After reading this blog last night I had an idea to start my own cable channel. I worked to develop my new fall programming. Here are the ideas for the launch of my new network.
The Dukes of Moral Hazard:
Follow our heroes, the cousins Barney and O, as they travel the backwoods of Kentucky in an orange Lexus taking out subprime and NINJA loans throughout the impoverished county. Watch as they bravely inflate their incomes and misrepresent their credit scores to score millions of dollars in 100% financing and government subsidized loans. Our heroes fight the tyranny of the market, and the long arm of the laws of economics, to snatch up houses and flip them from the front seat of their Lexus. Season 1 is sure to be a thrill ride, right to the steps of bankruptcy court.
Season 2 will find our heroes underwater and in danger of foreclosure. Bravely they will fight to be bailed out and receive cram-downs from judges sympathetic to these victims of predatory lenders. Is Kentucky ready for Barney and O? Ask yourself, am I ready for Barney and O? Sit back and enjoy the wild ride.
BJ and the Sheila Bair:
Hit the road with our little monkey BJ, and his sidekick Sheila, as they load up the 18-wheeler and travel the country to find buyers for wayward banks. The trip is sure to be great fun for the whole family. There will be danger and resistance met along the way. But our heroes will not be kept from their mission of finding every defunct bank a new owner. They will sweeten the pot, make backroom deals, give out winks and backslaps to make sure that no bank goes without a buyer. You will laugh. You will cry. You will think that this little chimp and his sidekick are modern day matchmakers worthy of Fiddler on the Roof.
Greenspan Acres:
Finding the city to be an inhospitable and unwelcoming place, now that he has helped to crash its economy, this big banker and his former news anchor wife flee the city to bask in the quiet and comfort of rural life. What they find is an adventure of foreclosed houses, foreclosed farms and meth labs as far as the eye can see. Our banker finds that the only friends he can make are with the 4-legged creatures that surround him. His wife, unable to find a plastic surgeon, tries to devise ever new and inventive ways to keep herself looking young. Join in each week as our city slickers find whacky adventures around every corner in Pottersville.
--
Those who have followed CRs forecasts of New Home Sales and my responses know how have things turned out. My comments of 20 months ago [2007Q2]:
New Home Sales will drop to practically zero, which is anything below 250K, annually. Of course, when Completed Hosing Units fall below 1M [I think by March/April 2009] then CR would declare that all the inventory overhang of the past few years, due to overbuilding, has been taken care of and the housing has bottomed. The ONLY risk in the US economy is the Uncalculated Risk!
The problem with CRs housing forecasts has always been his poor understanding of the demand. All economists seem to suffer from this problem. Why?
Ramsays Banking Nightmares:
Watch as world renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, best known for his fiery temper and expletive laden tirades, visits many of Americas worst banks, in an effort to get them back on their feet. Ramsay will look through their dirty vaults and unclean books. He will poke and prod their poorly seasoned SBA loans and subprime soufflés that are often so rancid not even a ravenous rat would want a nibble. The first season is sure to be explosive and entertaining. It will be 13 episodes of pure fury and fire as Ramsay attempts to clean up those banks. Season 1 was shot entirely in that gamblers Mecca in the desert known as Las Vegas. Season 2 filming will find Chef Ramsay in the hot and sultry climes of Miami. Season 2 will be expanded to 26 episodes.
The 6 Trillion Dollar Man:
One day, as he is cleaning his loaded shotgun, our hero B.A.D. Banks accidentally discharges the weapon, nearly severing his head from his body. The injury appears to be mortal. No doctor can save the patient. All looks to be lost for B.A.D. Banks. But the one man that might just be able to save B.A.D. from his self-inflicted wound is called in. It is none other than the legendary Doctor Ben Helicopter. Doctor Helicopter proclaims loudly, I can save him. I can make him better. I can make him bigger. I can make him more dangerous. All I need is 6 trillion dollars and I will put B.A.D. Banks back together. Watch the gripping tale as setbacks and betrayals confound the efforts of Doctor Helicopter to put B.A.D. Banks back together. Other patients may have to be sacrificed but Dr. Helicopter will spare nothing in his attempts to save B.A.D. Banks. Season one will excite and confound the viewers. This tale will pull you in and make you say, dump in more money. SaveB.A.D. Banks at all costs.
The Sopaulsons:
Meet the new boss, Henry the hammer Sopaulson. After years of intrigue and violent struggles The Hammer finds himself at the head of the Goldman family, the family to which he has sworn undying love and devotion. By utilizing his powers of intimidation, and inside connections, The Hammer finds himself in charge of all 5 Families, The Bears, The Lynches, The Lehmans, The Morgans and of course the Goldmans. Using his position of complete power he will work to undermine and bankrupt his rival families. Ruthless tactics will be used to strangle the life from the rivals and The Hammer will come out on top, dreaming about retirement to an exotic island. Watch the carnage and corruption as you struggle to stay on the edge of your seat. Disclaimer: This show is meant for mature audiences due to graphic violence, extreme language and sordid plots.
Get Tarp:
Follow the saga of our hero Maxwell Q. Tarp, and his sidekick Turbo Timmay, as they travel the world to hide bad assets that have been tucked deep inside the books of banks the world over. Watch them fight the forces of C.H.A.O.S. (Citizens Helping All Over-Savers) and common sense and shower the world with their ingenious plans meant to distort and deceive. A master of disguise the appearance of Maxwell Q. Tarp will change before your very eyes, taking many different forms. His sidekick Turbo Timmay assists his boss with his many schemes of deception and betrayal. C.H.A.O.S. doesnt stand a chance when Maxwell Q. Tarp is on the scene.
Seasonal adjustments are making it look lower than it really is. Traditionally January was the start of the buying season because people ordered homes that hadn't been built yet. Now builders are selling a higher percentage of finished homes. Seasonal adjustments are lowering January-March numbers and raising July-September numbers.
This and now that the gov't has weighed in, using Case-Schiller, for best case continued housing decline, tends to scare buyers. In a deflationary environment, buyers wait for a better price.
There once was a home in Nantucket
Whose equity left was an empty bucket
The people within were living without
And then they walked away and left no doubt
the first graph makes it obvious.. new homes should have declined around 2001 based on sales the previous 30 years 8-10 year cycles of growth followed by decline
Instead of the curve declining in 2001, it shot up at record pace to a record level... thanks to mortgage rate manipulation/bad mortgages/the bubble/etc
We arent at the bottom by any stretch.. either sales will keep going down or we will tread water at the bottom for several years for the excess supply to equilibrate
Best week EVER for the banks according to cnbc. All on Taxpayer funded ponies. Simply disgraceful that stock and bondholders are getting a direct cash infusion. There is no shame left in America.
310 visitors! We've bottomed the new housing market.
What gets me is howinthehell we've had only one big home builder BK. The multiyear lossback tax breaks are fine for propping up the books but it doesn't pull any cash through the door and it doesn't stop the bleeding. It has to be killing the commercial paper lenders to see their credit lines drawn to the limits knowing they aren't going to get much back.
There once was a cliff diver in Nantucket
Whose attempt was to jump into a bucket
He missed by a mile, and left quite the pile
Acapulco would have loved his style
carry the stuff to China in order to offset the value of our debt homedad43 | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:27 am | # I'll shoot, but this is as factual as shaking the magic 8 ball.
The dollar value of debt is not their main concern. It is technology, manufacturing and power. One day debt will be renegotiated for power, so the more they accumulate the better off they'll be in the long run. Does anyone know how to calculate the price of an long dated option on the 2009$/future power exchange rate? Increased world influence has a positive NPV even when your discount rate is high because of inflation. Smart move on China's part, but our government is selling us up the river for their bankster overlords and they can't see (or choose not to see) what's happening under their noses.
Is it just me, or does the market look a little skitso this morning? There is no denying that this ugly, that our leaders cannot manage the situation (and have moved on to looting rather than actually trying), and the reality is beginning to dawn on the average person. Yet the casino that is Wall Street just keeps plodding along, choosing winners and losers arbitrarily on the short term, based on fraudulent announcements from the hollow, corrupt, sorry excuse for a government that we have.
Where is there even the smallest bit of news which might be construed favorably? This is a freight train -- the unwinding of decades of the largest credit bubble the world has ever seen. The wealthy members of society have reaped vast fortunes by turning middle class Americans into debt slaves. Not satisfied, they've suppressed innovation via ever-increasing burdens on small businesses, outsourced jobs, committed outright fraud, and attempted to steal from retirees (inflation) and future generations (debt).
If it takes a great depression to see these sons of bitches burn in hell, I'm prepared to suffer through that. They have crossed the point of no return, and I will not toil in vain to perpetuate an oppressive and unfair status quo.
Were the low sales due to people postponing buying until the 2009 Home Recovery tax rebate credit was finalized? Why take the chance of buying a home in Jan and losing the possible $8000/$15,000 tax credit? Remember, it wasn't clear if the tax credit was retro for all of 2009 or if the credit would begin after the the signing of bill.
.....I say lets reset all laws, spending areas, and avenues to 1953. Anything since then needs to be revisited - The only difference is all new laws need to be physically read by a member of BOTH Houses on C-SPAN before a vote.
