July 18, 2008

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day


"I don't feel comfortable putting my money in any bank. What are we supposed to do - hide our money under the mattress?"

- A lady standing in the IndyMac line of desperation, July 2008

39 comments:

Agent #777 said...

NOT the mattress! Everyone knows thats the first place they look!!

Anonymous said...

Lose your money in the Banking System or lose it in the Real Estate Market?

Decisions, Decisions.

Anonymous said...

You can put it under my mattress, and if your hot I'll let you sleep on the mattress too.

Anonymous said...

The National Bank of Serta is now open for deposits.

Anonymous said...

In the '30s, the mattress thing was a viable alternative.

But now, with even official gov't CPI now running in the double digits, there is no surefire way to preserve your wealth. You really have to speculate just to stay afloat in this climate. Sad.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry -

Obama has the answer - he will tax it and give it to the government. Government always knows what is best to do with your money...

goldsheet said...

I recall this quote, and I believe the woman was a budget analyst for the State of California. Scary to think she has anything to do with government spending and my tax money.

Devestment said...

"I don't feel comfortable putting my money in any bank. What are we supposed to do - hide our money under the mattress?"

I am glad you asked. This is part of the GWB “no dollar left behind” plan. If they scare you enough, you will take every dollar of your savings and put it into stocks, gold, real estate, and cold hard cash. You see, this is good for the economy as it gives insiders bubble profits and puts more money in the treasury through the inflation tax.

The bad news is that in the next administration the plug gets pulled and you won’t have any value in your investments.

Don’t worry though, this cycle comes around every 10 years or so. If you are still able to participate in the next round of “voluntary slavery” and remember what happened to you, there is a chance you can make it next time.

Anonymous said...

and make sure you have guns and bullets ...

Anonymous said...

um, yeah....

Anonymous said...

FLASH --I'm an attny in an OC law firm; one of our trust clients with 900K in Wachovia is en route to withdraw all $$, as word is Feds will seize it early next week.

Anonymous said...

"I don't feel comfortable putting my money in any bank. What are we supposed to do - hide our money under the mattress?"

At this time, I don't think any location for your money is safe.
Even "cash" is no longer real.

Anonymous said...

For what the dollar going to be worth, you might as well roll it into logs and burn it in the fireplace, and save on the heating bill.

Anonymous said...

Do this: Buy stock from Trek USA and Burpee Seed Company. Why? Because people are getting fed up with ever climbing grocery prices and losing their patience with the energy companies. You can also stick a fork in the housing industry, it's done.

Refuse to buy overpriced said...

ING Direct, or any other bank which requires income verification and a substantial down-payment for their mortgage customers.

Anonymous said...

That woman is a moron. Anything under $100K is FDIC insured. And for you HP sheeple who think FDIC is going bust, what can I say, you are bigger morons that the woman quoted.

Enjoy your Friday night doomers and gloomers. I'm off to a nice steak dinner followed by a 9:25 Dark Knight showing. A movie that will be breaking records left right and center this weekend. Another sure fire sign that we are in a depression right?

Anonymous said...

Source:
http://tinyurl.com/5afya9

"I had a very interesting conversation today with a friend who used to be a mortgage broker (until the company he started imploded) and now works at a bank selling REO property. Now, this is a guy who made millions flipping, and when I told him two years ago that the whole house of cards was going to collapse shortly, he laughed at me.

He ain't laughing anymore.

I get on the phone with him, and he immediately tells me that his wife just got laid off from Indy Mac, so life is kind of sucking for them right now. Then he proceeds to tell me that both he and his wife (who have very close contacts at banks) have heard from reliable sources that the industry FULLY expect a massive run on savings and loans in the very near future. We're talking weeks, if not days. We are now officially on Banking System Deathwatch, ladies and gentlemen, because the next big bank that falls will be the domino that unleashes the runs on the other banks.

