December 28, 2006

HousingPanic Stupid Question of the Day

OR:


???

68 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll take the yellow stuff over the green stuff any day

Anonymous said...

Next bubble is gold, twice over the holiday common folks talking about buying gold. " Its good to have something real in your hands" and it doesnt go down and you can trade it for "things" Asked if I was buying metal and I replied Lead, they caught my drift. Housing seems to be holding up in my area, Virginia Beach and Norfolk.

Anonymous said...

Gold is probably overpriced right now ( well not probably, definitely ) but I'd still go with it even so. It sure is purty.

Bill said...

Remember it is also tax season...so we will see spikes in the Economy..right now...I would say cash is king...but do have metal..IE .silver.

Silver is making more progress than gold at the moment.

BuckNekid and Mabel Wonderful said...

Gold faces a handicap as an investment. The Income tax laws.

You can no longer get the capital gain tax break on bullion or gold numismatics like before which is the preferred way for most people to buy gold. Although if you buy gold stocks and hold it for a year you can get the long term capital gains break.

Go figure.

BuckNekid and Mabel Wonderful said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Miss Goldbug said...

Gold and Silver, I'm all in.

I remember when people were hoarding silver coins -now theres a shortage of nickels and pennies.

More and more tv commercials for gold collectable coinage from the US mint. Just like in the 1970's - here we go again.

Roccman said...

Seeing as how oil is being bought and sold with gold ...

nuff said

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! Gold (GC.1) up 1.20% after 15 minutes of trading this morning.

Anonymous said...

Ok, here goes.... 5 minutes until existing home sales report.

Step right up! Watch the big board turn red. Get your tickets!

Smart Grid blogger said...

Emirates narrowing dollar reserves By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
59 minutes ago



The wilting U.S. dollar is pushing the United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally, to convert 8 percent of its foreign exchange reserves into the healthier euros, the central bank governor said on Thursday.

The Emirates' nearly $25 billion currency reserves are currently 98 percent dollars. That percentage will drop to 90 percent in six to nine months if the bank's directors approve the switch as is expected, Central Bank governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said.

The sale itself is a small one, worth about $2 billion. But the implications of a cash-rich friend of Washington selling off its dollars is a sign that central banks elsewhere may be looking to cut losses from a dollar widely expected to slip further in 2007.

"It's a prudent move and it's indicative of broader thinking," said Simon Williams, HSBC's chief Middle East economist. "It's another factor that will exert downward pressure on the dollar."

The dollar fell to $1.3132 euro in European trading on Thursday, compared with $1.3123 in New York on Wednesday.

A bigger worry for the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is that the six energy-rich Gulf Arab countries may consider converting dollar holdings in their far larger government investment funds, which Williams said keep more than $1 trillion under management. Gulf governments typically do not release the compositions of those funds.

"If they're moving those assets out of the dollar on the same scale, that's a much bigger deal," Williams said.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries — the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman — enjoy a collective current account surplus of around $220 billion this year, which must be invested in foreign assets.

With a faltering dollar, Williams said a smaller amount of that energy surplus will flow into U.S. assets.

"A good chunk of that will still flow toward the U.S., but less than in the past," he said. "The Fed will be watching this very closely."

Other countries, including Russia, Venezuela, Indonesia and Iran also have decided to cut their dollar reserves or, in Iran's case, start pricing oil in the European currency.

During OPEC's Nigeria summit this month, OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said the organization was "not rushing into other currencies." But since global oil purchases are made in dollars, the shrinking dollar slashes the purchasing power of oil exporters.

The Emirates decision to sell off its dollar holdings comes against a backdrop of strain in its normally warm relations with Washington.

Many here were upset earlier this year when the U.S. Congress blocked the sale of U.S. port operations to Dubai-based DP World — a move that officials here said smacked of anti-Arab bias. Since then, talks on a free trade pact between the Emirates and Washington have also faltered.

Anonymous said...

Gold's holding its 200 EMA whereas other commodities are boom/bust with the traders.

I suspect that the yellow metal will hold up but a break in the upside could tend towards a bubble given the fact that the entire world's central banks are deadset on de-monetarizing it in place of fiat currencies whether it's the USD, Euro/Pound, or Yen.

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Small rise in house sales (median price down) but mortgage companies not rallying.

As usual, the market is schizo.

Anonymous said...

In the long term paper is better because you can wipe your bum and your tears!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, those corners hurt!

Anonymous said...

Governments (& Central banks) seem to be the only entities that can take two valuble commodities; paper and ink, combine them and make them both worthless! Nice goin Al!

