User 82064

Solar Power May Not be Quite so 'Green'

The author wants me to believe that because a poly silicon company has a waste removal problem, that solar is now a bad idea?
Did anyone really think there is a manufacturing process anywhere that doesn't leave behind some waste and residue that requires proper disposal or recycling? Is it being suggested that somehow Suntech's sales should fall because the plant manager of a supplier didn't do his job properly?

Blame Realtors, Brokers and Bankers - Not Greenspan

Where do I begin with this article? The basic premise of this article is that because realtors made money doing their job, that they are guilty of causing the housing problems....that because a mortgage broker made money doing their job, that they are guilty of causing it too. These are wild assertions with no connectivity to the problem.
Let's start with the realtor. This person's function is to buy and sell homes for...THE BUYER AND SELLER. A realtor finds property based on the customer's desires and needs...and sells property per the direction of the seller. In Southern California, there were condos being sold that within one week would have 20 offers on them...and all of the offers were with 100% financing! Now, should the realtor advise his seller not to take the highest bidder as long as everything else is equal? No, that would not be acting in good faith. Now, let's say you're the realtor advising one of the 20 buyers. Basically, if you don't find a property for the buyer, the buyer is going to get another broker. It isn't a situation where the broker is making the offers at the higher pricess as the author implies...it's the buyers demanding that they get a property...and it's the buyer that decides what price to put the offer in at. This author doesn't understand the process...because it is very evident that this situation came about because demand far outweighed supply. It's a situation where the buyer directs the realtor to do what they have to do to find them a property and then directs the realtor where to place the bid....and if they don't, the customer will find another who will do as they direct.
And this brings the whole issue back to where so much of the blame rests. That's with all of us who participated in the market. Let's take these poor buyers who are now pointing fingers everywhere except in the mirror. When they bought, they knew the market was moving and appreciating. They were also provided HUD, lender, and escrow forms that clearly state the purchase price, the interest rate, the rate it adjusts to, the current payment, the payment the loan will adjust to, and when. Any person who stands up today and says I was duped is basically saying, "I did not read the large print on the many forms I signed, on the largest purchase of my life". And people like this author buys into that. Please go into your own files and pull out the last real estate documents you signed and count the number of forms that clearly states the terms of your loan. For the bleeding hearts and politicians to publicly state that the buyers were duped is a disgrace. It demonstrates many of the problems that we as a country face today. It's all about trying to place blame on someone else, and not themselves. Whatever happened to honorably admitting "I made a mistake"?
If a broker or realtor couldn't help a customer, the customer would simply go find another who would.
The problem here is one of a systemic nature. There was failure throughout the entire system. Yes, Greenspan kept rates low for too long and then raised them too fast for the market to adjust. Yes, the investors in the derivatives should have insisted in the supporting paperwork for adequate due diligence. But the buyers didn't have to buy! And they did...And they created the demand.
The situation was further fueled by well meaning politicians who placed pressure on the largest lenders to lower lending standards so that lower income and minorities could own homes as well. Now, those same politicians and many others are blaming the largest lenders for...lowering lending standards to lower income and minorities. The results of these actions should be very clear given that many of these homeowners are walking away from the homes BEFORE the loans adjust.
And so it goes...I was watching a Congressional hearing the other day where a Congressman was recounting a story about a black couple who were financed by Countrywide. Their closing date was delayed and through the process were informed that their loan was going to have a higher interest rate than originally quoted. Because of this, the buyers can no longer afford their home. What the Congressman didn't say, is that loans are normally delayed to everyone, and the buyers had every right to contact another lender to see if they could do better somewhere else. The buyer also could have chosen to back out of the deal. But no, instead let's blame the lender. Could it have been that there were some credit issues that arose during the lender's due diligence...and this caused the increase in rate? It's a sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in.
Not just the market, but in general.

The John McCain Market Selloff

Barry went on too long without letting us know where he was going with this. By the time I got to the charts, I was already starting to discount everything I've heard him say over the years as possibly politically motivated. There are very few that tell it as it is and without the partisanship seeping from Jan and Truthpeeler's posts above.
Look at what we learned this week...Our Fed Chairman thinks the banks should reduce the amount owed to them from borrowers... Thornburg got huge margin calls and may fail....Several other entities aren't far behind....Retails sales were awful outside of Walmart...The GSEs may be in trouble without the "explicit" guarantee from the government. The surge in mortgage rates have basically put one of the final nails in real estate's coffin....Citigroup has a lot more to write off which means more dilution....The jobs number points to recession, etc. etc. Its no wonder the market wasn't down by three times as much!
Whew! It's a good thing the MCCain effect kicked in to support the market! Sounds crazy, right?