If Bernanke was so smart, he'd know that the ultimate blow-off to all this intervention and govt manipulation will only make the final correction that much worse.
Toborrow and toburrow and tobarrow! That's our crass, hairy and
evergrim life, till one finel howdiedow Bouncer Naster raps on the
bell with a bone and his stinkers stank behind him with the
sceptre and the hourglass. We may come, touch and go, from
atoms and ifs but we're presurely destined to be odd's without
ends.
CSC you should look at the Medford area of Oregon, or even think about Idaho. Somewhere up in the po-ass mountains but near the rogue river valley.
I know there are a number of tiny, tiny towns in the Medford area that hit the housing boom late, so there will be tons of hollowed out shell houses there going for cheapo cheapo in a few years. End-run up there, live in a $400/month apartment for a few years, and snap up one of those houses and a government job in Medford. Or sell shit on ebay. The people are good and will hold up well in Oregon; it's been in a depression for the last 25 years, and doesn't have much further to fall with the exception of very limited housing losses. The downturn won't hurt them much at all. It'll be a fine place to hunker.
Says it doesn't "account for plummeting prices since the subprime lending and credit crises struck."
Concludes with this: "Among other findings: more homes have a usable fireplace than a working carbon monoxide detector and more have a garage than a dishwasher."
The Fed absolutely should step into the unsecured ST lending markets (both financial and non-financial). That is where the money is needed now ... or the economy is truly in the tank. So much time has been wasted on this "let's bail out our pals" nonsense. At least now they seem to be responding to severe market pressure, if a little belatedly. Let's see if Hank has the integrity to direct the $700 billion in a direction that might actually help.
Okay,
Hankie Panky, when do I get my bailout for the overpriced real estate I currently own?
Oh, never?
How 'bout some more jinglemail then?
That is what it takes to get bailout?
You are rewarding bad actors who make threats, instead of rewarding good payers.
Ah well, welcome to the mafia style economy, dem's dats makes wid da threats, gets the lollypop.
I can hardly wait to see what brilliance the next administration will come up with. Meanwhile, on with the rate cut and our next shortkilling driveby rally!!!
I can hardly wait for that too- another chance to sell and reload my puts- right now I am all out of them- no inventory after that morning freefall today.
We're also looking in the midwest at raw land and small farms (under 10 acres). This lifestyle is a con game that is about to die.
There can be a lot of crappy, crappy work involved with actually running a farm. A better suggestion, if you mind me prying, would be to learn a trade, such as electrician, carpenter, or even foundation work, and move to an area where others can farm for you.
I know there are a number of tiny, tiny towns in the Medford area that hit the housing boom late, so there will be tons of hollowed out shell houses there going for cheapo cheapo in a few years. End-run up there, live in a $400/month apartment for a few years, and snap up one of those houses and a government job in Medford. Or sell shit on ebay. The people are good and will hold up well in Oregon; it's been in a depression for the last 25 years, and doesn't have much further to fall with the exception of very limited housing losses. The downturn won't hurt them much at all. It'll be a fine place to hunker.
I have faith in you; see you in Oregon.
Penrod and Sam | 10.06.08 - 6:26 pm | #
Re: Medford, think about Ashland, which is about 10 miles away, Great Shakespere festival. Spent a summer out there when I was 16 working on my Uncle's ranch and working lighting at the Shakespere festival
Good grief, read all the links in the first post. (Instead of trying to make the first response in such a hurry that you didn't bother understanding it). These guys were waving a big red flag for quite a while, trying to warm people about this train wreck.
From the last link in the first post:
Using an ad they placed on Craigslist Were you employed in the subprime mortgage industry? the pair proceeded to assemble a remarkably likable rogues gallery of participants up and down the subprime food chain. ...
...
The pair suggested that an excess of global capital a doubling in available capital in just six years to $72 trillion left a giant pool of money in need of returns. Enter mortgage-backed securities. A lot of them.
...
... No income, no asset. You dont have to state anything. Just have a credit score and a pulse. (Mr. Blumberg pointed out that the pulse thing was optional: 23 dead people in Ohio were also approved.)
October 06, 2008
Impending Economic Collapse In The U.S. And Death Of Democracy...
by Clive Maund
Originally published October 5th, 2008.
Politicians worship money and power. Every politician worth his salt secretly aspires to be a dictator, although they dare not admit this as it is not exactly politically correct. The ultimate goal of the consummate politician is to have absolute power, and be able to boss everyone else about, to have unlimited access to public funds for the purposes of profligate personal consumption and more importantly self aggrandizement, as well as to bribe and reward supporters, and to kill or otherwise neutralize anyone who disagrees or creates any opposition. The reasons that General Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile, has become such a pariah are a combination of envy and hypocrisy. General Pinochet lived the politician's dream - he cleaned up Chile with an iron fist, and those who opposed him at times found themselves on a short one-way flight over the Pacific, which did not involve the expenditure of much fuel as Chile has a 5000 km long coastline.
...
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
I predicted this years ago. I am flattered. Only a history ignoramus can be made to believe that democracy is the best political system. Sadly, America is full of dopes-for-life as a result of incessant brainwashing from birth.
AMERICA HAS PROBLEMS BECAUSE AMERICANS HAVE BEEN CULTUALLY BRED WITH MENTAL PROBLEMS THAT ARE VERY HARD TO OVERCOME!
Was way out in the country today and went in to small gas station for gas and a diet pepsi. Jethro and the boys were huddled around the satellite radio listening to Bloomberg!
We're also looking in the midwest at raw land and small farms (under 10 acres). This lifestyle is a con game that is about to die.
make sure your mate(s) are on the same wavelength.
my brother-in-law and sister-in-law went out in the country to raise goats and great danes and now they are in a "war of the roses" situation where he has a restraining order to keep her off the property, but he has a bad heart so she's holding out for him to kick the bucket, so she can move back on.
We're way the hell past what they could have done and there ain't no way in hell unless someone invents a go-back machine to change it now so the whole discussion is kind of pointless except maybe for a history book.
Penrod and Sam: We're not planning commercial farming. We're looking at an off-grid homestead. So our "farming" would be for consumption and preservation.
I'll look at Medford. We had relatives there at one point. I just can't get past Ashland without getting seduced. Amazing town.
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
has the Bailout, and the other Fed and Treasury plans just passed been tested on a computer simulation? I hear you can rent time on the big IBM supercomputer.
And the cheapest downtown parking in all the world. If you hang out during matinee time, there's a good chance you'll score a free ticket or two from a group that overbought.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was great this year BTW.
NEW YORK (AP) Wachovia, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Monday agreed to a standstill of all formal litigation activity a sign that the banks and the Federal Reserve are working feverishly to reach an agreement over the fate of Wachovia.
The standstill agreement will end at noon on Wednesday, unless extended.
"We are pleased to participate with the Federal Reserve Board in a fair-minded, good faith process to achieve a prompt and successful outcome," said Citigroup spokesman Michael Hanretta in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
LOL... you and every other white-collar person tired of the rat race. Take a number.
anonymous
Clearly we have never met. Haha. (Laughs into a mirror...picturing what a collared shirt and tie would look like) This is not a new idea for the Mrs and I. And we're not what you might expect to find in OC.