He said WaMu is certifiably D.O.A and will almost certainly be the next victim. He said the industry would be surprised if WaMu makes it another 30 days. Downey Savings and First Federal are the next dogs to die, according to him.

If it hadn't been so sad and scary, I would have actually enjoyed my I-told-you-so moment. But this guy is genuinely frightened now. You can hear the panic in his voice. He told me, point-blank: "It's all coming down. The whole system is crashing." He is quickly turning into an urban survivalist -- outfitting his home with solar, buying biodiesel, stocking up on food. It's truly fascinating to watch the variations in human behavior as this unfolds. This guy needed some prompting, but after the Fannie/Freddie news broke last week, he immediately got the clue. On the other hand, I work with a lawyer, and he's married to another lawyer. She banks at WaMu. I've been telling him for months, "Man, you've got to tell your wife to get her money out of that bank." Even after Indy failed, she was resisting because it was a "pain" to decouple her billpay and set up new auto debits and other crap. It's just pure laziness. So here you have someone who has SEEN the lines snaking around the corner, has clearly heard that people are having trouble getting their money, and she thinks, "Nah, I'll just wait and see what happens with WaMu." Finally, he put his foot down and basically demanded that she yank her money out. So she's beginning the "transition" this week.

WTF??

There is going to be a LOT of roadkill before this thing is over. Be prepared to step over the bodies, my friends. They will be littering the streets."

Anonymous said...

Source:
http://tinyurl.com/6q8a7p

"Saw my old division head at the FDIC John Bovenzi on Nightline tonight. After I left FDIC, he was promoted to COO for the agency. He's gotten a new "promotion" to CEO of IndyMac. He was out outside on the sidewalk in front of the bank having to contend with angry depositors. I can't tell you how unusual this is to have someone at his level having to do this kind of a job. Things are REALLY bad to stick him out on the front lines like that. Yes, IndyMac is huge but sending the top bank liquidation person in the country to personally handle this closing tells me that they are really afraid of triggering a run on other banks if the PR spin isn't managed well on this. He's a great guy for the job: low key, smart, calming presence. But never happened before that they sent someone like that out to head up a closing. Highly irregular. They are trying to say this is a $6-8 billion ticket for the FDIC. I really doubt it. My guess based on the bank's size is $20 billion minimum. If the magnitude of the potential cost to the BIF were understood, we would have a run. FDIC only has $52 billion on hand. The gov't is about to open the spigots WIDE for fan/fred/banks/wall st/homeowners, et al.

Wonder when I should ask for my old FDIC job back. Right now I'm super busy with people who remember me talking about this stuff wanting to transfer money in for me to manage. Strange, but it reminds of the scene in Titanic when people were scrambling to get into the lifeboats. I know my work will dry up when the crack up hits and people find out there is no lifeboat that can navigate through this, but I'm worried for my clients and trying my best to keep them as safe as possible. Retired people still need income no matter what the economy's doing.

I know a teller in a regional bank here. She said yesterday LOTS of people are asking if their money is safe. I think the banking system could be knocked over with a feather. A very large client of mine says this has been the topic of discussion among his friends. They're all depression-era and worried.

I think when people see thousands in line at the "too big to fail" failed bank they can't help but feel the fear rising. A run really could happen soon. But a run on the dollar may come first."

Anonymous said...

Get it all in ones, that way you can burn it for heat this winter.

More bang for your buck.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, the economy is great for real estate and retailers:

BusinessWeek -- American Airlines will cut 1,500 jobs in its maintenance division as it reduces its fleet of aircraft.

The nation's largest airline told employees of the cuts in memos this week.

The Fort Worth-based airline, part of AMR Corp., announced two weeks ago it would shed 8 percent of its work force -- about 6,800 jobs -- to cope with financial distress brought on by record fuel costs and a weakening economy.

The company has publicly identified only a portion of those cuts. It has said it will eliminate 900 flight attendant jobs and 200 pilot positions. The company is offering buyouts to senior employees to reduce the need for layoffs.


