September 03, 2007

Since Ben Bernanke didn't see the housing bubble smack dab in the middle of it, what makes you think he sees the crash?

Supposedly, unless he was lying, Bernanke, the smartest guy in the room, didn't see the housing bubble. Guess he never found his way over to HousingPANIC or any of the other bubble blogs. Or ever read Manias, Panics and Crashes.


Hell, even bubble-creator Greenspan just thought we had some "froth". He he he he he.

So if Mr. Smarty Pants didn't see the bubble, rest assured HP'ers that he doesn't see the crash. I swear, we are run by monkeys. Here's Ben from October 2005:

Bernanke: There's No Housing Bubble to Go Bust
Fed Nominee Has Said 'Cooling' Won't Hurt

Ben S. Bernanke does not think the national housing boom is a bubble that is about to burst, he indicated to Congress last week, just a few days before President Bush nominated him to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

U.S. house prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years, noted Bernanke, currently chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, in testimony to Congress's Joint Economic Committee. But these increases, he said, "largely reflect strong economic fundamentals," such as strong growth in jobs, incomes and the number of new households.

"House prices are unlikely to continue rising at current rates," said Bernanke, who served on the Fed board from 2002 until June. However, he added, "a moderate cooling in the housing market, should one occur, would not be inconsistent with the economy continuing to grow at or near its potential next year."
Greenspan has said recently that he sees no national bubble in home prices, but rather "froth" in some local markets.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

The real liar is Alan Greenspan and I am sick of seeing is butt-ugly face. He belongs in jail and if we did not have a criminal occupying the white house, that's where he would be!

Anonymous said...

Like Greenspan he will most likely never predict price directions. "Irrational Exuberance" was all Greenspan could muster.

The fed chairman can be effective at talking up the market.

Anonymous said...

Who cares what the illegitimate fed thinks or does? It should be fun to watch though...

Anonymous said...

well, the word "crash" is sensational because there's this thing called "market cap" and Bernanke, for sure, will see that the "market cap" only sets the starting prices at a "dutch auction."

the asset holders, unfortunately, want to believe that the current market cap is liquifiable into cash and I'm not sure that's possible unless the dollar is devalued.

Anonymous said...

They were just doing their job and they did it well. Their job is to f**k you out of your money. That's what central bankers do. They knew exactly what they were doing and believe me, they are not surprised by anything that has or is about to happen. Things that make you go hmmm: go to Wikipedia and read "hyperinflation". Bye bye US dollar, hello gold and silver. Maybe this is the beginning of a chain of events that lead us to change to the Amero. Now that the Ponzi on the dollar has just about run its course, they need a new currency to continue their central banker Ponzi scheme. Ruin the US banking system: check. Consolidate all banks to be controlled by the Fed: check. Dollar collapse will give political cover to not pay entitlements: check. Issue new fiat currency: check. Continue to screw the average guy out of his mony: check. The average guy will vote for Billary because she'll take care of you: check. The average guy will still only be worried about what time American Idol is on: check. What do you think the Fed's & Rothschild's Family's Grand Plan is Keith?

Anonymous said...

What they say is meaningless, what they do speaks volumes.
I only see two possibilities for their actions.

1. Financial policy is orchestrated and designed to generate wealth and productivity for a voluntary slave nation.

2. The Fed board is so insulated from reality by their own wealth, the prospect of lunch, and a do nothing government attitude that this scenario repeatedly plays out due to complacency.

Anonymous said...

GOP STOOGES

Anonymous said...

F@%K the FED!

Anonymous said...

At a confirmation hearing you are only allowed to say what your masters (Karl Rove, Cheney and Cueball Hank) let you say.

If he had said, "There's a giant bubble and it's all Greenspan's fault, and I'm gonna pop it like the festering pus sore that it is", he won't get nominated.

PS: Before central banking, the private banks in the US also conspired to steal people's prosperity, yes with a gold standard. In fact with a gold standard and lending regulations at that time, it was even worse. Loans were mostly immediately callable (due to gold standard needing liquidity right away at times) and so in a downturn (then called a "panic") there was a massive transfer of assets from people to bankers as they seized them in a margin call/foreclosure.

And yes they did this over and over and got very rich.

Economic reality (as opposed to teenage ayn-rand reading fantasy) without central banking and with a gold standard was empirically worse.

Anonymous said...

Gotta love that confident Greenspan posture though. Like he took a small handful of Xanax.

Anonymous said...

So many underwater couples are going to resort to taping themselves for their own homegrown porn site.

Anonymous said...

Inflation of raw materials, energy and food.

Deflation of real estate and wages.

Life gets harder for the middle class.

Anonymous said...


So many underwater couples are going to resort to taping themselves for their own homegrown porn site.


Unfortunately most of them are fat and ugly. They will have to pay people to watch them have sex

Anonymous said...

Here is what the Fed does

http://tinyurl.com/kh74j

and long term:

http://tinyurl.com/27bxm4

The rate of growth for M3 is in record territory, even higher than after 9/11. After the 6-month lag, real-world inflation will hit 15% next year. Like everything else house prices and rents will get a lift as wages ratchet upward and the USD drops against other currencies.

The burden of public and private debts will be washed away in 3-5 years by inflation not seen since the late '70s. So here's the deal:

You're screwed if you're

1) A lender
2) A renter
3) On a fixed income
4) Holding Treasury paper

Anonymous said...

Greenspan won't know what happened until he sees it on the cover of Time Magazine!

Anonymous said...

destruction of the middle class. that sounds like socialism to me

Anonymous said...

So many underwater couples are going to resort to taping themselves for their own homegrown porn site.


Unfortunately most of them are fat and ugly. They will have to pay people to watch them

i dunno, i thought the chick in the suzanne commercial was alright. but you have to wonder who will buy this stuff when all the FBers are doing it.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Inflation of raw materials, energy and food.

Deflation of real estate and wages.

Life gets harder for the middle class.

September 03, 2007 7:10 PM

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

Deflation of real estate = affordable housing.

At least there is a silver lining in there somewhere, except for FBs who bought at or near the top or took loans against phantom equity to live above their means.

Anonymous said...

JB said...
Here is what the Fed does

http://tinyurl.com/kh74j

and long term:

http://tinyurl.com/27bxm4

The rate of growth for M3 is in record territory, even higher than after 9/11. After the 6-month lag, real-world inflation will hit 15% next year. Like everything else house prices and rents will get a lift as wages ratchet upward and the USD drops against other currencies.

The burden of public and private debts will be washed away in 3-5 years by inflation not seen since the late '70s. So here's the deal:

You're screwed if you're

1) A lender
2) A renter
3) On a fixed income
4) Holding Treasury paper

September 03, 2007 9:44 PM

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

Why would wages go up in the face of:

A) offshoring
B) H1-B visa indentured servitude
C) a flood of illegals
D) heavily manipulated CPI numbers
E) recession???

I see more of a situation where wages go up by 3-5% a year while inflation is much higher. That may actually force home prices down even FASTER as more and more of a typical family's budget gets consumed by stuff like food and gasoline.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
destruction of the middle class. that sounds like socialism to me

September 04, 2007 12:25 AM

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

No, more like corporatism or neo-feudalism.