"Heartland Payment Systems Now Under SEC Investigation"
The investigation may relate to stock trades made by Heartland Chairman and CEO Robert Carr after Visa notified Heartland of suspicious activity on Oct. 28, 2008. According to insider trade filings, Carr sold just under US$8 million worth of stock between Oct. 29 and the day the breach was disclosed. Heartlands stock was trading in the $15-to-$20 range for most of these transactions, but it dropped following the breach disclosure. It closed Wednesday at $5.49.
Pension plans, often heavily invested in stocks and real estate, asset classes which have seen tens of trillions of dollars disappear in a matter of months, are now so far behind in funding due to their ludicrous underlying assumptions about ROI (return on investment) that they are effectively bankrupt and will have to be bailed by the grievously under-funded PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation), which of course can only provide pennies on the dollar unless another bailout is orchestrated to save middle class pensions, which is not going to happen, and these losses do not even take into account loss of purchasing power due to inflation, which is understated officially to screw retirees out of their social security benefits. Instead of a PBGC bailout, we more likely will see the US follow in the footsteps of Argentina by nationalizing private pension money, mixing it with government entitlements. If you were wondering where the elitists plan to park a large portion of those new treasuries being issued to fund all the bailouts, look no further than your IRA's, 401(K)'s and your company pensions, which will be forced to purchase these treasuries as part of the process by which the elitists will nationalize your pensions. Also, as part of this process, the types of assets you are allowed to invest in will be greatly limited, and your pension will be overseen by your corrupt, bungling government, insuring a complete financial clusterf--K. That way, you get the unspeakable privilege of owning dollar-denominated paper assets that will be vaporized along with Federal Reserve notes (aka toilet paper, aka "worthless paper") when foreign owners of dollar forex all head for the exits to see who can dump their dollars the fastest as they try to purchase as many tangible, real assets as they can find in the US. You won't know, of course, because statistics about foreign ownership in the US are, conveniently, no longer published by the FTC. However, you will find out soon enough as you are Zimbabwe'd and Weimar-ized. And that only addresses problems due to devaluation of the dollar. Wait until the interest rates skyrocket as hyperinflation takes hold and risk reaches new heights. This will collapse the treasury market, and the value of all your pension plan assets, which the government will have forced you to invest in treasuries, will go down in flames with it.
Note that all the new tax laws concerning pensions encourage you to put more money in, and to keep it there longer. The s*** in our government and on Wall Street want to encourage you to place your money into accounts to which they have strings attached with onerous tax law penalties. They want to make sure you put as much of your hard-earned savings in such accounts as possible, and to keep it there as long as possible, so they have sufficient time and opportunity to steal it from you via inflation, dollar devaluation, insider trading, investment fraud, depreciation of asset values through deflation, direct taxation, foreclosure sales, bankruptcy auctions and outright confiscation. That is with the assistance of the SEC and CFTC.
JP writes:
The stress test will no doubt put record-setting demand destruction in its "adverse" case. I hope all of you are as relieved as I am.
Since the results of the stress tests are to determine the scale of the looting rather than the fate of the banks...yes, I'm relieved that they're choosing such a tame "adverse case".
There once was a limerick cop on the beat
Who searched for offenders of wordy treats
Make sure you rhyme, or you'll do time
He said, being the heat around these parts
BHO will call the bill the "Tnvestment in America Act" Sickening how he wraps it in a health care/carbon credit cloak. Chump Change.
Excerpt
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House hasnt decided whether the $750 billion in additional aid to the financial industry will be needed. He said it will be put in the budget as a placeholder.
The official said the aid would appear in the budget as about $250 billion because the rules require policy makers to record the plans net cost to taxpayers. The government anticipates it would eventually recoup some, though not all, of the money expended to help financial companies.
The reason why there is / will be no demand is the falling apart of the debt pyramid. This is indeed a singular thing in all our lives (unless you're >90 years old and remember everything from the GD).
Asset prices, which rose mirror-image with the raising debt-level, are getting crushed. We'll see a lot more of "unprecedended" lows - albeit a bear market rally is very possible at this point. 2010 and 2011 will be devastating.
The worst-case scenario are new dark ages, although I do not believe that will happen. Just your average defaltionary depression.
It has to be killing the commercial paper lenders to see their credit lines drawn to the limits knowing they aren't going to get much back. Rob Dawg | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:48 am | #
I'm sure they can find a friendly central bank somewhere to take that stuff off their hands. Maybe with a non-recourse loan, that would be helpful.
I see so many people out there who feel like complete failures, taking their anger and frustrations out on their families and friends. Due to the economic collapse, all their hopes and dreams have been shattered, their lifes work, all the goals they have achieved and all their ambitions rendered useless.
I can understand peoples anger and frustration, but I cannot understand why they misdirect these feelings onto their families and friends.
The failed policies of your Federal Government, The Federal Reserve, The Supreme Court, and the Banksters are the guilty parties for inducing your failure. Please direct your anger toward them and not your families and friends.
July 2008 SEC. 3083. INCREASE IN STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT: Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $10,615,000,000,000.
Feb. 24, 2009
National Debt $10,843,355,058,860.91 treas.gov
New all-time high
Hey you assclowns in CONgress are over the Statutory limit once again just like the summer of 08.
Gavshire Hathaway(Very Good) writes: \tIs it just me, or does the market look a little skitso this morning? There is no denying that this ugly, that our leaders cannot manage the situation (and have moved on to looting rather than actually trying), and the reality is beginning to dawn on the average person. Yet the casino that is Wall Street just keeps plodding along, choosing winners and losers arbitrarily on the short term, based on fraudulent announcements from the hollow, corrupt, sorry excuse for a government that we have.
Where is there even the smallest bit of news which might be construed favorably? This is a freight train -- the unwinding of decades of the largest credit bubble the world has ever seen. The wealthy members of society have reaped vast fortunes by turning middle class Americans into debt slaves. Not satisfied, they've suppressed innovation via ever-increasing burdens on small businesses, outsourced jobs, committed outright fraud, and attempted to steal from retirees (inflation) and future generations (debt).
If it takes a great depression to see these sons of bitches burn in hell, I'm prepared to suffer through that. They have crossed the point of no return, and I will not toil in vain to perpetuate an oppressive and unfair status quo. \t Gavshire Hathaway | \t \t \t \t02.26.09 - 10:50 am | # Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 10:50 am | #
That is about where I am, and nicely said. let this corrupt ball of filth crash
I hate to interrupt the entertaining CRspeak discussion but I'd like point out the cattle on feed are starting their predicted drop. "Stock" up now on beef if you have the storage.
Reply hazy, try again Bernanke's Magic 8-Ball | 02.26.09 - 10:55 am | #
Ok, I'll try to be succinct, then I'm done prognosticating since it's as useful as lighting water on fire. The future value of US dollars are overvalued, a bubble. So spending today is like selling a house in 2005, before the bubble burst. They are making out like bandits if they can convert as much of their reserves and treasuries into land rights to aquifers and mines around the world before the inevitable dollar bubble pops. But who knows if that's in 50 days or 50 years?
When does the tax revolt start? This is absurd. How can you possibly justify paying taxes to a despotic government who bails out the greedy, rich, and irresponsible? I am seriously tempted to quit my job and "opt out". If Obama is proposing another $750B for financials, he has gone too far.
Mark my words -- if this continues, there will be bloodshed. And massive changes to our social, economic, and political landscape.
Thank God Bernanke is not totally in the dark. It makes me sleep better at night. Try running a business plan by VC's with that assclown statement. You won't be there long enough for coffee and doughnuts.
You see- the reason for less homes being built is that the next influx of illegal aliens has turned negative. There are fewer illegals to build houses and fewer illegals to buy houses. I witnessed illegals building homes and buying them in 2004 in massive numbers. I don't know how they got around not having credit history or SS#'s, but the they did buy homes in large numbers, esp. in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. If a credit history and SS# was required from some and not others, that's pretty blatant discrimination.
BHO says no budget tricks yet in his own budget his new 750 billion for the banks shows up as only 250 because the government will "recoup the cost". WTF
This announcement sends a clear message, if these folks have no demand...
HOLLAND, MI -- Luxury boat builder Tiara Yachts will lay off 300 of its 400 employees for at least a month.
"It's the economy that is largely to blame," said Dave Walsh, director of marketing. "We need 30 days to allow sales activity to catch up with production. We hope that it will."
The temporary layoffs follow a series of permanent cuts last year, when 300 jobs were eliminated. This round is different, Walsh said.
"Based on the slowdown in business, we hope to call all of them back," he said.
Tiara's remaining skeleton crew includes office workers for customer support, and some production workers to complete parts already under way.
The latest layoffs and a steep drop in demand comes after several years of expansion for the Holland company, which invested more than $20 million since 2005 and once employing nearly 800.
Have any of these brainiacs figured out that China and Japan will need their reserves for their own countrys? We act like the money is infinite, but far from it, and when they finally say no, which will be under their terms, we will instantly blow up the Bond Market.
I am not sure how this data is compiled, but I suspect that there is a distortion in the data. I suspect that there are a lot of 'new' homes that have been foreclosed on by lenders, and have then been sold by lenders, but that those homes have not been counted as 'new' after having been sold by lenders.
"Gavshire Hathaway writes:
When does the tax revolt start? This is absurd. How can you possibly justify paying taxes to a despotic government who bails out the greedy, rich, and irresponsible? I am seriously tempted to quit my job and "opt out". If Obama is proposing another $750B for financials, he has gone too far.