"A Depression doesn't run hot and fierce like some crazed meth burner. A Depression is methodical, purposeful, patient. It will build a shelter out of tree branches and newspaper, light a small, well-contained campfire and wait you out, brother. While you feed on the empty calories of denial and popcorn, it will quietly gather shards of broken dreams and fashion them into a terrible weapon of blunt force reality."
Once again, it's amazing to see a little public radio show do what most of the rest of the media has so far failed to do - discuss a complex problem in a comprehensive yet easy to understand manner.
Is HSBC a "safe" bank? I was thinking about opening a CD there. My impression is that they are on solid footing - anybody know anything to the contrary?
Working the land? Please cue up the CSNY for me. I hope you are under 25, fit, and not gym fit either, and a background in about 20 diverse subjects.
Jethro and the lads are not stupid. One thing I like to do is talk to people. I can redneck, talk the trades, hunting, guns, and dogs.
Jethro a lot of times is very smart. Usually in something specialized such as the Civil war.
Farmers are not idiots. Not if they are sucessful. Same thing with ranchers. It isn't slop the bigs anymore. Most of degrees in pig slopping if that is what they are doing.
So how long until Americans start scapegoating "illegal aliens" and putting them in "temporary camps?"
Considering how loudly people scream about them taking our jobs (as if you want to cut my grass or bus my table), it won't be long before Americans actually do want those jobs. Considering how we dealt with Americans of Japanese descent during WWII, it would not be a hard sell to Joe and Jane Sixpack.
God help us all when it begins. The rationalizations will be unbearable.
No, seriously. If I had a nickel for every suburbanite or urbanite who thought they were gonna go live off the fatta' the lan'... well, I'd be stuffing them under my mattress but that's beside the point. Oh, and they always want to go to Vermont (if they're on the East Coast) or to rural Cascadia (if they're on the West Coast). Where they will live on tomatoes, eggs, goat's milk and chickens they've slaughtered themselves, and will sell fine homemade soaps and cheeses.
It's always the same dream... curiously, just like the suburban dreamers always have the same dream...
I never graduated high school or received any higher education but I read this blog and several others religiously and I have listened to TAL for years, it is one of my favorite hours of my weekly routine. I have to say that between The Giant Pool of Money and Another Frightening Show About The Economy -- both of which I have listened to three times each(i couldn't wait to DL the latter this morning)-- I am summarizing that the bottom line is that the investors of the world were dissatisfied with their wealth, came up with an instrument to make big time profits and then basically located a whole bunch of suckers to buy into the plan. The suckers being folks across the globe who were told they could get something for nothing. A home.
It took me 3 listens to the program to understand the CDS's today, but when I finally accepted that I did indeed hear it right -- that investors were basically screwing each other by betting on things they did not even own, and that no one was checking to make sure there was capital to back those bets up -- I pretty much was floored.
I am still shocked. I have the kind of job that allows me to stay seriously informed, but most Americans just DON'T. If everyone knew what we know, Wall Street would be nothing but tinders right now.
It's unconscionable how reckless people who deal with other peoples money can be.
Just send them back - mainly to Mexico - it's happening now on their own volition!
Anonymous
Right. And how do we process 12-20 million people? Do they get a hearing? How long will that take?
What will Mexico say about that? They get much of their GDP from remittance payments. The last thing they want is 12,000 unemployed men cruising the streets.
"Deport them all" is just an ill-thought solution. That's why our gov will intern them.
They've already built the camps. They are staffed by ICE.
And furthermore, farmers of the 19th century were not living "off the grid." They were very much plugged into the "grid" of their day. People who think they're going to go retire to a simple plot of land and "homestead" it these days "off the grid" without any social support network are kidding themselves by and large.
No, no ICE. I see local law enforcement pushing them out. Towns creating laws. States cracking down. Vagrancy laws coming back. That sort of thing.
I was hitchiking in Georgia (Waycross), hair halfway down my back, making a pilgramige to Macon.
The local law picked me up, told me they didn't like my sort in town, and locked me up. Next day they drove me to the town limits. Thats what I see coming again.
anonymous writes:
And furthermore, farmers of the 19th century were not living "off the grid." They were very much plugged into the "grid" of their day. People who think they're going to go retire to a simple plot of land and "homestead" it these days "off the grid" without any social support network are kidding themselves by and large.
There are many people doing this currently. Their lifestyle is much different than might be expected, and it is nothing like the farmers of old, but it is not as uncommon as some believe.
Mr. Pickle from the "60 Minutes" interview posted here, confirmed my suspicion - that these a-holes knew what they were doing, knew what would happen, and knew the public would get screwed. But they did it anyway - it's hard to turn down $50,000,000 in bonuses.
The commercial paper market is a critical market (particularly now). That is where the FED should have started its work, not in bailing out wall street.
Roubini, Buiter, Gross, ..., diverse group of economists and financial managers have called on the FED to outright guarantee CP or even buying them -- FED in effect a giant clearing house. Will this unclog the system of mistrust?
"As soon as the construction layoffs pick up a bit more."
Coming soon to a construction site near you. Layoffs are already happening, but have not reached 100% yet.
What I am waiting for is the chance to hire some skilled construction people for reasonable prices. I have some remodeling to do, and I refused to do it when all I could hire were the guys who weren't good enough to get real construction jobs, but thought they could charge as much as their more talented brethren.
Speed writes:
Mr. Pickle from the "60 Minutes" interview posted here, confirmed my suspicion - that these a-holes knew what they were doing, knew what would happen, and knew the public would get screwed. But they did it anyway - it's hard to turn down $50,000,000 in bonuses.
Speed | 10.06.08 - 6:58 pm | #
Did you seriously doubt that these scum sucking greedy pigs would do otherwise? 8-p
Your right. This stuff is hard. You have to learn a vocabulary. then match that to concepts. I still am not sure I understand CDS and I overjoyed to finally grasp tranches.
Yankee writes:
csc - those are just a little too crunchy for me....!
Very few people could actually thrive in this lifestyle. I understand. But the notion that one must find a role to play in Babylon is a false one. As is the idea that 'off-grid' is a dream to be had by distracted cubicle dwellers.
"
I was hitchiking in Georgia (Waycross), hair halfway down my back, making a pilgramige to Macon.
The local law picked me up, told me they didn't like my sort in town, and locked me up. Next day they drove me to the town limits."
I met some reporter from NPR a year ago at seminar organized by the New York chapter of PRIMIA (Professional Risk Managers Intern'l Assoc.) who was doing some basic research on the subprime crisis.
Never saw anything by her in either print or on NPR, but for those interested, I will attached a link to the meeting minutes, they are a very interesting read, among the speakers were Sean Egan and Josh Rosner.
anonymous writes: No, seriously. If I had a nickel for every suburbanite or urbanite who thought they were gonna go live off the fatta' the lan'... well, I'd be stuffing them under my mattress but that's beside the point.
Nameless, I dub thee the voice of Babylon, mouthpiece of the Enemy. You are criticism without counterpoint, and a big fat loser to boot.
Where they will live on tomatoes, eggs, goat's milk and chickens they've slaughtered themselves, and will sell fine homemade soaps and cheeses.
What's awesome is that given the yield of kitchen plot agriculture, most of them can make a go of it. It takes a lot of homesteading boendr to fill up a countryside.