Smart Grid blogger said...

GOLD is winning the bet !!!
================

REUTERS: NY gold up early on Iran worries, fund buying

NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures climbed early Thursday in thin trading as Iran worries and a weak dollar prompted fresh buying by funds and short-covering, sources said.

At 10:41 a.m. EST (1541 GMT), gold for February delivery on the COMEX metals trading division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was $5.40 higher at $635.70 an ounce, trading between $629.20 and $638.20.

"You're getting some fresh year-end positioning in the gold. The funds are adding to positions. We had a pretty decent correction and lost some open interest as reported by the last Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) report," said A.G. Edwards commodities commentator James Quinn.

"Technically, the market looks a little better, and it might try to work up to the $640 an ounce area," said Quinn.

The dollar trimmed losses against the euro after stronger-than-expected U.S. data suggested a resilient economy.

U.S. existing home sales, the Chicago manufacturing index and the consumer confidence number all came in higher than market forecasts.

Carlos Perez-Santalla at Hudson River Futures said gold rose "in anticipation of further strengthening in the next couple of months" and on the weak dollar.

Iran woes and the threat of terrorism have also extended firm support to gold, said Perez-Santalla.

On Wednesday, Iran's parliament passed a bill obliging the government to "revise" its level of cooperation with the IAEA nuclear watchdog after the United Nations approved sanctions on Tehran.

The U.N Security Council on Saturday voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology, in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material to be used in bombs.

Gold usually rises on geopolitical tensions as the precious metals are seen as safe-haven investments.

Spot gold was quoted at $632.40/3.40, up from $627.50/8.50 in late trade on Wednesday. London's afternoon fix was $632.00.

COMEX March silver edged up 2 cents at $12.945, trading from $12.860 to $12.990 an ounce.

Spot silver was quoted at $12.81/2.88, against Wednesday's $12.63/2.70. Silver was fixed in London at $12.84 an ounce.

NYMEX January platinum inched up $2.30 to $1,118.00 an ounce. Spot platinum fetched $1,115.00/1,119.00.

March palladium slipped 95 cents to $327.95 an ounce. Spot palladium was quoted at $322/326.00.

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Gold, as long as it is not outlawed and confiscated by the US Government as it was in the USA in the 30's and 40's.

Anonymous said...

Helca (HL) a solid classic well established silver miner was up 7% yesterday - yes, that's right - 7% in one damn day!\
Couere (CDE) is about to explode too!

Anonymous said...

You're right - here it is:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=HL&t=5d

Anonymous said...

Dear Friends in Jesus. regarding the comment on gold and capital gains. the whole point of the exercies is to get away from the dollar. Thus, follow my logic here, you trade worthless pieces of paper (which are becoming even more worthless every day) for something of value. so, pay cash for the gold. no trail. then when you sell it, you get cash. no trail. no taxes, either short term or long term. as for confiscation. sure, they can take the gold when they take my guns. which means, not fuckin' likely, if you catch my drift. as for turning it (gold) in, yeah, you bet! as for washington, die, you clowns.

p.s., buy some lead when you buy some gold as well. were are going of the edge of the cliff here folks.

Anonymous said...

Yeah Joey - and Hecla (HL) was $24.87 on Aug 24 1987. It will rise to around $50 once silver takes off. At $7.80 today it's dirt cheap!

Anonymous said...

Who could recommend a good Uranium mining company - I know about Comeco (CCJ).

Anonymous said...

Keef, I just wanna make sure you have sold your gold last week or so at the low. And please, get ready to buy after it goes up to $670. I hope you're all cash right now.

good luck buddy.

Anonymous said...

Anon above,

I like txm.v and abn.v. Both of
these are on the Canadian exchange,
but I think you can get them on
pink sheets as well. I also note
that noc.to is well down today,
for end of year I believe. This
looks like a very strong gold junior
that is set to double. Silver, I
like fvi.v and fr.v.

-mc

john_law_the_II said...

"Remember, gold went down during Desert Storm in the 90"s."

and went up during vietnam and the afghanistan/iraq war.

Anonymous said...

gold is too heavy. load up on 9mm, canned tuna, and Euros

blogger said...

I'm massively into gold right now and will be enjoying the ride

Anonymous said...

One of many great ? to try and ask on here and the response will puzzle you heres the link .. http://moneycentral.msn.com/community/message/default.aspx?ForumID=18&ForumID=18

Anonymous said...

In a country not in a jewish stranglehold.... Cash. In the jew infested jewnighted states of today...... gold.