Well, we can count with more foreclosures.

Anonymous said...

how about up your butt? Really F all these greedy F's that F'd every F'ing thing up for all of us that are now F'd!

Anonymous said...

well keith, tell her she answered her own question......

i can't believe this old people keeping tons of cash in checking accounts, its insane....

Anonymous said...

Buy Gold !!!

Anonymous said...

I've been telling friends now of the current banking crisis for some time and, um, yes. Yes dear-heart, you should be hiding your money under a mattress. It's loads safer than the US Banking system. By "mattress" I mean a safe that holds part of your savings, only part, with other savings stashed in a plausably deniable "second space" as a fail-safe back-up and a cache of guns to back all of it up.

Cash 'n' guns. Cashe 'n' guns. Gold, sliver and lead.

I only wish to gawrd I was kiddin'.

Blumpski said...

Being a faithful HP'er (although new to posting) I listened to the advice on this site and went to my local WaMu branch 1st thing Monday morning and cleared out my accounts. I then deposited the money with Wells Fargo. Not that any of the banks are 100% safe, but thought that they are in better shape than the bank on Death Watch. Granted, it has not closed yet, but didn't want to take a chance and end up like these poor IndyMac customers. Considering buying gold and betting on oil continuing to rise in price (despite the recent drop, I think it's going to $200/barrel).

Anonymous said...

Here are the "victims" that Keith, Bitterrenter, Hussein, and the Democratic party love so much:

http://tinyurl.com/6lkt5y

Anonymous said...

I happened to be in Walnut Creek California today. There were dozens of office space for lease, buildings, offices but the most curious thing that I saw was in W.C. and Concord every Citibank was closed and the buildings were for lease. Why aren't we hearing about that. Perhaps it's not gonna be WAMU it may be Citibank.

Anonymous said...

Hold up! I thought Americans were all broke and had no savings and were living on credit cards and paycheck to paycheck and foreclosing left right and center and the end of the world is upon us all.

So how is it that all these people are lining up to withdraw money from a bank?

Anonymous said...

Don't put your money into real estate! Not for the next couple of years anyway!

Real estate prices have not even begun to really crash yet. If you want to know where they are going to end up, try using the online calculator for determining property prices based upon P/E Ratio - the only proven predictor of home prices:
http://www.howtosellyourhouse.net/value.html


As for investments? Maybe ask Hillary Clinton how to speculate in Pork Bellies.

Anonymous said...

MattressPanic...

Anonymous said...

Buy gold!

Anonymous said...

http://tinyurl.com/6xtgf8

hp did it keith. we guessed it.........wamu is being cut to junk status.......let us put on our black clothes now please.......

Anonymous said...

"I don't feel comfortable putting my money in any bank. What are we supposed to do - hide our money under the mattress?"




Yet she probably feels real comfortable with giving up 15% of her salary to social security...

Anonymous said...

Go out and buy gold bullion coins like the American Buffalo, Gold Eagle, or British Sovereigns. This is the best time I've seen to buy gold in our generation. Then, take them to a sound bank, not one on the watch list, and put them in a safety deposit box! This should protect you from inflation, and give you a nice return. Tax free of course!

Anonymous said...

The gold is taxable when you sell it, I guess you're planning not to report it. Good luck with that I guess.

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your Friday night doomers and gloomers. I'm off to a nice steak dinner followed by a 9:25 Dark Knight showing.

Oh my, aren't you a big spender who knows how to live large. Don't tell me that you're ordering the x-large pop-corn. You cool, you fly. I look forward to watch you on the next episode of High Met Worth.

Anonymous said...

At difficult times like these that I miss the insightful advice of Lowell from the TV show Wings.

Anonymous said...

"I don't feel comfortable putting my money in any bank. What are we supposed to do - hide our money under the mattress?"

Put it in a heavy safe and bolt it to the basement floor, lady.

Anonymous said...

I would suggest putting your money in hard assest, gold, silver, MRE'S, and ammo.