I am an optimist. A super-duper, over-the-top, can-do-anything type of optimist.
Yes, that comes as a surprise to many of you. Yes, many will call me a liar. But it's true.
"How can you be rooting for a crash and dare to call yourself an optimist" some will say.
Because I want change. I want things to get better. And I think they need to get worse before we wake up as a society, make some hard decisions, and change for the better. A crash to me is like going in for a root canal - sometimes you just gotta go through something so that it'll get better.
Optimism lets me do what I do in life - have my own business, live in Europe, make good coin, date pretty girls and have incredible personal freedom. I get to live the American dream, as optimists do.
Optimism led me to start a blog on the housing bubble. I woke up one morning, said enough was enough, and that I had to figure out a way to warn others about what was happening, and what was going to happen. I didn't know anything about blogging, or how to do it, but I figured it out, and developed in less than a year a pretty fun, popular (and hopefully informative) blog, and hopefully am contributing to the change I seek.
Optimists can also be realists. Optimists can look at data and change tact. Pointing out problems, going after corrupt leaders and talking about crashes, panics and bubbles doesn't make someone a pessimist. Trying to hold onto your money so that you can do something with it later isn't pessimistic - it's optimistic. Spending everything you've got (and more via debt), not planning for the future - heck, I'd say that's the most pessimistic think you can do.
In the end, we'll see where this optimism takes me. Maybe I'll write a book. Maybe I'll run for Congress. Maybe I'll live in Italy. But I know it'll be fun, and I know I will be prepared.
So, HP'ers, in the end, are you optimists as well? Or are you perhaps pessimisticly optimistic?
:^)
52 comments:
I've never met a optimistic liberal. I doubt you're truly an optimist. Maybe a realist, because the housing crash is really coming.
An 80% decline in the bubble markets of Florida, California, Nevada. The only people that don't believe it are those that live in the bubble.
I am a hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool, pessimist.
Sorry.
But I have spent too much time studying history, politics, economics, finance and psychology.
This research has led me to discover that, in the course of human history, virtually NOTHING changes.
People--mostly in government and business/banking/finance--grab for power over their fellow citizens.
The sheeple of the world, for the most part, go along with the schemes to enslave and indebt them through their own willful lack of study of the above subjects.
As time has gone on, the ability of those in power to hold sway over the masses has increased due to better technology, improved propaganda and better "bread and circus" (think NASCAR and AMerican Idol").
And the poster child for such enslavement of the sheeps is of course the real estate bubble where "debt is wealth" home "equity" ia an ATM, "real estate prices only go up forever and ever, amen", and the entire industry is corrput from top to bottom.
All aided and abetted by the willful ignorance, emotional immaturity ("I want a house Now!"), and greed of the sheeple.
Furthermore, as the world's economy collapses don't optimistically expect things to get magically better. (What happened LAST TIME we had a worldwide economic collapse in the 1930's?--WWII).
No, my friends, look for more and more government opression (how many of you have read EITHER of the propogandistically-named "Patriot-Acts") as the real estate, banking, and other sectors of the economy collapse and tens of millions of people are bankrupt, out of work and restless.
And YOU will not be exempt with your electronic digits trapped in your money market fund--which is heavily invested in MBS. Nor in your "FDIC insured" bank account that will be wiped out.
Oh, and don't try to pull out what you believe to be "YOUR" money before the collapse. Show up at a bank and try to get more than one-thousand dollars from "YOUR" savings account (or make several trips over short period of time) and you will find youself branded a "drug dealer", "seditionist", "terrorist" or all three.
As the collapse plays out, all your sheeple peers will be trapped, unaware of how we got to this point. They will blindly accept the further lies they are told by the authorities as the sheep's few remaining liberties are taken from them.
Optimistic?
Good luck.
:)
butch,
great post!
Jingo
HA HAH AHAHAHhaahahah!!!!
Optimist...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
hehehehehhe hehehehehe!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
VOLTAIRE, Candide
Optimism??
Go read the Military Commision Act or just google for a taste of what it has in store for you (and me).
Amerikan citizens defined and treated as "enemy combatants".
Oh - that's right - if you do nothing wrong you're safe. You keep believing that too.
Have a nice day in the Haliburton constructed "detention" facilities peppered throughout the US.
some days feels like the same kind of optimism as the kids stepping off the boats on d-day
knowing it's gonna be ugly, REALLY ugly, but that we could win
full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes
There is no way that there will be a 80% decline. "stop sniffing glue" Yes the market will go down some, but your high! in more ways then one.
Keith gets to live the American dream of moving to Europe...that's telling.
Sometimes being an optimist is knowing that at some point your family will not have to go into major debt to afford a home. That point happens to be after all the people who couldn't truly afford homes bought, bragged, and then balled their eyes out.
KEITH, KEITH!!!
Talk about this!!!
http://tinyurl.com/f7eml
"keith gets to live the american dream of moving to europe...that's telling."
isn't that immigrant from guatemala who lost his home through foreclosure wants to do the same? meaning, just work hard, buy a house and any profit he makes out of the sale or any savings from hard work, he'll take it back to his home country.
So we have an Optimist, & a Realist, Man to be standing at that water cooler during break.
