September 27, 2008

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Are you trying to liquidate?

Are you trying to raise cash?

Don't you think you should be by now?

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've liquidated most of my US assets. I'm waiting for the winter and I'll be out of this shithole called America.

E said...

Are you trying to raise cash?

Hell, no! I'm trying to get out of cash and into gold and the currencies of real countries.

blogger said...

I'll remind you of the definition of cash. Take off your USA hat.

1 : ready money
2 : money or its equivalent (as a check) paid for goods or services at the time of purchase or delivery

Gold is ready money
Yes is ready money
Francs are ready money
Shiney beads can be ready money

Cash means liquid. Ready.

Anonymous said...

>> I've liquidated most of my US assets. I'm waiting for the winter and I'll be out of this shithole called America.

Good riddance, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out, you POS...

Anonymous said...

120,000 in gold/silver, 11,000 in $20 dollar bills and 16,000 in the local credit union. No debt cept about a 100,000 mortgage. Thats about 30% of our net worth. I sure hope cash is king or I'm screwed. shoud I move more into cash? What do ya'll think

Anonymous said...

Cash? Yea, I have plenty, but it's almost useless. No interest, purchase ability almost nil. Thanks Bernake!

Anonymous said...

Remember guys: The only value ANY object has is what people BELIEVE it to possess.

I personally would not buy gold. Gold will not sustain life (food/water), protect you (guns), keep you warm (shelter), or get you the hell out of dodge (car) should something go horribly wrong.

As for trading dollars for Euros...your just trading one type of FIAT CURRENCY for another!! Is that not the definition of insanity?

Honestly, I wish everyone would just stop talking about gold. The last time the stock market crashed, people were not looking for bars of gold and silver. They were looking for food, clothing, and shelter. Also, maybe a piece of ass for some comfort....or a bottle of booze to drown the sorrow that resulted from losing their homes and anything else they ever worked hard for. (I don't blame them) But I don't think they cared about gold.

When the shit hits the fan, the only metal with any type of real value will probably be lead...seriously. Forget gold, the most value will be in clothing, shelter, clean water, hard work, morals, family, firearms, and food.

Anonymous said...

Cash is the worst place you can be. Gold and stocks in gold mining companies. Marc Faber is always right. He said "The dollar could go to zero in one day. If you own gold it must be stored outside of the USA. Even if your stock loses half of its value you will at least own shares"
You need to get stock certificates on your shares.

blogger said...

I think the Euro, and especially the Pound, go down from here against the dollar. You think America had a big housing bubble?

Oh, dear, you should see it over here. And now we're in freefall.

I like FXF and FXA, maybe FXY

But with currencies, it's all one big gamble. hot one day, cold the next.

But with the US about to print another trillion, and the banks about to fail, the dollar's fate has been written.

blogger said...

One more time because I think many of you are not getting this.

CASH MEANS LIQUID.

Cash does not mean exclusively dollars or euros or francs.

And only a fool would be 100% in dollars. Or 100% in euros. It'd be like being 100% in Enron. Or Lehman.

Spread the risk.

Anonymous said...

Keith, you are so right! You need cash to go to buy groceries, to buy gas, etc etc etc. ATMs don't take gold!

The only real solution to this credit crunch is for banks to raise interes rates. That is the only solution. They can't artificially keep interest rates low. The market will freeze up just as it is doing now.

Everyone, including banks, have a price. That price for money is the interest rate. Rates must go up. Which of course will be bad news for housing. So what!

The fed is doing everything possible to flood the market but the market nows better and thus no lending at these ridiculously low rates.

Cash is really King! Yea Keith!

Anonymous said...

Ok so is it liquid or solid? Keith says liquid, but the other guy says guns, shelter, food, piece of ass. I don't know what to do now.

Anonymous said...

Right, let me know how it works out trying to pay for a fill-up with 3-4 silver eagles, or getting change for a gold eagle when buying food.

tards.

blogger said...

Want to get liquid but make sure you still have 'money' to buy things without losing the value of your 'money'?

Then set up a trading account with a checking option, invest in other currencies via the ETFs, or GLD or SLV, and then sweep to your checking. The brokerages will give you a lovely ATM/Debit card, and you'll be good to go.

Or you can just keep all of your 'money' in US dollars and fall into a deep funk like the rest of your fellow citizens, as the Fed keeps debasing the currency intentionally as we socialize this debacle.

Your call.

HP'ers are just trying to help.

Anonymous said...