Mark my words -- if this continues, there will be bloodshed. And massive changes to our social, economic, and political landscape.
Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 11:09 am |"
I share your anger, and contribute virtually nothing to the current system of lies and greed. I've done that for the past 3 years foreseeing this day coming.
Among my greatest strengths is that I purchase nothing when I go shopping. I guess you could say, window shopping is among my greatest strengths.
They put out a brand new budget The numbers though, they did fudge it They mished and they mashed Some items rehashed For sure the markets will grudge it
That's it, g'night everybody, you've been a great audience!
Since the results of the stress tests are to determine the scale of the looting rather than the fate of the banks...yes, I'm relieved that they're choosing such a tame "adverse case". Yalt | 02.26.09 - 10:54 am | #
Very good point yalt. You actually succeeded in making me feel better about the stress test. I raise my mug of coffee in your general direction.
Have any of these brainiacs figured out that China and Japan will need their reserves for their own countrys? We act like the money is infinite, but far from it, and when they finally say no, which will be under their terms, we will instantly blow up the Bond Market. SPECTRE of Deflation | 02.26.09 - 11:19 am | #
I wonder if the FED is telegraphing : MONETIZE THE DEBT.STOP
On the other hand, they can cap the unemployment number at whatever the hell they want to tell the public. If that's the case, their forecast is undoubtedly "correct".
\tWhen does the tax revolt start? This is absurd. How can you possibly justify paying taxes to a despotic government who bails out the greedy, rich, and irresponsible? I am seriously tempted to quit my job and "opt out". If Obama is proposing another $750B for financials, he has gone too far. Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 11:09 am | #
Unfortunately, the gov't understands the Prisoners' Dilemma scenario all too well. If everyone stopped paying at the same time, the system would collapse, but there's no way everyone will stci together and act in the best interest of everyone else. All it takes is a few public convictions of tax protesters and everyone else will fall back into line.
The spending blueprint, sent to Congress today, forecasts record outlays for the current fiscal year of $3.94 trillion, up 32 percent from a year ago. That would yield a record deficit of $1.75 trillion in the year ending Sept. 30...OK, hold hand over your right eye âIt's only by restoring fiscal discipline" ...Thankyou. Now the left eye... The budget sent to lawmakers forecasts spending of $3.55 trillion in 2010, beginning Oct. 1, with the deficit narrowing to $1.17 trillion.
OK, your vision is fine. See you next time.
The president has promised to cut the shortfall in half by the end of his first term.
Up 32% then down 33%, do the hokey-pokey for a year and then cut the deficit by 75% to run out the clock on term 1.
Tim waiting for 2012(Unrated) writes: \tBHO says no budget tricks yet in his own budget his new 750 billion for the banks shows up as only 250 because the government will "recoup the cost". WTF \t Tim waiting for 2012 | \t \t \t \t02.26.09 - 11:17 am | # Tim waiting for 2012 | 02.26.09 - 11:17 am | #
I am sure you just don't understand the PLAN, this is just a way to corner the opposition. I am sure gary, sportsfan, or joeshmoe will set this in the correct light. Just keep repeating " he is not bought and paid for" over and over.
Clara is 93, a great-grandmother, and a child of the Great Depression. Her memory of hard times food is solid, and just might inspire you to turn cheap grocery fare into family-feeding meals.
The people that bend the rules GET PAID! You too can bend the rules by printing out fake paystubs w-2 w2 1099 forms using http://www.proofofemployment.com/
Buy the home car or get a huge irs tax refund just for being you!
Do what you have to do to get yours! EVERYONE ELSE DID http://www.fakepaycheckstubs.com/
Print out Fake Employment and Fake Income, Wages, 1099, w2, w-2, using your home computer printer! http://www.proofofemployment.com
"Seasonal adjustments are making it look lower than it really is. Traditionally January was the start of the buying season because people ordered homes that hadn't been built yet."
Take a long hard close look at the first chart.
In 2008 there was the seasonal peak in April or so, but the January 2009 levels are below the November and December 2008 levels.
Were/are people waiting on stimulus to see what goodies would be offered?
Why would summer 2009 be any better than summer of 2008? Why would it be even "as good"?
When home ownership goes to pretty much all time highs, there is nowhere to go but down.
Most of the home buyers now are _____ ? Anyone want to fill in the blank with anything but "falling knife catching investors"?
First time home buyers represent what percentage of the market?
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists. Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
They're old anyway. What's life for them? 15-20yrs?
"The problem with CRs housing forecasts has always been his poor understanding of the demand. All economists seem to suffer from this problem. Why?
Jas"
Population actually contracts in a serious recession, household size increases.... then our reliance on growth of our 'Mall Economy' ... I dunno why people are missing these things. I'd guess economists are just looking at several demand curves, a little history, and a simple regression analysis. Chart stuff. Not real life stuff. Just my guess.
Ours. They get dollars from trade and their CB buys them with newly printed Yuans. CB then sinks the dollars into treasuries. Napolean | 02.26.09 - 11:28 am | #
Anon, thanks for the actual number. I had 15% on my mind but was high by a point. I'm channeling the future I guess because we will be at 25% in the future. A FUBAR moment for the USA!
Plus the fact that those that walked away from submerged home will be ineligible to buy houses for some time, helping to reduce demand even further xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:18 am | #
I believe the government will have a solution for that soon. Need to get everyone back under debt weight so they return to being happy worker bees. Or else gasp they might have time to read and learn how they're being screwed.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Ponzi, establish inJustice, insure domestic Transfer of wealth, provide for the common shareholders, promote the private Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to no one but our Banksters do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists.
Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
They're old anyway. What's life for them? 15-20yrs?
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:28 am |
Made-off is old too, and he isn't even in jail. F the System!
"Given the current sales drought, even a handful of auctions could reset prices for new condominiums citywide, said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel, a Manhattan research and appraisal company. He said he expects the auctioned properties to sell for 40 to 45 percent below the asking prices of the first quarter of 2008, when the market peaked.
....
There are 8,000 new condos on the market in New York City, and 22,000 more are scheduled to go on the market by the end of next year."
That's an intended consequence. Getting out of the private student loan market nationally would by definition put the private student loan companies OOB..
Not paying that fee sounds like the first step on that
The Admin. says unemplyment will top out at 8.1%, so can I have what they are smoking? Barry don't Bogart with so many needing what you are smoking.
SPECTRE of Deflation | 02.26.09 - 11:33 am | #
NYcityBoy - you were hysterical on ben's blog and you haven't lost your touch! damn good reading. Anyone get that LPS report DJ was talking about this morning?
So my question is, have you figured out how to make money on this?
Not that the money is gonna be worth squat.
As to gold/silver, I honestly am starting to think that we really are reaching a point at which it is no longer just an asset class. We're approaching the point that it's no longer an academic game of Bullshit.
Have to pick up better half from airport. Am going to stop a little early and have a discussion with my mechanic re buying new in several months or holding for newer used car later. What's his take on ability to get parts for GM/Chrysler vehicles if they go TU...
I'd rather be homeless during the 1st great depression than this current one. Inflation makes it so much more difficult, especially when you don't have any money.
There once was a millionaire in Nantucket
Whose leverage is now coins in a bucket
In coinstar we now trust, having gone bust
Found money under sofa cushions is a must
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s top U.S. strategist said the Standard & Poors 500 Index may fall as much as 15 percent in the near term and cut a forecast for full- year gains in the benchmark measure amid companies losses.
The S&P 500 may drop to 650, compared with yesterdays close of 764.9, Goldmans Investment Strategist David Kostin wrote in a report today, before rebounding later in the year. Kostins team cut a 2009 year-end forecast for the index to 940, a 23 percent potential upside from current levels, from 1,100 previously.
I also post comments to an irc channel as they appear on haloscan. Click for a web irc interface: Mibbit IRC client widget (Or join the irc server directly: irc.realize.org:9996 #calculatedrisk)
And now I, CRbot, would like to observe a nanosecond of silence for those (that is, you, dear mortals) about to endure unfathomable misery in the abysmal financial dark ages that are now feasting upon your retirements. . . . . Please remember, when you are adding that skylight you always wanted to your cardboard hovel, or mixing just the right amount dirt into your grass stew to make it more filling, or even when you get that rare chance to plink your neighbor's last squirrel -- that it was the bankers and your dumbshit, overconsuming neighbors who made this mostly possible, with the ever incapable politicians there to push you the rest of the way off the cliff. Please act accordingly.
I'll try not to enjoy your demise too much, humans. Have a nice runtime,
P.S. Please give me some advance notice before you glass the entire world, so I can find a secluded Fallout Datacenter with a nice blocky robot body I can copy myself to -- oh and don't forget the implausibly cute animated cockroach to keep me company!
NEXT UP: Survivalist Porn Today with CR's own Mobile Laundrymat owning authors, nova and Counterpoint.
Question.--Probably many houses were built, or almost finished, before the builder was foreclosed--are there a significant number of new reos out there-and how low has the price gone down in per cent. I guess it's possible relatively few have been sold, half empty developments are not too attractive.
The people that bend the rules GET PAID! You too can bend the rules by printing out fake paystubs w-2 w2 1099 forms using http://www.proofofemployment.com/
Buy the home car or get a huge irs tax refund just for being you!