That conversation, must be like Rosey O'donald, telling ellen degeneres the male Penis is a good thing.
OPTIMISM????!!!!
Have you been painting indoors with the windows closed again?
Do you realize what law has just been passed with the "Detainee treatment bill" through Congress?
It defines "unlawful enemy combatant" to include those who have "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." AND... the designation can be made by any "competent tribunal" created by the president or secretary of defense.
What does this mean exactly? Well - it means that any tribunal set up by the president can declare any individual who has "helped" an "enemy combatant" is now an "unlawful enemy combatant"
So... if you are a reporter who is trashing Bush and his policies - you could be labeled an "unlawful enemy combatant" and be held INDEFINITELY in a prison with no right to a trial.
What everyone on this website should start worrying about - what if the tribunal decides that anyone who spreads fear and uncertainty in the marketplace is deemed an "unlawful enemy combatant" because they indirectly aided terrorists by degrading the US economy?
This would mean that ALL those people who keep talking about the housing bubble are causing an economic crash. So - the tribunal (handpicked by Rumsfeld or Bush) would be able to go back through all the records on this blog and determine which people here could be considered unlawful enemy combatants.
And it's not like you'd hear anything about them... they would just stop posting...
Oh... and btw... they can also now use torture to extract a confession from you. That way you will admit that everything you typed on this blog was to subvert the US - which they can use in their own courts.
Do you people even realize that your government has just turned your constitution and bill of rights into toilette paper? And is using it for that purpose?
Optimism? You've just been turned into a slave of the state.
huh?
looks like uknow has some issues, ya know
Oh... and btw... they can also now use torture to extract a confession from you. That way you will admit that everything you typed on this blog.....
So they might find out I surf porn?
Oh-Oh.
they can also now use torture to extract a confession from you.
----------------------
From the tone at which your comment is expressed, A little Electrocution, might just do you a bit of good.
Borka?
If you look at a situation, and see that there's trouble ahead, its prudent to prepare as best as you can for it. I think if you're at all realistic in the current situation, a pessimist would say "Things will get very ugly" versus "Things may get very ugly". Being pessimistic doesn't always relate to happiness either - if you live in the present moment, future events don't affect your present happiness. I think it's best to look at a situation as realistically as possible, and plan accordingly.
Keep on rattling the monkey cages Keith..Not sure if I'm an optimist but I SURE DO enjoy laughing at their Chimp Frenzy when you do it !
Looks like Keith has his finger on the delete button this morning..
What wrong Keith, are we Biased?
Do as I say, say as I do. @ > @
it's like being a babysitter some days
no swearing, dammit!
:^)
and no using the N word, and no threadjacking
that's all I ask
i think that was a tad racist!
keith,
why don't you find a way to track their e-mails. those people saying that N word will qualify for a hate crime.
Hate speech is not a hate crime. A hate crime must be violent or be the cause of violence.
The cause is harder to prove.
So in this case, being stupid isn't illegal. It should be, being stupid that is, but its not.
i'm optimistic that enough people can and will wake up to prevent the parasites from having total control.
parasites will always exist. it's up to us to educate those around us to limit their effect.
"i'm optimistic that enough people can and will wake up to prevent the parasites from having total control."
Cool - now i can go back to sleep
keith,
why don't you find a way to track their e-mails. those people saying that N word will qualify for a hate crime.
-------
I agree that is going beyond fun and games for sure.
Borkafatty, Did you forget all the comments keith had to delete of yours?
How about the post keith deleted today of the pie in the face.
Keith's a wanker
I'm sure keith is more worried about someone looking for him.
If Alex Jones is still alive Keith ain't got squat to worry about.
Borkafatty, Did you forget all the comments keith had to delete of yours?
How about the post keith deleted today of the pie in the face.
----
missed that one I guess.
I am here to break balls..get use to it.
"I am here to break balls..get use to it."
Too funny!!
borka you Nazi
thought police....now the e-mail police....whats next?
What's next?
borka tries it with a woman!
'debt is considered wealth', never looked at it that way before, but it's frightningly true!
Gee Keith I noticed you delete comments made by borka..yet when someone comments about him you keep it up for all to read. Are you that insecure?
look out!
borkafattys filing anonymously!
coward!
Yeah - Keith is a big racist wanker
too funny ! ANON calling another ANON a coward
we are sooooooooooooooooooooo screwed
play along ya wanker!
not an optimist or pessimist; rather, a cynic.
I know the inevitable housing crash will certainly make my community a better place to live. It will help get rid of the people at the silliest extremes of superficial consumerism. I'm hoping in five years or so my kids will be growing up in a place with people who have more life affirming values and fewer shiny toys in their garage(s).
Wow.
Most of these dire predictions are lacking one final sentence....
"Granted, that's a worst case scenario".
I need the mortgage rates to go back up to keep the riff raff out of my neighborhood.
The other day we had a gang sign spray painted on the STOP sign at the intersection.
The other day we had a gang sign spray painted on the STOP sign at the intersection.
stop sign Graffiti, man that must be one tuff neighborhood. Your right, keep interest rates high so the gang members can not buy a house.
to funny!
"Cool - now i can go back to sleep"
That's helpful
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