Hey anon @ 11:15 I said $11,000 in 20 dollar bills, plenty oF "lead" to keep my gas purchase safe from you. Are you gonna buy gas with your debt card? You can bet I got plenty of beans and rice to outlive your smug ass!
scott McD

Anonymous said...

Right, let me know how it works out trying to pay for a fill-up with 3-4 silver eagles, or getting change for a gold eagle when buying food.

tards.

It's called underground economy, and I will own you and your smug "tard" ass, and maybe just maybe I'll give you an allotment of VICTORY GIN to keep you in line
Scott McD

Anonymous said...

I like small arms and ammunition for a portion of my liquid wealth. 12 ga 00 buck in stock too for you shotgun enthusiasts...

When the shooting and looting starts, that will, In my case be the next bull market...

I'll take dollars, yen, franc, euros, gold, silver rolex or your little sister.

Doesn't matter to me.

America is DEAD

DIE U PIGS

Tyrone said...

GMAC Bank is offering 4.35% on 12-month CDs, and 3.55% in simple savings accounts.

Buh-bye, GMAC Bank. LOL

And think about this: if the worst happens, who says that paper dollars (US currency) can't approach zero. I hope this doesn't happen, but those with gold and silver will be king if it does. Spread the risk; don't put it all in US Dollars.

Anonymous said...

Look this may not work for y'all in the city (God help ya) but before I purchased ETF's, gold or whatever I would buy these things:

1. An air rifle (pay cash and then stash, they may be coming for your "firearm"), it's a great grocery getter.

2. Get a good used ATV (handy as a pocket on a shirt, plus they are now making "stealth" exhaust systems for them).

3. 7X7 3/32 galvinized cable (used for meat gathering, you'll figure it out).

4. As much gasoline as you can afford to store (Atlanta Ga, coming to a town near you)(don't forget the Stabil)

5. Rod and reels.

6. Warm clothing (throw a sleeping bag in there while your at it)

7. Now go do something nice for your neighbors, your going to need them.

Anonymous said...

I had always wondered about the question of why is gold valuable. The smart ass answer is because 4000 years of human behavior can't be wrong. But the answer has more to do with the fact that gold is handy. Gold is not money because it is a valuable commodity. Obviously, if you are hungry, you are not going to eat gold. If you want to keep warm, gold does you nothing. If you want to protect your family, you aren't going to throw gold pieces at the intruder. So why did gold become money and not wheat, coal and lead? Again, it's a question of practicality.

1. Rarity - It is in VERY limited supply. The amount of gold mined every year typically replaces gold that is lost through industrial processes and other types of loss. If you are broke, you can't just add gold to the world's gold supply because you feel like invading Iraq or bailing out Bear Stearns ... but you can always have the Federal Reserve (a private banking cartel) print fiat dollars. In fact, gold is so rare, that if you have a pocketful of gold, you can have enough purchasing power to live for a year. If there were all of a sudden twice as much gold, everything would soon cost twice as much in gold and gold would lose value. But that has never happened. You can also compare gold to silver, which is much more available. Silver coins are nice, but you can't store the entire post office's pension fund in silver coins. It would require a vault the size of major city. Silver coins though are appropriate if you want to take the kids out for ice cream.

2. Durability - You can store gold forever and it will not change. This is why most commodities fail as money. If we used wheat as our currency, our money would expire while we save it. When Ali paid you, you would have to spend the money right away. If you were flush with wheat that week, you would have to tell Ali to hold on to his wheat before he pays you. Not practical.

3. Divisibility - Gold can be divided without destroying the structure. If you start with 10 oz. of gold and you break into two pieces, you still have 10 oz. of purchasing power, whether you break it up into two 5-oz. pieces or any other combination. You can also pretty much divide it up indefinitely without losing any of it. Again, this is a property inherent to metals, but not many other substances. This is why trading in non-divisible things like cows is not practical. Let's say you want to buy a pen. How much of the cow are you going to give him?

4. Fungibility - It is easy to substitute one gold coin for another. Gold is gold. There isn't good gold and bad gold. If there is a bag of 1 oz. gold coins and we each get half of the bag, neither of cares which coins we get. They are interchangeable. Imagine using a currency that did not have this characteristic. It's impractical.

5. Ease of identification - It is very easy to tell what gold is. It is not like a diamond where the cut and clarity is relatively subjective. It is even quite easy to determine purity from what I have read. Apparently, it is easy to tell if gold is within something like 1/1000 % of pure gold. Beyond that, no one cares much. Sure, you can counterfeit the coins, but no more than you can counterfeit anything else. Once you know it is gold, all you need to do to determine its value is to weigh it.