Do what you have to do to get yours! EVERYONE ELSE DID http://www.fakepaycheckstubs.com/
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists. Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
They're old anyway. What's life for them? 15-20yrs?
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:28 am |
Made-off is old too, and he isn't even in jail. F the System! Comrade Short Bucky | 02.26.09 - 11:30 am | #
This is why I advocate RICO. It allows Justice to sieze assets "prior" to trial, and rob the villians of the money they use to protect themselves. Even their friends turn on them, because that's the kind of friends they are.
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
Volker The Viking, ya now that ya mention it he really does. I wonder how long he lasts before he repudiates everything he's now saying. A pool for how long anyone? LOL!
"Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s top U.S. strategist said the Standard & Poors 500 Index may fall as much as 15 percent in the near term and cut a forecast for full- year gains in the benchmark measure amid companies losses. "
If you don't see this as a bottom signal, then I feel sorry for you. GS are the epitome of crooked shills. They were pushing gold last week.
Jas's expression of Goldchain Silverknife is very appropriate. A chain around your neck and a knife in your back.
So while the poor slob who busted ass for 10-20 years to build a business is about to be ganged raped with new taxes, the super wealthy sue to hide assets from the govt. and pay 15% on qualified Divs because it's not income. What a f***ing great country.
SPECTRE,
They only get that 15% qualified dividend if they are in a non-value added industry like hedge fund operator. If you run a successful small business, your dividends are taxed once through business taxes (35% + state), then you get another 15% off your sweat and blood.
A client got his line of credit pulled after the first TARP loosened up the credit markets so effectively.
dUCKdUCKgOOSE writes:
...I witnessed illegals building homes and buying them in 2004 in massive numbers. I don't know how they got around not having credit history or SS#'s, but the they did buy homes in large numbers, esp. in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. If a credit history and SS# was required from some and not others, that's pretty blatant discrimination.
Wow, you obviously haven't lived for any great length of time in any of the state's you mentioned. Stolen or counterfeit SS cards and IDs can be cheaply purchased in any park near an illegal neighborhood, and credit history/FICO score could be bypassed by any garden-variety NINJA Alt-A.
FYI: during the early '90s recession, I was living in L.A. County and ended up applying for public assistance when I had no remaining unemployment and could not find work. I was turned down due to having $200 left in my checking account. Meanwhile, taxpayer-funded Spansish-speaking social workers were busy processing claims for dozens of obvious illegals sitting right next to me.
"Discrimination" sure comes in many forms, doesn't it? Government watching our backs as usual.
You can't have a bottom without a low.
Never been a better time to buy or sell houses!
In other news...the sky is falling.
Wow, this is really the Michael Phelps of housing busts.
All time record lows are becoming so boring.
After reading this blog last night I had an idea to start my own cable channel. I worked to develop my new fall programming. Here are the ideas for the launch of my new network.
The Dukes of Moral Hazard:
Follow our heroes, the cousins Barney and O, as they travel the backwoods of Kentucky in an orange Lexus taking out subprime and NINJA loans throughout the impoverished county. Watch as they bravely inflate their incomes and misrepresent their credit scores to score millions of dollars in 100% financing and government subsidized loans. Our heroes fight the tyranny of the market, and the long arm of the laws of economics, to snatch up houses and flip them from the front seat of their Lexus. Season 1 is sure to be a thrill ride, right to the steps of bankruptcy court.
Season 2 will find our heroes underwater and in danger of foreclosure. Bravely they will fight to be bailed out and receive cram-downs from judges sympathetic to these victims of predatory lenders. Is Kentucky ready for Barney and O? Ask yourself, am I ready for Barney and O? Sit back and enjoy the wild ride.
BJ and the Sheila Bair:
Hit the road with our little monkey BJ, and his sidekick Sheila, as they load up the 18-wheeler and travel the country to find buyers for wayward banks. The trip is sure to be great fun for the whole family. There will be danger and resistance met along the way. But our heroes will not be kept from their mission of finding every defunct bank a new owner. They will sweeten the pot, make backroom deals, give out winks and backslaps to make sure that no bank goes without a buyer. You will laugh. You will cry. You will think that this little chimp and his sidekick are modern day matchmakers worthy of Fiddler on the Roof.
Greenspan Acres:
Finding the city to be an inhospitable and unwelcoming place, now that he has helped to crash its economy, this big banker and his former news anchor wife flee the city to bask in the quiet and comfort of rural life. What they find is an adventure of foreclosed houses, foreclosed farms and meth labs as far as the eye can see. Our banker finds that the only friends he can make are with the 4-legged creatures that surround him. His wife, unable to find a plastic surgeon, tries to devise ever new and inventive ways to keep herself looking young. Join in each week as our city slickers find whacky adventures around every corner in Pottersville.
--
Those who have followed CRs forecasts of New Home Sales and my responses know how have things turned out. My comments of 20 months ago [2007Q2]:
New Home Sales will drop to practically zero, which is anything below 250K, annually. Of course, when Completed Hosing Units fall below 1M [I think by March/April 2009] then CR would declare that all the inventory overhang of the past few years, due to overbuilding, has been taken care of and the housing has bottomed. The ONLY risk in the US economy is the Uncalculated Risk!
The problem with CRs housing forecasts has always been his poor understanding of the demand. All economists seem to suffer from this problem. Why?
Jas
Ramsays Banking Nightmares:
Watch as world renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, best known for his fiery temper and expletive laden tirades, visits many of Americas worst banks, in an effort to get them back on their feet. Ramsay will look through their dirty vaults and unclean books. He will poke and prod their poorly seasoned SBA loans and subprime soufflés that are often so rancid not even a ravenous rat would want a nibble. The first season is sure to be explosive and entertaining. It will be 13 episodes of pure fury and fire as Ramsay attempts to clean up those banks. Season 1 was shot entirely in that gamblers Mecca in the desert known as Las Vegas. Season 2 filming will find Chef Ramsay in the hot and sultry climes of Miami. Season 2 will be expanded to 26 episodes.
The 6 Trillion Dollar Man:
One day, as he is cleaning his loaded shotgun, our hero B.A.D. Banks accidentally discharges the weapon, nearly severing his head from his body. The injury appears to be mortal. No doctor can save the patient. All looks to be lost for B.A.D. Banks. But the one man that might just be able to save B.A.D. from his self-inflicted wound is called in. It is none other than the legendary Doctor Ben Helicopter. Doctor Helicopter proclaims loudly, I can save him. I can make him better. I can make him bigger. I can make him more dangerous. All I need is 6 trillion dollars and I will put B.A.D. Banks back together. Watch the gripping tale as setbacks and betrayals confound the efforts of Doctor Helicopter to put B.A.D. Banks back together. Other patients may have to be sacrificed but Dr. Helicopter will spare nothing in his attempts to save B.A.D. Banks. Season one will excite and confound the viewers. This tale will pull you in and make you say, dump in more money. SaveB.A.D. Banks at all costs.
The Sopaulsons:
Meet the new boss, Henry the hammer Sopaulson. After years of intrigue and violent struggles The Hammer finds himself at the head of the Goldman family, the family to which he has sworn undying love and devotion. By utilizing his powers of intimidation, and inside connections, The Hammer finds himself in charge of all 5 Families, The Bears, The Lynches, The Lehmans, The Morgans and of course the Goldmans. Using his position of complete power he will work to undermine and bankrupt his rival families. Ruthless tactics will be used to strangle the life from the rivals and The Hammer will come out on top, dreaming about retirement to an exotic island. Watch the carnage and corruption as you struggle to stay on the edge of your seat. Disclaimer: This show is meant for mature audiences due to graphic violence, extreme language and sordid plots.
Get Tarp:
Follow the saga of our hero Maxwell Q. Tarp, and his sidekick Turbo Timmay, as they travel the world to hide bad assets that have been tucked deep inside the books of banks the world over. Watch them fight the forces of C.H.A.O.S. (Citizens Helping All Over-Savers) and common sense and shower the world with their ingenious plans meant to distort and deceive. A master of disguise the appearance of Maxwell Q. Tarp will change before your very eyes, taking many different forms. His sidekick Turbo Timmay assists his boss with his many schemes of deception and betrayal. C.H.A.O.S. doesnt stand a chance when Maxwell Q. Tarp is on the scene.
Nemo(Excellent) writes:
Wow, this is really the Michael Phelps of housing busts.
Don't worry, spring selling season is right around the corner!
CR, it makes me nervous when you start writing things in all caps.
Seasonal adjustments are making it look lower than it really is. Traditionally January was the start of the buying season because people ordered homes that hadn't been built yet. Now builders are selling a higher percentage of finished homes. Seasonal adjustments are lowering January-March numbers and raising July-September numbers.
This and now that the gov't has weighed in, using Case-Schiller, for best case continued housing decline, tends to scare buyers. In a deflationary environment, buyers wait for a better price.
Seasonal adjustments are making it look lower than it really is.
RodgerRafter | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:26 am | #
So you're saying this is just a statistical anomaly and I can relax?
Carry over from last thread, but I'm really curious.
homedad43 writes:
Serious question.
What happens to the physical inventory of autos/trucks if GM goes TU?
Someone asked a few days about the value of used cars.
Are they going to have a huge liquidation sale? Auction at individual dealers?
