jeeper

Ten Reasons for an Imminent Stock Market Crash

The market will not crash until the Fed and Goldman Sachs want it to crash.

Deep Property Depreciation Ahead

Larger square footage doesn't matter. Larger houses actually sell, in general, for less per square foot than smaller houses.

Age doesn't matter either. During the bubble existing homes rose as much or more than new construction. An existing house would sell in 2005 in some places for double its price in 1999, often with little or no improvements.

The run-up in price was based on speculation and euphoria; nothing more. Not low e glass or whatever. Too many people were buying to make a windfall profit. Living in the house was just a side benefit.

It was a bubble. It wasn't based on fundamentals; it was a cheap/easy-money free-for-all. Now that houses are once again just a place to live, prices will reset to earlier fundamentals. Therefore I think the chart in this article is quite possibly our future.

Retailers Are Missing an Opportunity in Counterfeit Goods

The producers of the real products don't dislike knock-offs because they're losing the customer buying the knock-off. It's because they're losing the customer who would buy the original.

The only reason anyone really pays $500 for a purse is because of status. If low-status people are carrying one too, whether it's a fake or not, it reduces the exclusivity.

So -- Marc Jacobs is selling class distinction and knock-offs are thwarting that.

The Insidious Secondary Effects of TARP Funding

Perry Wrote "BAC shareholders should sue the Fed and Treasury, just to see what the Supreme Court would have to say. "

Gee, do we still have a Supreme Court? They've been so invisible I forgot they exist. Or do they?

Living in the American Mafia State

Econ 101 has it right. Congress is as toxic as the assets the banks are hiding.

But why do we have the Congress we have? Because 'The American People' voted them in and keep re-voting them in. Congress is a reflection of the voters. That's why we're really screwed. Nothing will change in DC until we the people change.

Taking Apart Jake DeSantis' Letter

DeSantis = another master of the universe blubbering in self pity. Sheesh. You just can't make this stuff up.

$5k Vouchers for Car Purchases: Utter Nonsense

I wouldn't say that spending $20k is 'getting it for free.' Or maybe you didn't read the entire comment.


On Feb 05 05:10 PM Did U Think The Ponzi Scheme Would Last? wrote:

> On Feb 05 10:24 AM jeeper wrote:

$5k Vouchers for Car Purchases: Utter Nonsense

Phaf -- I agree with your post, but I disagree on the car giveaway.

Prices for cars are too high, therefore demand is low, and they're piling up in parking lots at the ports. $10k incentives would clear those parking lots and re-price cars going forward. People won't go back to paying $30k after seeing them sell for $20k.

So -- that supports your very good point that the cost structure of our lifestyles need to come down. For that to happen, the absurdly high prices of houses and cars need to come down even more than they have so far.

For anyone interested in these topics, there's a blog called "Of Two Minds" that posts in-depth discussions of these very issues.


On Feb 05 10:18 AM phaf wrote:

> The "new economy" that everyone talks about developing, a nation
> of savers rather than spenders, bringing manufacturing back into
> this country, etc, requires changes that no one seems to want to
> acknowledge, or are at least unwilling to speak of directly. That
> is, to bring about those changes will require a drop in our standard
> of living across the board. Manufacturing jobs went overseas because
> its cheaper to pay for transoceanic transport of raw materials and
> then finished product back again when labor overseas is 1/10 or 1/20
> what it is here, plus the lack of environmental awareness/willingness
> to pump all manner of mess into their air/rivers. We can't pay well,
> keep our land clean, and compete effectively in the manufacturing
> arena in a free trade system. Likewise, we can't have a $60k or $70k
> lifestyle on a $40k income for very long. Living within our collective
> means will require that virtually everyone takes a haircut. Proposals
> like this car giveaway only delay the inevitable.

$5k Vouchers for Car Purchases: Utter Nonsense

I'd buy a vehicle with a $10k incentive, if it was real, not a 'mark it up to mark it down' scam. I need a new car and have been looking, but even with rebates and employee pricing, the prices are still too high.

Easy loans and leases with low monthly payments have been masking the fact that prices are too high. Now the easy money is gone and the auto industry has developed a false sense of their worth and the worth of their products relative to our true income and ability to pay.