Can you think of another substance that passes these tests?

Sure, in total armageddon, you might wish you had something else. But unless you have a underground bunker with serious weapon, in an armageddon, it won't be long until the gangs find your stash. However, in the likely case of massive inflation, history says gold will be king.

Anonymous said...

Keith, all stupidity from fellow bloggers aside, please give us something reasonable to do that will us ease through the troubling days ahead. I have kids and elderly parents and a grandparent and widowed aunts. All of them I would give my life for so I need something to do for them that will protect their hard-earned savings. I've made sure everyone is in a FDIC Insured account and moved much of their assets to Money-Markets hoping that is the last to fail I am already suggesting that some sell their houses and move in with another. And I've bought "Crashproof" by Peter Schiff. Can you offer any more suggestions? Thanks, a long time HPer.

blogger said...

Glenna - if you're a long-time HP'er you shouldn't have to ask.

And unfortunately, it's (almost) too late.

Go watch Titanic again. And I hope you found a lifeboat.

Anonymous said...

so you think i should pay hundreds of dollars for a face value one dollar coin?

Anonymous said...

** CRISIS SOLUTION FLASH ** Give $700 Billion to the banks and then they should dish out an additional $4.5 Trillion in PANIC CASH to be divided by all Americans. This will get the world economy pumping again! :) Get those money machines going!

Anonymous said...

Well, I have $50,000 in $100.00 dollar bills. I buy everyones shit for cheep because they want the cash. I then sell it within a week for $1,000 profit. Its great, some people are scared and some people still have alot of cash to spend. watch the classifides, easy money while it lasts. J/K I have been doing this for 2 years.

Anonymous said...

I owe you so much. yeahh your life has a purpose !!!!

I am all liquid and ready to rumble with accounts overseas as well.

And getting ready to spend two weeks in Turkey, Spain and Portugal in a couple of weeks.

Anonymous said...

Could someone point me to some cash? I promise that I will utilize it to the best of my ability.

Now, i'm not panhandling. I need much more money than that.
LOL (I think)

Anonymous said...

For those buying foreign currency, STAY away from Asian trades.

These poor souls have purchased so much US Debt, they are to be hit by another tsunami

Europe does not stand tall either, England is about a few months behind this mess, you will see results there soon. Germany and Switzerland as well, as Deutsche Bank and UBS have too much invested in these so call markets.

Maybe Guatemalan mangos will be a good commodity!

Miss Goldbug said...

WTF said:"Honestly, I wish everyone would just stop talking about gold. The last time the stock market crashed, people were not looking for bars of gold and silver. They were looking for food, clothing, and shelter. Also, maybe a piece of ass for some comfort....or a bottle of booze to drown the sorrow that resulted from losing their homes and anything else they ever worked hard for. (I don't blame them) But I don't think they cared about gold."

I understand what you're saying about gold-you are right, can't eat it, etc. etc. However, doesnt it seem strange the government suspended selling gold coins?? They're hoarding it instead.

Thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Cash has no value in a society of bitches.

How many times have I offered cash bets to the part-time Nostradomuses?

Cash has no value here.

Only those who read "The Secret" post here. Only those who view old timey text as Gospel post here. You, Keith, are the King of Fools.

Here is, for free, what is going to happen. The Masters of the Universe will maintain their positions. You serfs will maintain your position.

Anonymous said...

A coin shop I have frequented for years, bought a coin or two.

Went there last week...No gold, No silver!

But the owner (one of them) the guy I usually deal with told me of a man that walked in earlier this summer. He purchased 400oz. in eagles, some buffalo's.

Came in a couple of weeks later bought several sacks of junk silver


Picked them up when the check cleared, and never heard from again.


Wonder what if anything he knows?

.

Anonymous said...

We are middle class so our amounts are relatively small. But we have:
$3000 in $20 dollar bills, $3000 in the local credit union, $1000 in Silver, 60 pounds of rice and a brand new Springfield Armory XD 45 Caliber hand gun with a growing stockpile of ammunition.
We also have 30 pounds of cat food if anyone shows up looking for a snack.

Anonymous said...

At one time people use to purchase their own home now days they can not even afford to refinance it.

What is wrong with this picture.

http://www.financialsense.com/
economy/charts/realestate/3.png

One day and that day may be sooner then many of us think, but cash will be king as CREDIT WORTHINESS become worthless.

Miss Goldbug said...

Anon said:" One day and that day may be sooner then many of us think, but cash will be king as CREDIT WORTHINESS become worthless."

Agre, this is exactly what is happening.