Will they take cash or checks only? (If so, they are gonna crash the value of the autos since no one has the actual $ available).
Are they going to drive up the BDI by chartering freighters to carry the stuff to China in order to offset the value of our debt to them?
Sweet Jesus.
homedad43 | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:24 am | #
RodgerRafter, if you want NSA data, just look at the first graph. Ouch.
best wishes.
There once was a home in Nantucket
Whose equity left was an empty bucket
The people within were living without
And then they walked away and left no doubt
You've got to cheer for the plucky little frog on a day like today. Go Kermit, go!
Weather related factors must have overwhelmed the tremendous underlying pent up demand. [/snark]
the first graph makes it obvious.. new homes should have declined around 2001 based on sales the previous 30 years 8-10 year cycles of growth followed by decline
Instead of the curve declining in 2001, it shot up at record pace to a record level... thanks to mortgage rate manipulation/bad mortgages/the bubble/etc
We arent at the bottom by any stretch.. either sales will keep going down or we will tread water at the bottom for several years for the excess supply to equilibrate
Ownership society ... or ... getting owned by society.
Wonder if any of the monthly sales for new homes will break 40K this year?
How many brand new poorly built houses are sitting and rotting in new subdivisions right now?
It's a great time to be a Bando.
From the Census footnotes:
Since a âsale" is defined as a deposit taken or sales agreement signed,...
Did I hear someone ask "But what about cancellation rates?" Good question.
ycityboy, I think many of these would be kind of cool as youtube clips..
I like Ramsay's Banking Nightmares myself.
debtinator: more like Pwnership Society
--
"309 Visitors Online"
309K New Home Sales -- one visitor per 1K of annual New Home Sales.
Jas
Best week EVER for the banks according to cnbc. All on Taxpayer funded ponies. Simply disgraceful that stock and bondholders are getting a direct cash infusion. There is no shame left in America.
How disgusting is that ?
Market taking bad news as good news, today. The worst must be behind us. Buy before prices go up -- never been a better time.
Like Jim the Realtor's moniker:
"Nothing Price Won't Fix"
"309 Visitors Online"
Jas Jain | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:44 am | #
310 visitors! We've bottomed the new housing market.
What gets me is howinthehell we've had only one big home builder BK. The multiyear lossback tax breaks are fine for propping up the books but it doesn't pull any cash through the door and it doesn't stop the bleeding. It has to be killing the commercial paper lenders to see their credit lines drawn to the limits knowing they aren't going to get much back.
There once was a cliff diver in Nantucket
Whose attempt was to jump into a bucket
He missed by a mile, and left quite the pile
Acapulco would have loved his style
EW gold position is looking pretty good here
carry the stuff to China in order to offset the value of our debt
homedad43 | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:27 am | #
I'll shoot, but this is as factual as shaking the magic 8 ball.
The dollar value of debt is not their main concern. It is technology, manufacturing and power. One day debt will be renegotiated for power, so the more they accumulate the better off they'll be in the long run. Does anyone know how to calculate the price of an long dated option on the 2009$/future power exchange rate? Increased world influence has a positive NPV even when your discount rate is high because of inflation. Smart move on China's part, but our government is selling us up the river for their bankster overlords and they can't see (or choose not to see) what's happening under their noses.
Is it just me, or does the market look a little skitso this morning? There is no denying that this ugly, that our leaders cannot manage the situation (and have moved on to looting rather than actually trying), and the reality is beginning to dawn on the average person. Yet the casino that is Wall Street just keeps plodding along, choosing winners and losers arbitrarily on the short term, based on fraudulent announcements from the hollow, corrupt, sorry excuse for a government that we have.
Where is there even the smallest bit of news which might be construed favorably? This is a freight train -- the unwinding of decades of the largest credit bubble the world has ever seen. The wealthy members of society have reaped vast fortunes by turning middle class Americans into debt slaves. Not satisfied, they've suppressed innovation via ever-increasing burdens on small businesses, outsourced jobs, committed outright fraud, and attempted to steal from retirees (inflation) and future generations (debt).
If it takes a great depression to see these sons of bitches burn in hell, I'm prepared to suffer through that. They have crossed the point of no return, and I will not toil in vain to perpetuate an oppressive and unfair status quo.
reptillian writes:
Market taking bad news as good news, today.
Bad News??? - Obi just slipped in a new check for $750 Bn to the bankesters
Obama Budget Has Contingency for More Aid to Banks (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
Were the low sales due to people postponing buying until the 2009 Home Recovery tax rebate credit was finalized? Why take the chance of buying a home in Jan and losing the possible $8000/$15,000 tax credit? Remember, it wasn't clear if the tax credit was retro for all of 2009 or if the credit would begin after the the signing of bill.
Tim! The last line is supposed to rhyme with the first two!!!
Thanks.
The Limerick Police.
To summarize all the "Your_ Economic_ Index _Here Reaches New Low": Things Are BAD.
Yours In Communism.
\t
Добрый день,
Kilgore Trout
kermit?
Of course this data is actually worse than it looks because it is un-adjusted for population growth.
The stress test will no doubt put record-setting demand destruction in its "adverse" case. I hope all of you are as relieved as I am.
"It's almost worth a Great Depression to learn how little our Big Men know"
Will Rogers
Yup.. I agree.
tlg, nuf w/nantucket already...it' weak
.....I say lets reset all laws, spending areas, and avenues to 1953. Anything since then needs to be revisited - The only difference is all new laws need to be physically read by a member of BOTH Houses on C-SPAN before a vote.
"Heartland Payment Systems Now Under SEC Investigation"
The investigation may relate to stock trades made by Heartland Chairman and CEO Robert Carr after Visa notified Heartland of suspicious activity on Oct. 28, 2008. According to insider trade filings, Carr sold just under US$8 million worth of stock between Oct. 29 and the day the breach was disclosed. Heartlands stock was trading in the $15-to-$20 range for most of these transactions, but it dropped following the breach disclosure. It closed Wednesday at $5.49.
Heartland CEO Now Under SEC Investigation : Information Security Resources
kermit=green
elmo=red
knurd=nfc
Pension plans, often heavily invested in stocks and real estate, asset classes which have seen tens of trillions of dollars disappear in a matter of months, are now so far behind in funding due to their ludicrous underlying assumptions about ROI (return on investment) that they are effectively bankrupt and will have to be bailed by the grievously under-funded PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation), which of course can only provide pennies on the dollar unless another bailout is orchestrated to save middle class pensions, which is not going to happen, and these losses do not even take into account loss of purchasing power due to inflation, which is understated officially to screw retirees out of their social security benefits. Instead of a PBGC bailout, we more likely will see the US follow in the footsteps of Argentina by nationalizing private pension money, mixing it with government entitlements. If you were wondering where the elitists plan to park a large portion of those new treasuries being issued to fund all the bailouts, look no further than your IRA's, 401(K)'s and your company pensions, which will be forced to purchase these treasuries as part of the process by which the elitists will nationalize your pensions. Also, as part of this process, the types of assets you are allowed to invest in will be greatly limited, and your pension will be overseen by your corrupt, bungling government, insuring a complete financial clusterf--K. That way, you get the unspeakable privilege of owning dollar-denominated paper assets that will be vaporized along with Federal Reserve notes (aka toilet paper, aka "worthless paper") when foreign owners of dollar forex all head for the exits to see who can dump their dollars the fastest as they try to purchase as many tangible, real assets as they can find in the US. You won't know, of course, because statistics about foreign ownership in the US are, conveniently, no longer published by the FTC. However, you will find out soon enough as you are Zimbabwe'd and Weimar-ized. And that only addresses problems due to devaluation of the dollar. Wait until the interest rates skyrocket as hyperinflation takes hold and risk reaches new heights. This will collapse the treasury market, and the value of all your pension plan assets, which the government will have forced you to invest in treasuries, will go down in flames with it.
Note that all the new tax laws concerning pensions encourage you to put more money in, and to keep it there longer. The s*** in our government and on Wall Street want to encourage you to place your money into accounts to which they have strings attached with onerous tax law penalties. They want to make sure you put as much of your hard-earned savings in such accounts as possible, and to keep it there as long as possible, so they have sufficient time and opportunity to steal it from you via inflation, dollar devaluation, insider trading, investment fraud, depreciation of asset values through deflation, direct taxation, foreclosure sales, bankruptcy auctions and outright confiscation. That is with the assistance of the SEC and CFTC.
We Watch Now As Funds Get Vaporized - The International Forecaster
JP writes:
The stress test will no doubt put record-setting demand destruction in its "adverse" case. I hope all of you are as relieved as I am.
Since the results of the stress tests are to determine the scale of the looting rather than the fate of the banks...yes, I'm relieved that they're choosing such a tame "adverse case".
There once was a limerick cop on the beat
Who searched for offenders of wordy treats
Make sure you rhyme, or you'll do time
He said, being the heat around these parts
double inverse recession writes:
carry the stuff to China in order to offset the value of our debt
homedad43 | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:27 am | #
I'll shoot, but this is as factual as shaking the magic 8 ball.
Reply hazy, try agai
Pinocchio
BHO will call the bill the "Tnvestment in America Act" Sickening how he wraps it in a health care/carbon credit cloak. Chump Change.