I guess that's not elitist enough for you, LOL. Lots will die trying to make the transition or end up hired hands to more successful farmers, but I don't hear your plan so your self-satisfied carping don't cut much ice for me.
It's always the same dream... curiously, just like the suburban dreamers always have the same dream...
To be a useless defeatist voice of despair like you? Your lips are moving but all I hear is "wah wah wah". Go lord yourself over someone who cares.
I think I saw you in the movie "First Blood"
ComradeColin | Homepage | 10.06.08 - 7:10 pm | #
No, I just aborted the trip to Macon. Went to Florida instead. Where sleeping in my sleeping bag in a rest area a cop kicked me awake. I decided Virginia was about as far south as I was going to go from then on.
The paper mag is great. With the Economist and Foreign Affairs, you've got all the bathroom reading you'll ever need for your time on the composting toilet.
How many people here have contributed to the destruction of someone else's job? Leveraged buy-outs? Transferring a factory overseas? Downsized? How about partied with politicians? How many have ever stood up for labor with a capital L. Joined a union? Ever paid dues? Ever gave a shit? Well, this is what we get. You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing. You'll get no sympathy. Welcome to the real world. Get with it or go without.
You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing. You'll get no sympathy. Welcome to the real world. Get with it or go without.
A whole lot of people going to be no collar soon. Not a lot of real white collar left anyway. No in the old sense of the word.
"Get with it or go without."
This is going to send a lot of people through the cracks. They just wont be able to do it.
I happen to be married to a garden addict who dreams of acres of land to play with. Me, not so good at plants, but I know something about animals. I'd never try to make my primary income off the land, but I'd wager we could be self sufficient. We're close to that in vegetables already.
So, CSC, you're not alone. One of the things we'll be looking for in the next years of the collapse is an undervalued few acres near a town where we can practice our trade.
By the way, if you haven't seen the brit comedy 'the good life' available on netflix, you should.
As I understand it, a CDS is Credit Default Swap. It's really Credit Default Insurance. They sold insurance that a mortgage would not default. However there was nothing to back up the insurance. Hence the collapse. They got away with this because they called it a swap rather than insurance. The insurance "industry" is regulated. The swap "industry" is not regulated.
Part of the TAL broadcast claimed: So it was surprising to learn on Friday that, despite intense opposition from the powerful banking lobby, language authorizing the government to use a stock-injection plan did make it into the final version of the bailout bill. The law does not make a stock-injection plan mandatory, but it does leave it as one option that the Treasury secretary can use when bailing out a distressed bank.
Has anyone been able to spot this provision in the final legislation? Perhaps this is what they were referring to? Section 113. Minimization of Long-Term Costs and Maximization of Benefits for Taxpayers.
In order to cover losses and administrative costs, as well as to allow taxpayers to share in equity appreciation, requires that the Treasury receive non-voting warrants from participating financial institutions.
ren: I'll check that out. Thank you. It is surprising to some just how much food can be grown in the city. Our lot is 60 x 100 and we grow a ton of our own food. Enough that we learned canning, drying, etc. Some folks are simply conditioned to think that their way is the only way. Thank God they are wrong.
At the unregulated Bank of Linguistics, theres been a run on toxic. ...
...
... Sometime ahead, when the toxicity dissipates and the bailout pays off, we can expect a breezy new metaphor for the economic outlook: a brisk new tailwind (coined in 1897) causing much flapping of the naked shorts.
The bottom line to the financial disaster is FIRE (Finance Insurance and Real Estate) is going to go back to being about 10% of the economy from its present 30% of the economy. It's basically creative destruction.
3 of the best computer programmers I know left Berkeley, did a round of start up during the dot com, then decamped for Manhattan to work in the FIRE industry.
These are smart guys.
Computer programmers: marginal pay, very low social status.
Financial analysts: very high pay, very high social status.
We're not fixing anything in this country until an engineer graduating with good grades from a good school can get laid instead of laughed at.
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
Dang! My joke from Jan '07 was so close! But that was back when everybody thought the Fed didn't have the powers to take even MBS so a GSE-like mechanism seemed less absurd. Your imagination is the only limitation in Benny Bernanke's Wacky TAFfy Factory!
Currently Smoking Cannabis
Do you use a dehydrater to dry fruit? I was given an older one and I thought the fruit got over dried (crunchy). I am looking to buy a new one but don't know the good brands. Thanks
Oh man, I know that well. I grew up reading Foxfire. Everyone should learn that stuff.
People need to get accustomed to everyone being a multi-classed farmer-something. Be you a doctor, lawyer or indian chief, in the brave new world of tomorrow, you are also gonna be a farmer.
I love how people think this is so obsolete or dreamy, even though my mom grew up owning chickens and rabbits for the table in the 1950s in a major urban area.
Good luck man. Tell me if you want to consider right coast locations.
I liked the TAL program. Someone has to expose what's going on in laymen's terms the best they can. I thought it did a good job, even if it is destined to be over-simplified.
"How many people here have contributed to the destruction of someone else's job?"
Well, I've contributed to the creation of someone else's job. Made sure I was successful at what I did so people who depended upon me for their own jobs could also be successful. Does that count?
A term coined by Joseph Schumpeter in his work entitled "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" (1942) to denote a "process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one."
Creative destruction occurs when something new kills something older. A great example of this is personal computers. The industry, led by Microsoft and Intel, destroyed many mainframe computer companies, but in doing so, entrepreneurs created one of the most important inventions of this century.
So there's an implication that something worthwhile is replaced by something better. But in the case of FIRE, something worthless will simply be destroyed.
"How many people here have contributed to the destruction of someone else's job? Leveraged buy-outs? Transferring a factory overseas? Downsized? How about partied with politicians? How many have ever stood up for labor with a capital L. Joined a union? Ever paid dues? Ever gave a shit? Well, this is what we get. You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing. You'll get no sympathy. Welcome to the real world. Get with it or go without."
I would also add that anyone who thinks they will be able to collect their essentially stolen marbles and remove themselves from pain and agony the rest of us will be enduring through no fault of our own better be prepared to kill everyone who will be following their tracks. Those without resources are going to outnumber those with them. It's not the bear they'll be desperately trying to outrun, it's US.
Whereismyretirement: I bought the big one from Nesco (American Harvest). I love it. There are commercial dehydrators available as well, but I like this one just fine.
The model I bought is the FD-1010 Gardenmaster. It comes with four trays, but you can expand it to 30 trays! The temp can be adjusted from 95 to 155 degrees.
If you just want one for the home, I do recommend this one.
Byz: I agree, but I also understand. I was a product of the same indoctrination and bought into many of the same beliefs for a while.
For many people, it really is an undoable dream. But that is because they have a different concept of what one needs in life. My wife and I would probably list many things as 'wants' that others in our area think are necessities. Take indoor plumbing as an example.
I'm just thankful that we saw a new way before we were too old to make the change. This mess is just pushing our timeline a little.
Alex called and interviewed me after tracking me down via CR. Said he was going to contact FDIC to see if he could tag along to a small bank closing. Don't know if he did or what the response was. Loves pizza...
Given that Credit Default Swaps are the true core of our economy's problems (that is, the reason things are cross-wired to fail when one venture fails via cascading cross-defaults), it goes to the heart of why CDSs are bad: they increase the cost of failures, and so encourage bailouts vs. "creative destruction".
