Artificial Economy? Yes. Artificial Inflation? No

Good article, Paco. Thanks.

But I'm still not sure how/when this price inflation moves to consumer goods.

Like your example of student loans and real estate, prices rise when you make more money or credit available to purchase that good, service or asset.

So since the banks have been given so much money I see that the prices of things that banks buy will rise. And these banks buy investments so their prices are rising: equities, fixed income (for now), precious metals.

But the question is when do consumers get their hands on this money? Because, it seems to me, that's what's necessary in order for consumer prices to rise.

Goldman Sachs' Latest Initiative: Business Plan or Charitable Donation?

There is a 4th reason why Goldman has done this:

They want to avoid public pressure on elected representatives to reduce their parasitic position within the American economy.

There is NO WAY that Goldman adds the billions worth of real, tangible value to the economy that they take out.

Goldman Sachs is a hidden tax on the US economy.