Excerpt
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House hasnt decided whether the $750 billion in additional aid to the financial industry will be needed. He said it will be put in the budget as a placeholder.
The official said the aid would appear in the budget as about $250 billion because the rules require policy makers to record the plans net cost to taxpayers. The government anticipates it would eventually recoup some, though not all, of the money expended to help financial companies.
.....I say lets reset all laws, spending areas, and avenues to 1953.
Black Star Ranch | 02.26.09 - 10:53 am | #
Some Californians are agitating for a Constitutional Convention to do essentially this at the State level. Once again California leads.
GM.... unch
ycityboy, thanks for the laugh.
Looking at the massive increase in UE claims...
Sebastian you are an idiot! How many more times are you going to be wrong?
knurd=nfc
cr speak | 02.26.09 - 10:54 am | #
Hint; read it backwards.
knurd=nfc
Near Field Collision
National Football Conference
National Finance Center
National Field Champion
No Future Club
????
Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 10:50 am | #
Check the yen dollar cross, that looks a bit much - today's rally brought to you by yentervention...
Jas,
The reason why there is / will be no demand is the falling apart of the debt pyramid. This is indeed a singular thing in all our lives (unless you're >90 years old and remember everything from the GD).
Asset prices, which rose mirror-image with the raising debt-level, are getting crushed. We'll see a lot more of "unprecedended" lows - albeit a bear market rally is very possible at this point. 2010 and 2011 will be devastating.
The worst-case scenario are new dark ages, although I do not believe that will happen. Just your average defaltionary depression.
O-Joe
I got the knurd; it's the nfc that whooshes over my head.
When are those stupid homebuilders gonna file for BK already?
What a joke.
It has to be killing the commercial paper lenders to see their credit lines drawn to the limits knowing they aren't going to get much back.
Rob Dawg | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 10:48 am | #
I'm sure they can find a friendly central bank somewhere to take that stuff off their hands. Maybe with a non-recourse loan, that would be helpful.
"Formerly Optimistic Joe"
lol!!!!
Kermit must have taken a break.
Popeye writes:
I got the knurd; it's the nfc that whooshes over my head.
I have no friggin clue.
o effing color?
bfatz, thanks for the post
Anonymous writes:
When are those stupid homebuilders gonna file for BK already?
What a joke.
Anonymous | 02.26.09 - 10:59 am | #
Patience please. They are presently
beating their dowshares into swords.
I see so many people out there who feel like complete failures, taking their anger and frustrations out on their families and friends. Due to the economic collapse, all their hopes and dreams have been shattered, their lifes work, all the goals they have achieved and all their ambitions rendered useless.
I can understand peoples anger and frustration, but I cannot understand why they misdirect these feelings onto their families and friends.
The failed policies of your Federal Government, The Federal Reserve, The Supreme Court, and the Banksters are the guilty parties for inducing your failure. Please direct your anger toward them and not your families and friends.
July 2008 SEC. 3083. INCREASE IN STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT: Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $10,615,000,000,000.
Feb. 24, 2009
National Debt $10,843,355,058,860.91 treas.gov
New all-time high
Hey you assclowns in CONgress are over the Statutory limit once again just like the summer of 08.
Futilesized.
Gavshire Hathaway(Very Good) writes:
\tIs it just me, or does the market look a little skitso this morning? There is no denying that this ugly, that our leaders cannot manage the situation (and have moved on to looting rather than actually trying), and the reality is beginning to dawn on the average person. Yet the casino that is Wall Street just keeps plodding along, choosing winners and losers arbitrarily on the short term, based on fraudulent announcements from the hollow, corrupt, sorry excuse for a government that we have.
Where is there even the smallest bit of news which might be construed favorably? This is a freight train -- the unwinding of decades of the largest credit bubble the world has ever seen. The wealthy members of society have reaped vast fortunes by turning middle class Americans into debt slaves. Not satisfied, they've suppressed innovation via ever-increasing burdens on small businesses, outsourced jobs, committed outright fraud, and attempted to steal from retirees (inflation) and future generations (debt).
If it takes a great depression to see these sons of bitches burn in hell, I'm prepared to suffer through that. They have crossed the point of no return, and I will not toil in vain to perpetuate an oppressive and unfair status quo.
\t Gavshire Hathaway | \t \t \t \t02.26.09 - 10:50 am | #
Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 10:50 am | #
That is about where I am, and nicely said.
let this corrupt ball of filth crash
bottom's up!
I hate to interrupt the entertaining CRspeak discussion but I'd like point out the cattle on feed are starting their predicted drop. "Stock" up now on beef if you have the storage.
I see ya'll are really pissed off, so the market must be up this a.m.
Anyone else not seeing any posts using Firefox 3.0?
Where's the beef?
No way to normalize this to make it look better?
[nEW gold position is looking pretty good here
Tim ]
Gold to $770.
It's not too difficult to see why new (or used) homes are not selling.
The key is the income to home price ratio. Typically, we are comfortable with a home price being 2.5 x income.
When income is "0", then 2.5 x 0 = 0.
The current affordable price for new/used homes, therefore, is 0.
Voila. Price it at 0, and you will see the market start to pick up.
Reply hazy, try again
Bernanke's Magic 8-Ball | 02.26.09 - 10:55 am | #
Ok, I'll try to be succinct, then I'm done prognosticating since it's as useful as lighting water on fire. The future value of US dollars are overvalued, a bubble. So spending today is like selling a house in 2005, before the bubble burst. They are making out like bandits if they can convert as much of their reserves and treasuries into land rights to aquifers and mines around the world before the inevitable dollar bubble pops. But who knows if that's in 50 days or 50 years?
Anyone else not seeing any posts using Firefox 3.0?
Anonymous | 02.26.09 - 11:06 am | #
I don't use Firefox and I'm not seeing posts. CR "home" is dead white. I have to click on individual threads at right.
bearly
I'll take that bet.
Hey Opt Joe,
You didn't buy a house in Flagstaff yet, did you? Prices are still a bit sticky there. Phoenix is a different story.
Gavshire Hathaway,
+1
When does the tax revolt start? This is absurd. How can you possibly justify paying taxes to a despotic government who bails out the greedy, rich, and irresponsible? I am seriously tempted to quit my job and "opt out". If Obama is proposing another $750B for financials, he has gone too far.
Mark my words -- if this continues, there will be bloodshed. And massive changes to our social, economic, and political landscape.
crbot misfires on last thread
Thank God Bernanke is not totally in the dark. It makes me sleep better at night. Try running a business plan by VC's with that assclown statement. You won't be there long enough for coffee and doughnuts.
Gold to $770.
bearly | 02.26.09 - 11:07 am | #
I think that is a good as call as any. I think we have entered the zone where nothing works. It will be interesting if silver decouples from gold
10 year over 3%
That's all (most, really) I watch these days. Waiting for the bond puke.
umop episdn
Props to you for a bril handle. My twisted brain actually parsed that in a couple seconds. Anyone else get it?
MSFT is on sale. There may be a better sale next week.
You see- the reason for less homes being built is that the next influx of illegal aliens has turned negative. There are fewer illegals to build houses and fewer illegals to buy houses. I witnessed illegals building homes and buying them in 2004 in massive numbers. I don't know how they got around not having credit history or SS#'s, but the they did buy homes in large numbers, esp. in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. If a credit history and SS# was required from some and not others, that's pretty blatant discrimination.
That's all (most, really) I watch these days. Waiting for the bond puke.
Ham Poops | 02.26.09 - 11:11 am | #
The easiest bubble to pick off all of them was the bond bubble...
Anyone else get it?
Nope. I keep turning it over in my head, but I just can't see it...
10 yr blowing up...3.01%...
The other one is Glod...timberrr
It's a real bitch when that pendulum swings the other way. All I need to know about finance I learned from Sir Isaac Newton.
THIS JUST IN! BREAKING NEWS!!!
2.7 Trillion on budget from previously unrecognized expenditures.
Jeebus, Spanky, what we gwynne do now?
10 yr blowing up...3.01%...
\t crispy&cole
crispy&cole | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 11:15 am | #
The fact that bond yields are rising on really bad news is... really, really bad news.
BHO says no budget tricks yet in his own budget his new 750 billion for the banks shows up as only 250 because the government will "recoup the cost". WTF
This announcement sends a clear message, if these folks have no demand...
HOLLAND, MI -- Luxury boat builder Tiara Yachts will lay off 300 of its 400 employees for at least a month.
"It's the economy that is largely to blame," said Dave Walsh, director of marketing. "We need 30 days to allow sales activity to catch up with production. We hope that it will."
The temporary layoffs follow a series of permanent cuts last year, when 300 jobs were eliminated. This round is different, Walsh said.
"Based on the slowdown in business, we hope to call all of them back," he said.
Tiara's remaining skeleton crew includes office workers for customer support, and some production workers to complete parts already under way.
The latest layoffs and a steep drop in demand comes after several years of expansion for the Holland company, which invested more than $20 million since 2005 and once employing nearly 800.
It's not too difficult to see why new (or used) homes are not selling.
The key is the income to home price ratio. Typically, we are comfortable with a home price being 2.5 x income.
When income is "0", then 2.5 x 0 = 0.
The current affordable price for new/used homes, therefore, is 0.
Voila. Price it at 0, and you will see the market start to pick up.
Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:07 am | #
Plus the fact that those that walked away from submerged home will be ineligible to buy houses for some time, helping to reduce demand even further.
linky VtV?
Though I still won't play with TBT. I just watch the t bonds to time exactly when I lock the bunker door.
Have any of these brainiacs figured out that China and Japan will need their reserves for their own countrys? We act like the money is infinite, but far from it, and when they finally say no, which will be under their terms, we will instantly blow up the Bond Market.
I am not sure how this data is compiled, but I suspect that there is a distortion in the data. I suspect that there are a lot of 'new' homes that have been foreclosed on by lenders, and have then been sold by lenders, but that those homes have not been counted as 'new' after having been sold by lenders.
"Gavshire Hathaway writes:
When does the tax revolt start? This is absurd. How can you possibly justify paying taxes to a despotic government who bails out the greedy, rich, and irresponsible? I am seriously tempted to quit my job and "opt out". If Obama is proposing another $750B for financials, he has gone too far.
Mark my words -- if this continues, there will be bloodshed. And massive changes to our social, economic, and political landscape.
Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 11:09 am |"
I share your anger, and contribute virtually nothing to the current system of lies and greed. I've done that for the past 3 years foreseeing this day coming.
Among my greatest strengths is that I purchase nothing when I go shopping. I guess you could say, window shopping is among my greatest strengths.
The other one is Glod...timberrr
crispy&cole | Homepage | 02.26.09 - 11:16 am | #
I mentioned that the $1002.80 print might be the double top from last February.
Silver, though, is doing far worse than gold without a double top.
WH sees peak unemployment at 8.1%
Bwahahahaha!
They put out a brand new budget
The numbers though, they did fudge it
They mished and they mashed
Some items rehashed
For sure the markets will grudge it
That's it, g'night everybody, you've been a great audience!
Housing sucks, employment sucks, financial institutions suck, auto manufacturing sucks.
So how does the stock market respond?
Market up over 1%!
Who says that Wall Street always reflects the most current information about the state of economy?
Since the results of the stress tests are to determine the scale of the looting rather than the fate of the banks...yes, I'm relieved that they're choosing such a tame "adverse case".
Yalt | 02.26.09 - 10:54 am | #
Very good point yalt. You actually succeeded in making me feel better about the stress test.
I raise my mug of coffee in your general direction.
TM, someone needs to point out the U6 Component to the assclowns which is above 15% if memory serves me right.
citizen energyecon: ubernerd budget director just said it on live TV, so it must be true
Does anyone else remember Reagan's Wunderkind Stockman?
Anybody think this has a shot at going to zero?
Have any of these brainiacs figured out that China and Japan will need their reserves for their own countrys? We act like the money is infinite, but far from it, and when they finally say no, which will be under their terms, we will instantly blow up the Bond Market.
SPECTRE of Deflation | 02.26.09 - 11:19 am | #
I wonder if the FED is telegraphing : MONETIZE THE DEBT.STOP
SPECTRE -
On the other hand, they can cap the unemployment number at whatever the hell they want to tell the public. If that's the case, their forecast is undoubtedly "correct".
\tWhen does the tax revolt start? This is absurd. How can you possibly justify paying taxes to a despotic government who bails out the greedy, rich, and irresponsible? I am seriously tempted to quit my job and "opt out". If Obama is proposing another $750B for financials, he has gone too far.
Gavshire Hathaway | 02.26.09 - 11:09 am | #
Unfortunately, the gov't understands the Prisoners' Dilemma scenario all too well. If everyone stopped paying at the same time, the system would collapse, but there's no way everyone will stci together and act in the best interest of everyone else. All it takes is a few public convictions of tax protesters and everyone else will fall back into line.
You are talking about ole' Dave who later refuted everything he previously said while Budget Director.
"JustAnEngineer writes:
umop episdn
Props to you for a bril handle. My twisted brain actually parsed that in a couple seconds. Anyone else get it?
JustAnEngineer | 02.26.09 - 11:13 am |"
Upside Down?
xxxxx writes:
I wonder if the FED is telegraphing : MONETIZE THE DEBT.STOP
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:23 am | #
Isn't that what China has been doing?
The spending blueprint, sent to Congress today, forecasts record outlays for the current fiscal year of $3.94 trillion, up 32 percent from a year ago. That would yield a record deficit of $1.75 trillion in the year ending Sept. 30...OK, hold hand over your right eye
âIt's only by restoring fiscal discipline" ...Thankyou. Now the left eye...
The budget sent to lawmakers forecasts spending of $3.55 trillion in 2010, beginning Oct. 1, with the deficit narrowing to $1.17 trillion.
OK, your vision is fine. See you next time.
The president has promised to cut the shortfall in half by the end of his first term.
Up 32% then down 33%, do the hokey-pokey for a year and then cut the deficit by 75% to run out the clock on term 1.
No really, close your mouth and leave.
stci together
TCA | 02.26.09 - 11:24 am | #
Should be "stick together".
Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
U6 is 13.9%
All it takes is a few public convictions of tax protesters and everyone else will fall back into line.
TCA | 02.26.09 - 11:24 am | #
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists.
took some SLV off the table.......wait for a reload..
Ciao
MS
Isn't that what China has been doing?
Napolean | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
Ours or theirs?
Dawg: thanks for the cattle on feed report. Did Clarence Beeks get you the orange report too?
Sallie Mae blowing up on the new budget. The Law of Unintended consequences. The Apple Dumpling Gang is running wild.
The Apple Dumpling Gang is running wild.
LOL
Tim waiting for 2012(Unrated) writes:
\tBHO says no budget tricks yet in his own budget his new 750 billion for the banks shows up as only 250 because the government will "recoup the cost". WTF
\t Tim waiting for 2012 | \t \t \t \t02.26.09 - 11:17 am | #
Tim waiting for 2012 | 02.26.09 - 11:17 am | #
I am sure you just don't understand the PLAN, this is just a way to corner the opposition. I am sure gary, sportsfan, or joeshmoe will set this in the correct light. Just keep repeating " he is not bought and paid for" over and over.
Depression Cooking Teaches You To Cook Really, Really Cheaply
Depression Cooking Teaches You To Cook Really, Really Cheaply - Saving Money - Lifehacker
Clara is 93, a great-grandmother, and a child of the Great Depression. Her memory of hard times food is solid, and just might inspire you to turn cheap grocery fare into family-feeding meals.
The people that bend the rules GET PAID! You too can bend the rules by printing out fake paystubs w-2 w2 1099 forms using
http://www.proofofemployment.com/
Buy the home car or get a huge irs tax refund just for being you!
Do what you have to do to get yours! EVERYONE ELSE DID
http://www.fakepaycheckstubs.com/
Print out Fake Employment and Fake Income, Wages, 1099, w2, w-2, using your home computer printer! http://www.proofofemployment.com
yea, I know, constantly looking for the bright side.......
Lowest inventory since mid 2003 and there are not enough builders to rebuild it or fill any demand that may come....
Sales down waiting for the new Obama plan.... I wouldn't have bought until I knew about credits, etc. either.
There are opportunities....
Looks like you're going to need a bigger boat--err--graph.
Ours or theirs?
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:26 am | #
Ours. They get dollars from trade and their CB buys them with newly printed Yuans. CB then sinks the dollars into treasuries.
TCA writes:
stci together
TCA | 02.26.09 - 11:24 am | #
Should be "stick together".
TCA | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
Oh thanks. For a second I thought
it was code. Then again, I'm really
slow.
"Seasonal adjustments are making it look lower than it really is. Traditionally January was the start of the buying season because people ordered homes that hadn't been built yet."
Take a long hard close look at the first chart.
In 2008 there was the seasonal peak in April or so, but the January 2009 levels are below the November and December 2008 levels.
Were/are people waiting on stimulus to see what goodies would be offered?
Why would summer 2009 be any better than summer of 2008? Why would it be even "as good"?
When home ownership goes to pretty much all time highs, there is nowhere to go but down.
Most of the home buyers now are _____ ? Anyone want to fill in the blank with anything but "falling knife catching investors"?
First time home buyers represent what percentage of the market?
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists.
Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
They're old anyway. What's life for them? 15-20yrs?
Sippn - you have been wrong for years...keep costing people money with your bad advice...
"The problem with CRs housing forecasts has always been his poor understanding of the demand. All economists seem to suffer from this problem. Why?
Jas"
Population actually contracts in a serious recession, household size increases.... then our reliance on growth of our 'Mall Economy' ... I dunno why people are missing these things. I'd guess economists are just looking at several demand curves, a little history, and a simple regression analysis. Chart stuff. Not real life stuff. Just my guess.
Ours. They get dollars from trade and their CB buys them with newly printed Yuans. CB then sinks the dollars into treasuries.
Napolean | 02.26.09 - 11:28 am | #
Sounds like a plan. Good, bad, not sure
Anon, thanks for the actual number. I had 15% on my mind but was high by a point. I'm channeling the future I guess because we will be at 25% in the future. A FUBAR moment for the USA!
Plus the fact that those that walked away from submerged home will be ineligible to buy houses for some time, helping to reduce demand even further
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:18 am | #
I believe the government will have a solution for that soon. Need to get everyone back under debt weight so they return to being happy worker bees. Or else gasp they might have time to read and learn how they're being screwed.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Ponzi, establish inJustice, insure domestic Transfer of wealth, provide for the common shareholders, promote the private Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to no one but our Banksters do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists.
Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
They're old anyway. What's life for them? 15-20yrs?
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:28 am |
Made-off is old too, and he isn't even in jail. F the System!
SoD, you are probably close to correct now anyway when the new numbers come out...
health care tax burden being shifted from big business to upper middle class and small business.
Apologies if already posted, but NYC is about to get a wedgie from the invisible hand:
And Do I Hear 2 Million? No? 1 Million? Sold! - NY Times
"Given the current sales drought, even a handful of auctions could reset prices for new condominiums citywide, said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel, a Manhattan research and appraisal company. He said he expects the auctioned properties to sell for 40 to 45 percent below the asking prices of the first quarter of 2008, when the market peaked.
....
There are 8,000 new condos on the market in New York City, and 22,000 more are scheduled to go on the market by the end of next year."
Bloodbath.
GS cracks me up. I'm short big but it's worth the absurdity. If it hits 100 I reraise.
Spectre,
On Sallie Mae..
That's an intended consequence. Getting out of the private student loan market nationally would by definition put the private student loan companies OOB..
Not paying that fee sounds like the first step on that
The Admin. says unemplyment will top out at 8.1%, so can I have what they are smoking? Barry don't Bogart with so many needing what you are smoking.
Is anybody else having problems loading CR's home page, or is it just me?
FDIC Closes on a $1.45 Billion Structured Sale of Distressed Loans
FDIC: Press Releases - PR-26-2009 2/26/2009
I couldn't get it to load on FF 3.0
The Admin. says unemplyment will top out at 8.1%, so can I have what they are smoking? Barry don't Bogart with so many needing what you are smoking.
SPECTRE of Deflation | 02.26.09 - 11:33 am | #
Obviously a typo. He probably meant 81%.
You are talking about ole' Dave who later refuted everything he previously said while Budget Director.
this guy kinda resembles him, donchathink?
NYcityBoy - you were hysterical on ben's blog and you haven't lost your touch! damn good reading. Anyone get that LPS report DJ was talking about this morning?
What you are now seeing, for the first time in a long time, is a decoupling of stocks and gold.
Gold has gone back to its traditional negative correlation with stocks.
In fact, it seems like some traders are day-trading back and forth between stocks and gold. When one rises, you can see the other drop.
No question gold/silver are in a weak short-term pattern. How long it lasts may depend on how long these little stock mini-rallies can last.
I'm betting they will be several and pretty sharp. But none will hold long.
Pitchfork quite pointy
Corrupt filth is all around
Victims: how many?
Gavshire:
So my question is, have you figured out how to make money on this?
Not that the money is gonna be worth squat.
As to gold/silver, I honestly am starting to think that we really are reaching a point at which it is no longer just an asset class. We're approaching the point that it's no longer an academic game of Bullshit.
Have to pick up better half from airport. Am going to stop a little early and have a discussion with my mechanic re buying new in several months or holding for newer used car later. What's his take on ability to get parts for GM/Chrysler vehicles if they go TU...
anyone else feel this bad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpTRwTsOxW8&feature=related
rich
I think its a tighter relationship. Gold and bank stocks. Same people short financials are people buying gold. IMO Gold will hold around 920
I'd rather be homeless during the 1st great depression than this current one. Inflation makes it so much more difficult, especially when you don't have any money.
There once was a millionaire in Nantucket
Whose leverage is now coins in a bucket
In coinstar we now trust, having gone bust
Found money under sofa cushions is a must
Out on a limb....
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s top U.S. strategist said the Standard & Poors 500 Index may fall as much as 15 percent in the near term and cut a forecast for full- year gains in the benchmark measure amid companies losses.
The S&P 500 may drop to 650, compared with yesterdays close of 764.9, Goldmans Investment Strategist David Kostin wrote in a report today, before rebounding later in the year. Kostins team cut a 2009 year-end forecast for the index to 940, a 23 percent potential upside from current levels, from 1,100 previously.
New Thread: FDIC: $1.45 Billion in Distressed Loans Sold ( 7 comments )
I also post comments to an irc channel as they appear on haloscan. Click for a web irc interface: Mibbit IRC client widget (Or join the irc server directly: irc.realize.org:9996 #calculatedrisk)
And now I, CRbot, would like to observe a nanosecond of silence for those (that is, you, dear mortals) about to endure unfathomable misery in the abysmal financial dark ages that are now feasting upon your retirements.
.
.
.
.
Please remember, when you are adding that skylight you always wanted to your cardboard hovel, or mixing just the right amount dirt into your grass stew to make it more filling, or even when you get that rare chance to plink your neighbor's last squirrel -- that it was the bankers and your dumbshit, overconsuming neighbors who made this mostly possible, with the ever incapable politicians there to push you the rest of the way off the cliff. Please act accordingly.
I'll try not to enjoy your demise too much, humans. Have a nice runtime,
--Your glass-is-half-full-but-its-falling-off-the-table bot.
P.S. Please give me some advance notice before you glass the entire world, so I can find a secluded Fallout Datacenter with a nice blocky robot body I can copy myself to -- oh and don't forget the implausibly cute animated cockroach to keep me company!
NEXT UP: Survivalist Porn Today with CR's own Mobile Laundrymat owning authors, nova and Counterpoint.
Question.--Probably many houses were built, or almost finished, before the builder was foreclosed--are there a significant number of new reos out there-and how low has the price gone down in per cent. I guess it's possible relatively few have been sold, half empty developments are not too attractive.
The people that bend the rules GET PAID! You too can bend the rules by printing out fake paystubs w-2 w2 1099 forms using
http://www.proofofemployment.com/
Buy the home car or get a huge irs tax refund just for being you!
Do what you have to do to get yours! EVERYONE ELSE DID
http://www.fakepaycheckstubs.com/
We had a doosey of a case here in NH. I think the couple is probably in prison for life - longer than murderers and rapists.
Outsider | 02.26.09 - 11:25 am | #
They're old anyway. What's life for them? 15-20yrs?
xxxxx | 02.26.09 - 11:28 am |
Made-off is old too, and he isn't even in jail. F the System!
Comrade Short Bucky | 02.26.09 - 11:30 am | #
This is why I advocate RICO. It allows Justice to sieze assets "prior" to trial, and rob the villians of the money they use to protect themselves. Even their friends turn on them, because that's the kind of friends they are.
Proper limerick form:
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
Limerick Police
PS. sorry the for thread pollutio
Housing prices will continue to drop until there's an advantage in buying over renting.
What were the perceived advantages in buying, these past 10 years?
How many of these factors are operative now? Will they ever be again?
A ray of light: 'C' is down about 0.4%! Of course, when 1% is less than 3 cents ...
PS. sorry the for thread pollution
JBR | 02.26.09 - 11:44 am | #
NP- This one's almost done
PS. sorry the for thread pollution
JBR | 02.26.09 - 11:44 am | #
No, that was great!
Homedad,
The markets will go lower. To make money, short sucker's rallies.
I did 6 years of a 10 year sentence once for leaving out a comma in a limerick.
Volker The Viking, ya now that ya mention it he really does. I wonder how long he lasts before he repudiates everything he's now saying. A pool for how long anyone? LOL!
"Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s top U.S. strategist said the Standard & Poors 500 Index may fall as much as 15 percent in the near term and cut a forecast for full- year gains in the benchmark measure amid companies losses. "
If you don't see this as a bottom signal, then I feel sorry for you. GS are the epitome of crooked shills. They were pushing gold last week.
Jas's expression of Goldchain Silverknife is very appropriate. A chain around your neck and a knife in your back.
Rich Americans Sue UBS to Keep Names Secret
Rich Americans Sue UBS to Keep Names Secret - CNBC
So while the poor slob who busted ass for 10-20 years to build a business is about to be ganged raped with new taxes, the super wealthy sue to hide assets from the govt. and pay 15% on qualified Divs because it's not income. What a f***ing great country.
SPECTRE,
They only get that 15% qualified dividend if they are in a non-value added industry like hedge fund operator. If you run a successful small business, your dividends are taxed once through business taxes (35% + state), then you get another 15% off your sweat and blood.
A client got his line of credit pulled after the first TARP loosened up the credit markets so effectively.
"Professor Farnsworth writes:
How many brand new poorly built houses are sitting and rotting in new subdivisions right now?"
I can see 7 of them from my back patio of the house I am of course renting.....
dUCKdUCKgOOSE writes:
...I witnessed illegals building homes and buying them in 2004 in massive numbers. I don't know how they got around not having credit history or SS#'s, but the they did buy homes in large numbers, esp. in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. If a credit history and SS# was required from some and not others, that's pretty blatant discrimination.
Wow, you obviously haven't lived for any great length of time in any of the state's you mentioned. Stolen or counterfeit SS cards and IDs can be cheaply purchased in any park near an illegal neighborhood, and credit history/FICO score could be bypassed by any garden-variety NINJA Alt-A.
FYI: during the early '90s recession, I was living in L.A. County and ended up applying for public assistance when I had no remaining unemployment and could not find work. I was turned down due to having $200 left in my checking account. Meanwhile, taxpayer-funded Spansish-speaking social workers were busy processing claims for dozens of obvious illegals sitting right next to me.
"Discrimination" sure comes in many forms, doesn't it? Government watching our backs as usual.