I am glad they are finally front-and-center, as the real "bottom" won't be reached until we defuse these damn things by forcing them onto an exchange.
ice show however I still fail to understand why a large company looks at their cash position each day and then borrows or lends the difference, or if they can't do that, why it is a big deal?
Their profits must be many MANY times their daily volatility, so stick some of that profit in a check account, and draw from it, lend to it..
Byz
sure you can feed and clothe yourself on a homestead, lots of people do. After they learn the hard way it is a nine-to-nine job. 9AM to 9AM. The cows never calve at convienient times either.
Refering to "Daring to Say Loans Made No Sense", it does credit CR but also Gretchen, so I am not so sure about the article credibility.
other jim writes: Refering to "Daring to Say Loans Made No Sense", it does credit CR but also Gretchen, so I am not so sure about the article credibility.
Gretchen, as many of us, has her highs and lows. I would not let her worst take away from her best; but she is a writer you should bring your internal critic along when you read.
You know what kills me, this Bailout, they rushed it through both the Senate and Congress making it seem like the roof was about to fall off. They added $150 Billion dollars in Earmark & Pork Barrel Spending then decided to approve it, because $700 Billion wasn't enough of the taxpayers money (and Lets Not forget the $25 Billion Dollar Bailout that went to the Automotive industry and the $85 Billion that went to AIG). So after rush rush rush add add add, I come to find out that NONE of the $850 Billion Dollars are going to be used until AFTER the elections, AFTER the Elections, thats Over a Month after they passed this horrible bill! Now, if they have this much time to wait to use the Money to Save the Collapsing Economical System, then what was the RUSH to Pass this Bill without really putting the proper amount of time into thinking it through? I mean thats a lot of time for this money to just sit there collecting dust and NOT "Helping" anyone its supposed to be helping! Why couldn't they get a bunch of top economists and people who know and understand this stuff well and to get a few key politicians that also Understand the economy and financial institutions (Ron Paul would've come in handy on this) and why couldn't they take a couple weeks and come up with something that would have really been beneficial to both Main St. and keeping the financial crisis under control. I mean think about it, they rushed to get this through, to get it passed because we are in "such dire financial times", but then it just sits there until the elections are over! Why, so who ever becomes president can claim to have saved the day? Why? What was the rush? Why couldn't they really come up with something that made more sense? Oh and you can hear more about this on Democracy Now! | Radio and TV News. Oh and about the AIG bailout, One Week after they received their $85 Billion Dollar Bailout package, the company took a Half Million Dollar week long vacation! Hmm, that doesn't sound right, was that part of the bailout package? Are the homeowners who are facing the real stress of this crisis taking half million-dollar vacations, on the backs of taxpayers? I think not! So who is benefiting from these bailouts? Who really is getting the help and who is still suffering? Ralph Nader has an idea I like, how about throwing these corporate crooks into the big house, lock'em up and throw out the keys! They want vacation on the taxpayers dollar; lets send them to the slammer! How would they like that one? Chew on that one for a while. That "Bailout" is a scam that is being perpetrated on the American Taxpayers Dollar, the Poor, lower classes the working classes of this country, the people neither big party candidate talk about, ever! They always talk about saving the middle class, the people who make a hundred thousand dollars a year, they put together bailout packages to save CEO's of Wall St. and Insurance companies and Banks, but they NEVER talk about the poor and the struggling, they say main street like that is supposed to be all inclusive, but we know it isnt! Wake Up America, before its too late! I invite you to visit my blog @ Art. Graphic Design. Politics. And Whatever Else I Want!
What about "This European Life"?
second?
third
If Bernanke was so smart, he'd know that the ultimate blow-off to all this intervention and govt manipulation will only make the final correction that much worse.
I guess we suffer fools gladly for a lot longer.
They'll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could've done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.
Gotta love Monday-morning quarterbacking from a couple of NPR hacks.
God I hate journalists.
Toborrow and toburrow and tobarrow! That's our crass, hairy and
evergrim life, till one finel howdiedow Bouncer Naster raps on the
bell with a bone and his stinkers stank behind him with the
sceptre and the hourglass. We may come, touch and go, from
atoms and ifs but we're presurely destined to be odd's without
ends.
The first this american life on the MBS situation was excellent, hope this one is as good.
Downloadable for one week, from their home page.
Agree, excellent program. I hope a transcript shows up.
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Nemo writes:
What about "This European Life"?
BTW, I do not think Alistair would take too kindly to being compared to Barry Frank.
CSC you should look at the Medford area of Oregon, or even think about Idaho. Somewhere up in the po-ass mountains but near the rogue river valley.
I know there are a number of tiny, tiny towns in the Medford area that hit the housing boom late, so there will be tons of hollowed out shell houses there going for cheapo cheapo in a few years. End-run up there, live in a $400/month apartment for a few years, and snap up one of those houses and a government job in Medford. Or sell shit on ebay. The people are good and will hold up well in Oregon; it's been in a depression for the last 25 years, and doesn't have much further to fall with the exception of very limited housing losses. The downturn won't hurt them much at all. It'll be a fine place to hunker.
I have faith in you; see you in Oregon.
CR,
Have you seen the NYT article today with this headline, "Median Home Values Rose 16 Percent, Survey Shows"?
Says it doesn't "account for plummeting prices since the subprime lending and credit crises struck."
Concludes with this: "Among other findings: more homes have a usable fireplace than a working carbon monoxide detector and more have a garage than a dishwasher."
The Fed absolutely should step into the unsecured ST lending markets (both financial and non-financial). That is where the money is needed now ... or the economy is truly in the tank. So much time has been wasted on this "let's bail out our pals" nonsense. At least now they seem to be responding to severe market pressure, if a little belatedly. Let's see if Hank has the integrity to direct the $700 billion in a direction that might actually help.
Okay,
Hankie Panky, when do I get my bailout for the overpriced real estate I currently own?
Oh, never?
How 'bout some more jinglemail then?
That is what it takes to get bailout?
You are rewarding bad actors who make threats, instead of rewarding good payers.
Ah well, welcome to the mafia style economy, dem's dats makes wid da threats, gets the lollypop.
I can hardly wait to see what brilliance the next administration will come up with. Meanwhile, on with the rate cut and our next shortkilling driveby rally!!!
I can hardly wait for that too- another chance to sell and reload my puts- right now I am all out of them- no inventory after that morning freefall today.
Someday this war's gonna end...
We're also looking in the midwest at raw land and small farms (under 10 acres). This lifestyle is a con game that is about to die.
There can be a lot of crappy, crappy work involved with actually running a farm. A better suggestion, if you mind me prying, would be to learn a trade, such as electrician, carpenter, or even foundation work, and move to an area where others can farm for you.
Who said it has to be "Monday morning quarterbacking?"
It should be someone's job to evaluate what the hell happened and come up with a system to try to keep it from happening again.
That in and of itself isn't "I told you so."
I know there are a number of tiny, tiny towns in the Medford area that hit the housing boom late, so there will be tons of hollowed out shell houses there going for cheapo cheapo in a few years. End-run up there, live in a $400/month apartment for a few years, and snap up one of those houses and a government job in Medford. Or sell shit on ebay. The people are good and will hold up well in Oregon; it's been in a depression for the last 25 years, and doesn't have much further to fall with the exception of very limited housing losses. The downturn won't hurt them much at all. It'll be a fine place to hunker.