Anonymous said...

wingnuts are always into gold...look at the ads on wingnut talk radio like Michael "I'm a Jew but pretend I'm not" Savage and G. Gordon "Nixon, who?" Liddy.

Always hawking bald remedies and gold. Tells you a lot of who the audience is and who the buyers of gold are.

Anonymous said...

whats with the jew thing? what the hell does that have to do with anything. pick on the real assholes responsible for this mess, the something for nothig voters that keep reelecting these moronic fucks back into office. look in the mirror, sfb (merde for brains). thats the problem. jews got their own shit to deal with. good luck with the palestinians, guys.

Anonymous said...

if you like uranium. you loved today. the u stocks went nuts.

I like urasia energy uuu.t

strathmore is good.

how about that MEGA. nice pop today.

but this is a real estate site, so lets stick to the subject.

and that subject is:

fucked buyers and the endless amusement they provide to us "bitter renters".

Anonymous said...

The jews ARE responsible for this mess.

Anonymous said...

Am I wrong to think that in times of inflation, getting into alot of debt is good? And further, that the opposite of inflation is recession? In recession, lots of cash is good? And worthless dollars equals inflation? There are mixed signals on this blog. Personally, I see falling RE prices as recessionary. I am hording cash.

Anonymous said...

Lost Cause said...
Am I wrong to think that in times of inflation, getting into alot of debt is good? And further, that the opposite of inflation is recession? In recession, lots of cash is good? And worthless dollars equals inflation? There are mixed signals on this blog. Personally, I see falling RE prices as recessionary. I am hording cash.

-------------------

Depends on whether or not YOUR income rises with the inflation (for most Americans this time around, that won't be the case), and what you use the debt for. Recession is not the opposite of inflation. Both are bad things economically. A sprained ankle is not the opposite of a cracked rib.

We are heading into a prolonged period of stagflation (recession together with high inflation), basically the 1970s version 2.0 (now with extra economic misery!). I do not think it's prudent to be overly concentrated in the US peso, or any other fiat currency for that matter. Gold, silver, and oil seem like good bets.

You shouldn't be surprised that there are mixed signals on the blog, as there are different posters. You just have to sort out for yourself who's more credible and formulate your plan accordingly.

foxwoodlief said...

Adjusted for inflation the gold I bought in the 70s is still worth less than I paid at the current selling prices. Gold, like real estate only goes up, right?

Gold will only have value as long as someone wants it to have value. Remember there was a time when shells were considered currency so if you had hoarded up on shells would you be rich today?

As far as dumping dollars, let them. The value of the dollar will continue to go down and their remaining stash will be worth less so sell 8% of their reserves and watch the remaining 90% loose 10% of its value, what do they gain? As long as our debt, our mortgages, aour trade deficiet is in dollars they loose when it is devalued.

And Europe? Let the Euro double! Do you think that airbus could compete with Boeing with such an overvalued currency? Hell, compared to every other currency our goods would start to look as cheap...as chinese made! Then their currency starts flowing back here and they cycle starts all over.

Anonymous said...

Silver rules!

Do some research into it. There is a fair amount of industrial demand for it, and more silver has been consumed than mined for many years now. Soon that deficit is going to bite. At the least prices will go up to the point that more mines can operate profitably, but I think it's likely there will be a big crunch. Prices could really spike then.

foxwoodlief said...

Oh, and gold? Why?

Some six billion people on this planet all chasing gold. Hmmm, sounds smart! Take all the gold in the world and divide it up among six billion, how much would that give each person? Yah, gold makes real sense as a store of value in the modern world.

Anonymous said...

foxwoodlief
try dividing up m1 money supply by all the people in the world as well.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and gold? Why?

Some six billion people on this planet all chasing gold. Hmmm, sounds smart! Take all the gold in the world and divide it up among six billion, how much would that give each person? Yah, gold makes real sense as a store of value in the modern world.

Thursday, December 28, 2006 9:38:28 PM

-----------------------

If I was going to try to think up of a good store of value I'd try to come up with something that's relatively rare. That way a lot of value could be stored and/or transported easily. Oh wait, people have already come up with something... Gold!

It's not called the metal of kings because it's common as dog poo.

Anonymous said...

foxwoodlief
Adjusted for inflation the gold I bought in the 70s is still worth less than I paid at the current selling prices. Gold, like real estate only goes up, right?
--------------------------
Also, gold is not meant to be an 'investment' but as a means of storing value.
Tell me, if you would have kept the cash you used to buy gold in 1970, would you have more purchasing power
with the cash or the gold?

