rogersails

So How Good Was Housing Data in March?

"Mortgage Rates pushed meaningfully below 5% for the first time ever and now sit at 4.78%"
Hard to see this as a positive. It represents a massive government subsidy on top of government suppressed interest rates, both of which are probably unsustainable. Without such subsidies, and rates returning to market norms, or worse, historical stagflation levels, the numbers would be truly horrific.

International Valuation Standards: The Only Viable Alternative to Mark-to-Market

Wonderful analysis of mark to market and it's alternatives, such as IVF. Really.
Now I know how to get rich. I'll just ask gurus applying IVF what the real market value is, and If higher than the current market, I'll buy, then sell when the asset returns to it's real value. Since these guys know the real value, they will buy too. These gurus of real value should become very popular indeed. Of course, if the IVF gurus have any credibility, everyone will do the same, and the market value will converge on the real value.
It seems to me there are already plenty of sharp people with money willing to arbitrage discrepancies between market and true value. Would the IVF gurus really be better then them ?
I'll go along with IVF if it's practitioners are required to invest a portion of their net worth, buying at market, in the asset they are valuing (if guru value is greater than market value). Otherwise, I'll trust the market.

Don't Worry About Consumer Debt

The graph almost certainly looks at average debt. A look at median debt would probably show a much different picture. Wealth has become strongly skewed in recent years. One John Thain thrown in with 100 families in foreclosure paints a pretty "average". The lower 50% of the wealth curve is probably in real trouble.

Obama's Spend, Tax and Borrow Policies Will Wreck the U.S. Economy

Dude, the economy is wrecked. Get over it. The only question now is how we reboot. Wish I was smart enough to see the answer. All sides have valid points.

Fixing the Enron Economy

As a Californian, I've been seething at the parallels between our "electricity crisis" driven by Enron and their Ilk, and the current "Banking Crisis". With their foot on out throats, the "energy companies" demanded huge sums of money or else. Yes, the or else happened 38 times. The irony is these companies were so bizarrely corrupt that they imploded even AFTER raping California to the tune of billions.
Now the financial industry is demanding trillions in money and guarantees (which will turn into real money our kids will pay)... or else. Screw em. We can right size our financial industry down to half its current size. I lived without power for a while. I can go to a different ATM. My city has 13 banks per square mile - and most of us don't even do our banking at physical banks anymore !!!! Big banking has been a growing burden on our economy as surely as big government. If we don't right size it now, we never will.

'No Shorts' Outperforming

Of course it's helping - for a while. In a normal market people sell short, then they have to buy to cover. For a little while, the shorts will all have to buy to cover to unwind, with no offsetting short sails. Once the short's unwind, they will perform wit, or worse than the market

The Dysfunctional Credit Market

I've got some money to help the banks with their issues, but I'd rather stuff 100's under my mattress than give it to dysfunctional bank for a lousy 2% return. Offer me 5% and I'll think about it.