I have faith in you; see you in Oregon.
Penrod and Sam | 10.06.08 - 6:26 pm | #
Re: Medford, think about Ashland, which is about 10 miles away, Great Shakespere festival. Spent a summer out there when I was 16 working on my Uncle's ranch and working lighting at the Shakespere festival
Good grief, read all the links in the first post. (Instead of trying to make the first response in such a hurry that you didn't bother understanding it). These guys were waving a big red flag for quite a while, trying to warm people about this train wreck.
From the last link in the first post:
Using an ad they placed on Craigslist Were you employed in the subprime mortgage industry? the pair proceeded to assemble a remarkably likable rogues gallery of participants up and down the subprime food chain. ...
...
The pair suggested that an excess of global capital a doubling in available capital in just six years to $72 trillion left a giant pool of money in need of returns. Enter mortgage-backed securities. A lot of them.
...
... No income, no asset. You dont have to state anything. Just have a credit score and a pulse. (Mr. Blumberg pointed out that the pulse thing was optional: 23 dead people in Ohio were also approved.)
The Fed's got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell!
Bitter fruits of democracy...
Safe Haven | Impending Economic Collapse In The U.S. And Death Of Democracy...
October 06, 2008
Impending Economic Collapse In The U.S. And Death Of Democracy...
by Clive Maund
Originally published October 5th, 2008.
Politicians worship money and power. Every politician worth his salt secretly aspires to be a dictator, although they dare not admit this as it is not exactly politically correct. The ultimate goal of the consummate politician is to have absolute power, and be able to boss everyone else about, to have unlimited access to public funds for the purposes of profligate personal consumption and more importantly self aggrandizement, as well as to bribe and reward supporters, and to kill or otherwise neutralize anyone who disagrees or creates any opposition. The reasons that General Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile, has become such a pariah are a combination of envy and hypocrisy. General Pinochet lived the politician's dream - he cleaned up Chile with an iron fist, and those who opposed him at times found themselves on a short one-way flight over the Pacific, which did not involve the expenditure of much fuel as Chile has a 5000 km long coastline.
...
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
I predicted this years ago. I am flattered. Only a history ignoramus can be made to believe that democracy is the best political system. Sadly, America is full of dopes-for-life as a result of incessant brainwashing from birth.
AMERICA HAS PROBLEMS BECAUSE AMERICANS HAVE BEEN CULTUALLY BRED WITH MENTAL PROBLEMS THAT ARE VERY HARD TO OVERCOME!
Sadly,
Jas
Was way out in the country today and went in to small gas station for gas and a diet pepsi. Jethro and the boys were huddled around the satellite radio listening to Bloomberg!
We're also looking in the midwest at raw land and small farms (under 10 acres). This lifestyle is a con game that is about to die.
make sure your mate(s) are on the same wavelength.
my brother-in-law and sister-in-law went out in the country to raise goats and great danes and now they are in a "war of the roses" situation where he has a restraining order to keep her off the property, but he has a bad heart so she's holding out for him to kick the bucket, so she can move back on.
We're way the hell past what they could have done and there ain't no way in hell unless someone invents a go-back machine to change it now so the whole discussion is kind of pointless except maybe for a history book.
Sebastian's fond of sharing his most excellent investing decisions, after his ten-bagger with NEW. Enjoy!
Price_Paid Symbol Last Trade Gain/Loss
24.48 ABAX 16.5601 -32.35%
42.40 ARD 29.17 -31.20%
32.63 BMRN 23.41 -28.26%
15.04 BRKR 11.33 -24.67%
26.87 EGLE 9.20 -65.76%
10.98 INCY 5.82 -46.99%
Total -37.34%
Bond Girl --
BTW, I do not think Alistair would take too kindly to being compared to Barry Frank.
But they totally look identical.
Frank only has two expressions: "Frown" and "Deep Frown". Is the same true for Darling?
Inquiring minds want to know!
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
The Fed's authority is metastizing.
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
By the way, "unusual" is an understatement. The Federal Reserve has never engaged in unsecured lending.
Alea has more.
Penrod and Sam: We're not planning commercial farming. We're looking at an off-grid homestead. So our "farming" would be for consumption and preservation.
I'll look at Medford. We had relatives there at one point. I just can't get past Ashland without getting seduced. Amazing town.
a rabbi, a deacon and woman with a parrot on her shoulder walk into a bar..........
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
has the Bailout, and the other Fed and Treasury plans just passed been tested on a computer simulation? I hear you can rent time on the big IBM supercomputer.
We're looking at an off-grid homestead.
LOL... you and every other white-collar person tired of the rat race. Take a number.
Re: Medford, think about Ashland,
And the cheapest downtown parking in all the world. If you hang out during matinee time, there's a good chance you'll score a free ticket or two from a group that overbought.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was great this year BTW.
NEW YORK (AP) Wachovia, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Monday agreed to a standstill of all formal litigation activity a sign that the banks and the Federal Reserve are working feverishly to reach an agreement over the fate of Wachovia.
The standstill agreement will end at noon on Wednesday, unless extended.
"We are pleased to participate with the Federal Reserve Board in a fair-minded, good faith process to achieve a prompt and successful outcome," said Citigroup spokesman Michael Hanretta in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
The article requested is no longer available.
Unsecured SPV from the Fed! Party!
Bring me your tired, your poor, your toxic assets, yearning to be free!
LOL... you and every other white-collar person tired of the rat race. Take a number.
i've been getting emails from the government of New Zealand to emigrate there.
Nemo,
Frank only has two expressions: "Frown" and "Deep Frown". Is the same true for Darling?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Would you be happy if you were banned from all the pubs?
LOL... you and every other white-collar person tired of the rat race. Take a number.
anonymous
Clearly we have never met. Haha. (Laughs into a mirror...picturing what a collared shirt and tie would look like) This is not a new idea for the Mrs and I. And we're not what you might expect to find in OC.
Looks like my number is up...
the crappier job your willing to take, the better your chances of survival. that doesn't mean cheaper, either
Congrats CR -- These reporters really did it right.
the bartender, asks what would like, and the parrot says........
Let's keep this government gulping down poison pills until it's dead.
That's the plan, right?
If there's one thing we should have learned by now, it's that you can't save a system until you cleanse it of bad debt.
What we're doing now is simply trying to hide the reality of an economy built on lies and promises that can never be realized.
In the end this can never work... it's always just a matter of time until they are uncovered.
From Minyanville (Depew):
"A Depression doesn't run hot and fierce like some crazed meth burner. A Depression is methodical, purposeful, patient. It will build a shelter out of tree branches and newspaper, light a small, well-contained campfire and wait you out, brother. While you feed on the empty calories of denial and popcorn, it will quietly gather shards of broken dreams and fashion them into a terrible weapon of blunt force reality."
Five Things You Need to Know: Financial Cataclysm Feared-Minyanville
Once again, it's amazing to see a little public radio show do what most of the rest of the media has so far failed to do - discuss a complex problem in a comprehensive yet easy to understand manner.
Kudos to TAL!
They'll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could've done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.