Anonymous said...

foxwoodlief
Adjusted for inflation the gold I bought in the 70s is still worth less than I paid at the current selling prices. Gold, like real estate only goes up, right?
--------------------------
Also, gold is not meant to be an 'investment' but as a means of storing value.
Tell me, if you would have kept the cash you used to buy gold in 1970, would you have more purchasing power
with the cash or the gold?


============
sorry, just read adjusted for inflation. my mistake.

Anonymous said...

this question is irrelevant. You need liquid to make this choice. Everyone here is in debt.

This is like asking a blind person what color they prefer - yellow or green.

A blind person doesn't have that choice.

Anonymous said...

honica jewinski said...

The jews ARE responsible for this mess.

Thursday, December 28, 2006 9:03:47 PM


in reply: I thought they (the jews) were too busy running hollywood.


actually, its really not "the jews". do a little reading. try Creature from Jekyll Island. The "its the jews" thing is a smokescreen. you can't even see the ones who are responsible. those that say dont know, and those that know, well, lets just say they ain't saying.

jews (or terrorists, etc) are set up as scapegoats, much as the blacks were in the south to keep the rednecks from realizing how fucked they were.

oh my, is there a lesson there for us today, you think?

look at the world savers and the do gooders as the more responsible parties. fanatics of all extremes are more of a problem. I dont much care for Israel, I dont think they are Americas true friend (not that we have any, even or especially England....France, speaking truth to power, is probably a better friend) Israel is just taking caring of their own asses, as are we all. blow them off for the right reasons, not benighted nonesense.

Anonymous said...

I like gold. I like shiny things.

foxwoodlief said...

Annonyous, I kept the gold. Now if the paper money were invested it would be worth much more than what I paid for the gold ten times over but if I only held on to the dollars,say under the mattress, then I'd have to say the gold is now worth more...or should I say, maintained its intrinsic value.

When I lived in Germany in the mid-80s, my german neighbors who were elderly and lived during the Hitler Zeit would tell me that during and after the war "things" like gold, diamonds, art, etc had little value when there was no food, no toilet paper, no medicine etc. I lived in the countryside among what they city fold would call "pig farmers." They said during the 40s people from the city would come and trade a grand piano for a few pounds of potatoes. Food was the most precious of commodities and fortunes were traded to the farmers in the Eiffel/Hunsruck region for potatoes, pigs, milk. and the farmers would trade that for something as simple as chocolate or cigarettes.

Gold won't get you anything if there is nothing of value to trade it for. On a sinking ship how many folk have offered such treasures to get on that life raft only to be denied a spot? In a fairly normal market maybe but when it comes to life and death, hunger, starvation, such things as fiat money or gold have little value.

Scott and Helen Nearing (The Making of a Radical, the Good life etc) moved to rural Vermont during the depression because on a small farm they could at least know they could feed themselves and hopefully barter with that food for things they couldn't make for themselves.

I'd rather own a nice plot of land in a location I felt I could be sure of growing food for myself over gold.

Anonymous said...

foxwoord,

yet again...you know

Anonymous said...

I saw one of those shiny things in a candy store the other day, it cost more than a dollar.

Anonymous said...

Well, when things go bad, guns 'n butter is the way the system operates.

Anonymous said...

Gold was about $160 in 1975. Today it's about $630; the ratio is about 3.9.

According to the BLS inflation calculator, $1 in 1975 is the equivalent of $3.75 today, so gold has basically acted as a store of value over that time period, minus whatever amount of inflation has been underreported since the changes made to the CPI in recent years.

Of course, that's just a look in the rear view mirror. The coming years are likely to be at least as troubled as the 70's, a period over which gold beat just about everything else. New dollars are being created (out of thin air) much faster than new gold is being mined. I'll take gold over paper.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Well, when things go bad, guns 'n butter is the way the system operates.

---------------------

Hmm... kind of like the 1970s, eh?

Guns = Vietnam War

Butter = Great Society

Result = stagflation, gold rocketing from $35 to $800+

Anonymous said...

"...I'd rather own a nice plot of land in a location I felt I could be sure of growing food for myself over gold...."

Yes, but would you rather own gold, or pieces of paper with numbers on them?

Owning a small farm might be a good idea, but it would be tricky to make it work. Who would look after/take care of the farm when you're not there? How would the locals feel about you moving into their rural town? Also, the small farm would be most useful in the case of a total collapse. But in that scenario, there are likely to be bad people with guns that will want to take your farm.