All those derivatives 'we the people' will buy in the future on this "deal" - well, those investment swaps are nothing but worthless paper.

I think we are actually moving away from the 'credit model' of finance as we speak, but the government is using this excuse 'banks need money to lend' to drain the taxpayer before the new financial model is in place.

Lets face it - how can banks loan money to anyone at the point? Isnt the general population maxed out? How can any viable company keep borrowing if they don't make a decent profit? What about the banks tightening of credit standards? Or - are banks going to resume lending to anyone who is breathing like before? It can't be both ways, and it just seems obvious that the credit model is broken, so there has to be a new model to replace it with.

This will be cash. It will be king.

This bill that was passed is actually a one last, all-out, free-for-all mega, shopping trip by our government, and they are just handing us the bill. It will do nothing to save the economy.

When the sheeple fully understand they'll get no assistance in reducing their mortgage, but instead the governemnt is helping every industry under the sun, people will start leaving their homes in droves because it has been confirmed government will help wall street, and not them.

Secondly, homeowners just won't be able to survive with a huge mortgage tied around their necks any longer.

Miss Goldbug said...

Anon said:"A coin shop I have frequented for years, bought a coin or two.

Went there last week...No gold, No silver!

But the owner (one of them) the guy I usually deal with told me of a man that walked in earlier this summer. He purchased 400oz. in eagles, some buffalo's.

Came in a couple of weeks later bought several sacks of junk silver


Picked them up when the check cleared, and never heard from again.


Wonder what if anything he knows?"


He know the shit will hit the fan soon.

I have a story...

I coin shop owner told a good friend of mine while appraising her coins last month, said a week earlier someone called looking to buy $50k of gold coins from him.

There's definitely something happening, but it's still under the radar for now.

Anonymous said...

Buying Gold in 2008 is like buying a mansion in 2006.

The Trumps of the world have already cashed out. Small time speculators are still in the game but prices will crash after foreigner nations like Iran dump their holdings in the months ahead kinda like foreigners dumping mortgage backed securities. Be prepared for a free-fall.

Towjam said...

My cars, crap and 120K spread out over several banks.
No debet.
Yea I think I am ready.

Paul E. Math said...

A person could also look into all the indexes that Powershares offers.

There is an index to short the performance of the USD against a basket of euro, yen, swiss franc, canadian loonie, british pound and swedish krona.

Powershares also has an index for the price of oil: DBO. I could see oil fluctuating and falling as global economic activity slows or as markets fear the consequences of a slowdown. But, over the next 5-10 years, having reached peak oil, and with the USD being confetti, that should do well.

Those are just some thoughts.

And Keith made a great suggestion about getting the chequing option on your brokerage account and using the debit card on it.

Anonymous said...

A little off subject but anyone else notice a bump in their MM rate? My retirement account just went up 1/2% in one week. Any ideas?

Devestment said...

Got Treasuries?

Anonymous said...

Own my house in full... check.

no debt whatsoever... check.

$350K cash in the bank in the US... check.

$450K cash in the bank overseas in asia... check.

$200K speculating in the stock market in 2 promising stocks... check. Need to sell this soon on the next rally.

Minimal physical gold (3 oz) but may take more... need to wait & see.

Unemployed and looking for another job... check.

Popcorn. Lots and lots of popcorn... check.


-Mike

Anonymous said...

400oz. at anywhere from $850 to $900 per oz,


averages to $350k in one fell swoop!


Someone had some cash on hand!

Anonymous said...

I remember buying 10 1oz gold eagles when they were about $250 somewhere around April '01

My $2500 investment would be currently worth about $8770


Wish I had bought LOTS more....and hung on to them!

Anonymous said...

Ive been really lazy lately, and I haven,t moved any money to cash yet. If tomorrow is up because of the excitement of this bailout.I am bailing everything. think of it as 1 last chance before the market goes into a never ending tailspin.

Anonymous said...

> Cash means liquid. Ready.

I don't know - US treasury bonds are quite liquid, too; you can readily convert them into other forms of cash, but their worth is relatively interest sensitive, which is different from T-bills or money market funds. Liquid and interest insensitive seem to be necessary descriptors of cash.

Anonymous said...

I am already mostly in cash, in money market funds, but the question is, is that safe enough?

Anonymous said...

> A little off subject but anyone else notice a bump in their MM rate? My retirement account just went up 1/2% in one week. Any ideas?

I think it's similar to the jump in LIBOR - every borrower but the government needs to pay higher interest rates now. The money market funds earn more but have to take on more risk, too, if they don't want to buy T-bills and earn next to nothing.