They could have refrained from putting safety nets under asset prices in order to artificially generate credit expansion.
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
I'll also predict that this WILL NOT end well. Daring, I know.
Question, a bit OT:
Is HSBC a "safe" bank? I was thinking about opening a CD there. My impression is that they are on solid footing - anybody know anything to the contrary?
Louie Sez- is that a joke?
Bond Girl --
Would you be happy if you were banned from all the pubs?
Well, no. And I bet his friends all call him "Darling".
Thread music:
HERE COME THE DRUMS
I think Bernanke might be The Master.
what's the diff???
Working the land? Please cue up the CSNY for me. I hope you are under 25, fit, and not gym fit either, and a background in about 20 diverse subjects.
Jethro and the lads are not stupid. One thing I like to do is talk to people. I can redneck, talk the trades, hunting, guns, and dogs.
Jethro a lot of times is very smart. Usually in something specialized such as the Civil war.
Farmers are not idiots. Not if they are sucessful. Same thing with ranchers. It isn't slop the bigs anymore. Most of degrees in pig slopping if that is what they are doing.
So how long until Americans start scapegoating "illegal aliens" and putting them in "temporary camps?"
Considering how loudly people scream about them taking our jobs (as if you want to cut my grass or bus my table), it won't be long before Americans actually do want those jobs. Considering how we dealt with Americans of Japanese descent during WWII, it would not be a hard sell to Joe and Jane Sixpack.
God help us all when it begins. The rationalizations will be unbearable.
No, seriously. If I had a nickel for every suburbanite or urbanite who thought they were gonna go live off the fatta' the lan'... well, I'd be stuffing them under my mattress but that's beside the point. Oh, and they always want to go to Vermont (if they're on the East Coast) or to rural Cascadia (if they're on the West Coast). Where they will live on tomatoes, eggs, goat's milk and chickens they've slaughtered themselves, and will sell fine homemade soaps and cheeses.
It's always the same dream... curiously, just like the suburban dreamers always have the same dream...
So how long until Americans start scapegoating "illegal aliens" and putting them in "temporary camps?"
Just send them back - mainly to Mexico - it's happening now on their own volition!
Some lite humor....
Flickr Photo Download: This is the end...
I got most savings at HSBC... I think it's among the safest.
I never graduated high school or received any higher education but I read this blog and several others religiously and I have listened to TAL for years, it is one of my favorite hours of my weekly routine. I have to say that between The Giant Pool of Money and Another Frightening Show About The Economy -- both of which I have listened to three times each(i couldn't wait to DL the latter this morning)-- I am summarizing that the bottom line is that the investors of the world were dissatisfied with their wealth, came up with an instrument to make big time profits and then basically located a whole bunch of suckers to buy into the plan. The suckers being folks across the globe who were told they could get something for nothing. A home.
It took me 3 listens to the program to understand the CDS's today, but when I finally accepted that I did indeed hear it right -- that investors were basically screwing each other by betting on things they did not even own, and that no one was checking to make sure there was capital to back those bets up -- I pretty much was floored.
I am still shocked. I have the kind of job that allows me to stay seriously informed, but most Americans just DON'T. If everyone knew what we know, Wall Street would be nothing but tinders right now.
It's unconscionable how reckless people who deal with other peoples money can be.
Fools.
Just send them back - mainly to Mexico - it's happening now on their own volition!
Anonymous
Right. And how do we process 12-20 million people? Do they get a hearing? How long will that take?
What will Mexico say about that? They get much of their GDP from remittance payments. The last thing they want is 12,000 unemployed men cruising the streets.
"Deport them all" is just an ill-thought solution. That's why our gov will intern them.
They've already built the camps. They are staffed by ICE.
Make that 12 million.
And furthermore, farmers of the 19th century were not living "off the grid." They were very much plugged into the "grid" of their day. People who think they're going to go retire to a simple plot of land and "homestead" it these days "off the grid" without any social support network are kidding themselves by and large.
So how long until Americans start scapegoating "illegal aliens" and putting them in "temporary camps?"
As soon as the construction layoffs pick up a bit more.
Right. And how do we process 12-20 million people? Do they get a hearing? How long will that take?
Leaving on their own volition - no need for processing - a side effect of the economic problems in El Norte!
Rove - you cleaver bastard!
No, no ICE. I see local law enforcement pushing them out. Towns creating laws. States cracking down. Vagrancy laws coming back. That sort of thing.
I was hitchiking in Georgia (Waycross), hair halfway down my back, making a pilgramige to Macon.
The local law picked me up, told me they didn't like my sort in town, and locked me up. Next day they drove me to the town limits. Thats what I see coming again.
anonymous writes:
And furthermore, farmers of the 19th century were not living "off the grid." They were very much plugged into the "grid" of their day. People who think they're going to go retire to a simple plot of land and "homestead" it these days "off the grid" without any social support network are kidding themselves by and large.
There are many people doing this currently. Their lifestyle is much different than might be expected, and it is nothing like the farmers of old, but it is not as uncommon as some believe.
Ever looked into ecovillages? I'd bet not.
Mr. Pickle from the "60 Minutes" interview posted here, confirmed my suspicion - that these a-holes knew what they were doing, knew what would happen, and knew the public would get screwed. But they did it anyway - it's hard to turn down $50,000,000 in bonuses.
The commercial paper market is a critical market (particularly now). That is where the FED should have started its work, not in bailing out wall street.
MarketWarnings
Guys - I need to brush up on my German, don't I? What a day...
Roubini, Buiter, Gross, ..., diverse group of economists and financial managers have called on the FED to outright guarantee CP or even buying them -- FED in effect a giant clearing house. Will this unclog the system of mistrust?
"As soon as the construction layoffs pick up a bit more."
Coming soon to a construction site near you. Layoffs are already happening, but have not reached 100% yet.
What I am waiting for is the chance to hire some skilled construction people for reasonable prices. I have some remodeling to do, and I refused to do it when all I could hire were the guys who weren't good enough to get real construction jobs, but thought they could charge as much as their more talented brethren.
But they did it anyway - it's hard to turn down $50,000,000 in bonuses.
They had no plan to fix the mess, and have their "financial bomb shelter" in place.
Speed writes:
Mr. Pickle from the "60 Minutes" interview posted here, confirmed my suspicion - that these a-holes knew what they were doing, knew what would happen, and knew the public would get screwed. But they did it anyway - it's hard to turn down $50,000,000 in bonuses.
Speed | 10.06.08 - 6:58 pm | #
Did you seriously doubt that these scum sucking greedy pigs would do otherwise? 8-p
Forget about those people- or better yet, join them. Learn their language. They are warm, loving people. You could do a lot worse.
donailin | 10.06.08 - 6:52 pm
Your right. This stuff is hard. You have to learn a vocabulary. then match that to concepts. I still am not sure I understand CDS and I overjoyed to finally grasp tranches.
Alternative lifestyles for those who break molds.
Earthaven Ecovillage - Building a Sustainable Intentional Community
Lost Valley Educational Center - Permaculture Design and Sustainability Education within Community | Lost Valley Educational Center and Community
Emerald Earth Sanctuary Home Page
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage | Sustainable Community Living
There are hundreds of these. You do not need an 8-5 job and an American Dream to live. You just can't bring your "wants" along with you.