Even after a (low probability)total collapse of civilization, once (and if) society starts to rebuild itself, gold and silver will be the money of choice, not dollars, euros, yen, or pesos. Of course to benefit from this, one has to have physical gold and silver and to survive the collapse (so it's a good idea to also stock up on canned/dried food, bottled water, guns, and ammo).

A stagflationary malaise that more or less wipes out (economically) what's left of the middle class in America is far more likely. Look to any one of our neighbors to the south (Mexico, Argentina, etc.) for examples.

Anonymous said...

All right, I understand the "guns" but where did the "butter" come from?

Anonymous said...

uknowwhoiyam said...
I'm massively into gold right now and will be enjoying the ride

How's that working out?

My return this year (no gold whatsoever) is:
Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2006 to 12/27/2006 is 23.1%

Now, post your numbers.

-----------------------

Sounds like you're managing to keep up with gold... so far... as they say "better lucky than good."

Anonymous said...

I'm not "keeping up with gold," Sparky, I'm BEATING gold by 17%.

And when gold falls tomorrow or next week or the week after that by 5% or 10%, I won't be the one hemorrhaging equity, chugging Pepto Bismol and kicking myself for not getting out quick enough.

---------------------

Gold is up 24.68% YOY. Tomorrow is the last trading day of the year and gold will almost certainly rally in '07. You'll probably be buying some at around $900 once you are convinced that you'd better get in while you still can. You know, so that you don't miss out. That should be just in time for the seasonal summer correction. Gold will rise even higher in subsequent years, but you will have sold at the summer lows, only to re-buy at a higher price later.

Anonymous said...

"...I can see why the GoldDopes prefer not to actually cite any REAL DATA.

Even after today's very good day for gold, putting the price per ounce at $632, that's still only 19.24% since Jan 3, 2006 (at $530).

I'm not "keeping up with gold," Sparky, I'm BEATING gold by 17%...."

-------------------

REAL DATA doesn't do any good for those who don't know what to do with it. Where does the 17% come from?

19.24% + 17% = 36.24% > 23.1%

Oh yeah, you should be comparing gold to your cash holdings (money vs. money), not equities. How's that 4% money market yield looking compared to gold? Your funny little stocks will crash and burn soon enough once the year-end window dressing is gone and the bubble economy bursts.

Anonymous said...

silver up 42% YTD! You wont hear that on CNBC, rather some shit about the DOW up 17%. Funny when you take out inflation (11% according to shadow govet stats and their M3 estimate).

Anonymous said...

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Gold headed for its biggest annual gain since 2002 as declines in the dollar spurred demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
The metal is up 23 percent this year and climbed to a 26- year high of $730.40 an ounce on May 12 on investment demand. The dollar is down 8.2 percent against a basket of six currencies such as the euro and yen in 2006, the fourth drop in five years.Click Here Keep posting uknowwho. We all enjoy a good laugh now and then.

Anonymous said...

Only investments I have are in 401k and IRA accounts, all in equities both US and foreign. Combined so far 15.9% return YTD.

Gold is up 17%.

WOW!!

Anonymous said...

Youknowwho said:
”I can see why the GoldDopes prefer not to actually cite any REAL DATA.”

LONDON (Reuters) - Precious metals provided among the heftiest returns of any asset class in 2006, and prices were expected to stay strong in the new year as investors continue pumping money into the sector through futures and new commodity-backed securities, analysts said. Click Here

Anonymous said...

I often wonder to myself who buys this crap. You've answered my question....white trash, neo-nazi imbeciles.

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LauraVella said...

More and more tv commercials for gold collectable coinage from the US mint. Just like in the 1970's - here we go again.

Anonymous said...

Where are all these "neo-nazis" we hear about so often?

Anonymous said...

"My return this year (no gold whatsoever) is:
Personal Rate of Return from 01/01/2006 to 12/27/2006 is 23.1%

Now, post your numbers."

Invested in Sept in Candian juniors,
including FR.V, NOC.TO and TXM.V
I'm up well above 40% as of today.
Expect much higher in the next month.
Eat that guy whose chin is a ballsack!

Anonymous said...

O.K. honica we all get it!

You hate the jews!

Get on with your life!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Fact!

honica is of Jewish heritage and is bitter!

Anonymous said...

Boyz,

Are all these % returns pre or post fees/expenses, etc.

I would guess that buying and selling gold isn't cheap especially obscure OTC companies. If your're paying 5% commision buying and 5% selling, that 23% gain in gold isn't so hot anymore.

On the other hand I put most of my money in an S&P500 index fund with an expense ration of practically 0% and was up ~14% for the year.

Anonymous said...

GOLD is shiny. I like shiny things. I like gold.