CDSs are explained well in the 60 Minutes interview.
Mexicans cross the border to California because it gives them a feeling of nostalgia.
Mexico - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
csc - those are just a little too crunchy for me....!
blue collar guy
"Learn their language. They are warm, loving people. "
I'm sorry, I got lost. Are you referring to Mexicans or Germans?
I need to learn German because a german co. substantially invested in mine today....
not sure what you guys are talking about
Yankee writes:
csc - those are just a little too crunchy for me....!
Very few people could actually thrive in this lifestyle. I understand. But the notion that one must find a role to play in Babylon is a false one. As is the idea that 'off-grid' is a dream to be had by distracted cubicle dwellers.
For the right people, there are other options.
For most, it would be hell.
"
I was hitchiking in Georgia (Waycross), hair halfway down my back, making a pilgramige to Macon.
The local law picked me up, told me they didn't like my sort in town, and locked me up. Next day they drove me to the town limits."
I think I saw you in the movie "First Blood"
I met some reporter from NPR a year ago at seminar organized by the New York chapter of PRIMIA (Professional Risk Managers Intern'l Assoc.) who was doing some basic research on the subprime crisis.
Never saw anything by her in either print or on NPR, but for those interested, I will attached a link to the meeting minutes, they are a very interesting read, among the speakers were Sean Egan and Josh Rosner.
The Institutional Risk Analyst: The Subprime Crisis & Ratings: PRMIA Meeting Notes
anonymous writes:
No, seriously. If I had a nickel for every suburbanite or urbanite who thought they were gonna go live off the fatta' the lan'... well, I'd be stuffing them under my mattress but that's beside the point.
Nameless, I dub thee the voice of Babylon, mouthpiece of the Enemy. You are criticism without counterpoint, and a big fat loser to boot.
Where they will live on tomatoes, eggs, goat's milk and chickens they've slaughtered themselves, and will sell fine homemade soaps and cheeses.
What's awesome is that given the yield of kitchen plot agriculture, most of them can make a go of it. It takes a lot of homesteading boendr to fill up a countryside.
I guess that's not elitist enough for you, LOL. Lots will die trying to make the transition or end up hired hands to more successful farmers, but I don't hear your plan so your self-satisfied carping don't cut much ice for me.
It's always the same dream... curiously, just like the suburban dreamers always have the same dream...
To be a useless defeatist voice of despair like you? Your lips are moving but all I hear is "wah wah wah". Go lord yourself over someone who cares.
Drk -weird, I'm flying to Medford tomorrow morning, going to Ashland. Never been, very psyched.
Hispanic-origin workers began moving back as far back as 2004. We just didn't have a large enough sample to prove it. See the recent WSJ article.
And y'all thought I was making this up >; )
I think I saw you in the movie "First Blood"
ComradeColin | Homepage | 10.06.08 - 7:10 pm | #
No, I just aborted the trip to Macon. Went to Florida instead. Where sleeping in my sleeping bag in a rest area a cop kicked me awake. I decided Virginia was about as far south as I was going to go from then on.
Byz, you may like this:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/
The paper mag is great. With the Economist and Foreign Affairs, you've got all the bathroom reading you'll ever need for your time on the composting toilet.
How many people here have contributed to the destruction of someone else's job? Leveraged buy-outs? Transferring a factory overseas? Downsized? How about partied with politicians? How many have ever stood up for labor with a capital L. Joined a union? Ever paid dues? Ever gave a shit? Well, this is what we get. You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing. You'll get no sympathy. Welcome to the real world. Get with it or go without.
You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing. You'll get no sympathy. Welcome to the real world. Get with it or go without.
A whole lot of people going to be no collar soon. Not a lot of real white collar left anyway. No in the old sense of the word.
"Get with it or go without."
This is going to send a lot of people through the cracks. They just wont be able to do it.
re homesteading,
I happen to be married to a garden addict who dreams of acres of land to play with. Me, not so good at plants, but I know something about animals. I'd never try to make my primary income off the land, but I'd wager we could be self sufficient. We're close to that in vegetables already.
So, CSC, you're not alone. One of the things we'll be looking for in the next years of the collapse is an undervalued few acres near a town where we can practice our trade.
By the way, if you haven't seen the brit comedy 'the good life' available on netflix, you should.
As I understand it, a CDS is Credit Default Swap. It's really Credit Default Insurance. They sold insurance that a mortgage would not default. However there was nothing to back up the insurance. Hence the collapse. They got away with this because they called it a swap rather than insurance. The insurance "industry" is regulated. The swap "industry" is not regulated.
Jim- that's yesterdays news. Wake up.
Part of the TAL broadcast claimed:
So it was surprising to learn on Friday that, despite intense opposition from the powerful banking lobby, language authorizing the government to use a stock-injection plan did make it into the final version of the bailout bill. The law does not make a stock-injection plan mandatory, but it does leave it as one option that the Treasury secretary can use when bailing out a distressed bank.
Has anyone been able to spot this provision in the final legislation? Perhaps this is what they were referring to?
Section 113. Minimization of Long-Term Costs and Maximization of Benefits for Taxpayers.
In order to cover losses and administrative costs, as well as to allow taxpayers to share in equity appreciation, requires that the Treasury receive non-voting warrants from participating financial institutions.
Jim- that's yesterdays news. Wake up.
Someone said they didn't know what a CDS was. Just explaining.
ren: I'll check that out. Thank you. It is surprising to some just how much food can be grown in the city. Our lot is 60 x 100 and we grow a ton of our own food. Enough that we learned canning, drying, etc. Some folks are simply conditioned to think that their way is the only way. Thank God they are wrong.
ON LANGUAGE; TOXIC BAILOUT - NY Times
At the unregulated Bank of Linguistics, theres been a run on toxic. ...
...
... Sometime ahead, when the toxicity dissipates and the bailout pays off, we can expect a breezy new metaphor for the economic outlook: a brisk new tailwind (coined in 1897) causing much flapping of the naked shorts.
The bottom line to the financial disaster is FIRE (Finance Insurance and Real Estate) is going to go back to being about 10% of the economy from its present 30% of the economy. It's basically creative destruction.
3 of the best computer programmers I know left Berkeley, did a round of start up during the dot com, then decamped for Manhattan to work in the FIRE industry.
These are smart guys.
Computer programmers: marginal pay, very low social status.
Financial analysts: very high pay, very high social status.
We're not fixing anything in this country until an engineer graduating with good grades from a good school can get laid instead of laughed at.
Financial analysts: very high pay, very high social status.
I think that's about to change.
As I say -- creative destruction.
The move could involve the Federal Reserve making an unusual foray into unsecured lending.
Dang! My joke from Jan '07 was so close! But that was back when everybody thought the Fed didn't have the powers to take even MBS so a GSE-like mechanism seemed less absurd. Your imagination is the only limitation in Benny Bernanke's Wacky TAFfy Factory!
HaloScan.com - Comments
Currently Smoking Cannabis
Do you use a dehydrater to dry fruit? I was given an older one and I thought the fruit got over dried (crunchy). I am looking to buy a new one but don't know the good brands. Thanks
Currently Smoking Cannabis writes:
Byz, you may like this:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/
Oh man, I know that well. I grew up reading Foxfire. Everyone should learn that stuff.
People need to get accustomed to everyone being a multi-classed farmer-something. Be you a doctor, lawyer or indian chief, in the brave new world of tomorrow, you are also gonna be a farmer.
I love how people think this is so obsolete or dreamy, even though my mom grew up owning chickens and rabbits for the table in the 1950s in a major urban area.
Good luck man. Tell me if you want to consider right coast locations.
We're not fixing anything in this country until an engineer graduating with good grades from a good school can get laid instead of laughed at.
Dave
I married one of those. He got lucky for 26 years;)
I liked the TAL program. Someone has to expose what's going on in laymen's terms the best they can. I thought it did a good job, even if it is destined to be over-simplified.
"How many people here have contributed to the destruction of someone else's job?"
Well, I've contributed to the creation of someone else's job. Made sure I was successful at what I did so people who depended upon me for their own jobs could also be successful. Does that count?
Looking up "Creative Destruction" we find
A term coined by Joseph Schumpeter in his work entitled "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" (1942) to denote a "process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one."
Creative destruction occurs when something new kills something older. A great example of this is personal computers. The industry, led by Microsoft and Intel, destroyed many mainframe computer companies, but in doing so, entrepreneurs created one of the most important inventions of this century.
So there's an implication that something worthwhile is replaced by something better. But in the case of FIRE, something worthless will simply be destroyed.
"How many people here have contributed to the destruction of someone else's job? Leveraged buy-outs? Transferring a factory overseas? Downsized? How about partied with politicians? How many have ever stood up for labor with a capital L. Joined a union? Ever paid dues? Ever gave a shit? Well, this is what we get. You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing. You'll get no sympathy. Welcome to the real world. Get with it or go without."
I would also add that anyone who thinks they will be able to collect their essentially stolen marbles and remove themselves from pain and agony the rest of us will be enduring through no fault of our own better be prepared to kill everyone who will be following their tracks. Those without resources are going to outnumber those with them. It's not the bear they'll be desperately trying to outrun, it's US.
"You white collar fucks don't come cryin' to the working man now that your stupid world is crashing."
Blue collar needs white collar and vice versa. You think one world crashes without the other world crashing too?
You think a person who puts in 80-hr work-weeks isn't a "working man", just cuz he doesn't pick up a hammer?
Grow up.
Whereismyretirement: I bought the big one from Nesco (American Harvest). I love it. There are commercial dehydrators available as well, but I like this one just fine.
The model I bought is the FD-1010 Gardenmaster. It comes with four trays, but you can expand it to 30 trays! The temp can be adjusted from 95 to 155 degrees.
If you just want one for the home, I do recommend this one.
Byz: I agree, but I also understand. I was a product of the same indoctrination and bought into many of the same beliefs for a while.
For many people, it really is an undoable dream. But that is because they have a different concept of what one needs in life. My wife and I would probably list many things as 'wants' that others in our area think are necessities. Take indoor plumbing as an example.
I'm just thankful that we saw a new way before we were too old to make the change. This mess is just pushing our timeline a little.
Alex called and interviewed me after tracking me down via CR. Said he was going to contact FDIC to see if he could tag along to a small bank closing. Don't know if he did or what the response was. Loves pizza...
Given that Credit Default Swaps are the true core of our economy's problems (that is, the reason things are cross-wired to fail when one venture fails via cascading cross-defaults), it goes to the heart of why CDSs are bad: they increase the cost of failures, and so encourage bailouts vs. "creative destruction".
I am glad they are finally front-and-center, as the real "bottom" won't be reached until we defuse these damn things by forcing them onto an exchange.
Discussion here:
"There will be enormous, enormous losses..." | MetaFilter
ice show however I still fail to understand why a large company looks at their cash position each day and then borrows or lends the difference, or if they can't do that, why it is a big deal?
Their profits must be many MANY times their daily volatility, so stick some of that profit in a check account, and draw from it, lend to it..
i found calculated risk from "the giant pool of money" podcast and have been a very loyal reader since.
Byz
sure you can feed and clothe yourself on a homestead, lots of people do. After they learn the hard way it is a nine-to-nine job. 9AM to 9AM. The cows never calve at convienient times either.
Refering to "Daring to Say Loans Made No Sense", it does credit CR but also Gretchen, so I am not so sure about the article credibility.
other jim writes: Refering to "Daring to Say Loans Made No Sense", it does credit CR but also Gretchen, so I am not so sure about the article credibility.
Gretchen, as many of us, has her highs and lows. I would not let her worst take away from her best; but she is a writer you should bring your internal critic along when you read.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_TMlQo_69v-0/Ryg-IHREmjI/AAAAAAAATYo/o-Ypc_iB2ic/s1600-h/13.jpg
You know what kills me, this Bailout, they rushed it through both the Senate and Congress making it seem like the roof was about to fall off. They added $150 Billion dollars in Earmark & Pork Barrel Spending then decided to approve it, because $700 Billion wasn't enough of the taxpayers money (and Lets Not forget the $25 Billion Dollar Bailout that went to the Automotive industry and the $85 Billion that went to AIG). So after rush rush rush add add add, I come to find out that NONE of the $850 Billion Dollars are going to be used until AFTER the elections, AFTER the Elections, thats Over a Month after they passed this horrible bill! Now, if they have this much time to wait to use the Money to Save the Collapsing Economical System, then what was the RUSH to Pass this Bill without really putting the proper amount of time into thinking it through? I mean thats a lot of time for this money to just sit there collecting dust and NOT "Helping" anyone its supposed to be helping! Why couldn't they get a bunch of top economists and people who know and understand this stuff well and to get a few key politicians that also Understand the economy and financial institutions (Ron Paul would've come in handy on this) and why couldn't they take a couple weeks and come up with something that would have really been beneficial to both Main St. and keeping the financial crisis under control. I mean think about it, they rushed to get this through, to get it passed because we are in "such dire financial times", but then it just sits there until the elections are over! Why, so who ever becomes president can claim to have saved the day? Why? What was the rush? Why couldn't they really come up with something that made more sense? Oh and you can hear more about this on Democracy Now! | Radio and TV News. Oh and about the AIG bailout, One Week after they received their $85 Billion Dollar Bailout package, the company took a Half Million Dollar week long vacation! Hmm, that doesn't sound right, was that part of the bailout package? Are the homeowners who are facing the real stress of this crisis taking half million-dollar vacations, on the backs of taxpayers? I think not! So who is benefiting from these bailouts? Who really is getting the help and who is still suffering? Ralph Nader has an idea I like, how about throwing these corporate crooks into the big house, lock'em up and throw out the keys! They want vacation on the taxpayers dollar; lets send them to the slammer! How would they like that one? Chew on that one for a while. That "Bailout" is a scam that is being perpetrated on the American Taxpayers Dollar, the Poor, lower classes the working classes of this country, the people neither big party candidate talk about, ever! They always talk about saving the middle class, the people who make a hundred thousand dollars a year, they put together bailout packages to save CEO's of Wall St. and Insurance companies and Banks, but they NEVER talk about the poor and the struggling, they say main street like that is supposed to be all inclusive, but we know it isnt! Wake Up America, before its too late! I invite you to visit my blog @ Art. Graphic Design. Politics. And Whatever Else I Want!