As I've said for years, America needed an enema. And boy, are they getting one.
People equated debt with wealth. America became a nation of spenders and not savers. Houses became lottery tickets and not homes. Frugality and live-within-your-means were seen as laughable traits. Poor people thought they should and could live like rock stars. Payola to Congress became the accepted. Liars were quoted in the MSM as if they were truthtellers, and truthtellers were portrayed as liars. Keeping up with the neighbors became a consuming passion, instead of helping the neighbors. And a nation sold out its morality and reputation for a quick buck.
And then the Great Housing Crash hit.
And hopefully, everything changed.
So, what good will come about because of this economic collapse? What lessons will be learned? What behavior will change?
Fire away.
October 20, 2008
Redemption. Reform. Renewal. Change. It may be too early to see now but good things will come out of this Great Unwinding. What will they be?
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Government corruption will be revealed on a massive scale.
It will be sickening to many of the 'newly awakened' koolaid drinkers.
It may be too late to correct the damage done.
Our national sovereignty has been severely compromised.
Hmmm, let's use some historical precedent to predict what will happen. I'm no expert on the Great Depression but did it bring redemption, reform, renewal and change?
It brought World War II. It brought the baby boomers. It brought more "regulation". It brought bigger and bigger government.
Was it ultimately beneficial? Or have we seen a rapid decline in American society ever since the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913?
Why is the Fed so important? Because it redistributes wealth in the most silent and pernicious way imaginable. Americans have been bankrupted by the private Federal Reserve corporation. The wealth is stripped from the people and funneled into the pockets of the wealthy and the well connected.
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)
The Founding Fathers warned us. Of course, today, the average American knows so little about the Founding Fathers that they think Colonel Sanders was one of the Founders.
If we don't kill the Fed, there ain't going to be any Hope and Change no matter how many stirring and beautiful empty platitudes Barack Obama can deliver.
cnn had a report last night on Wall Street. basically they were all still partying it up...cavier...daily importe beer...expensive facials.
ahhh...glad to see the government tit still so full.
suck little piggies...suck it.
I little while back I read an article on the Great Depression. They made it look good.
They interviewed this woman who was kind of hesitant to share her story because hers was a good one.
She felt guilty because for her, the depression years were the best years of her life. She was in her early twenties, at the time, and developed friendships that lasted a lifetime. Couldn't help wonder if they would have been the best years of her life no matter what!
For the last few weeks, cheery articles about a slowdown have been hitting our local papers. People can't seem to wait for the economy to tank so they can get off the treadmill and keep up with the Joneses.
Too funny. Or sad? What do HPers think?
Good things: Privatizing social security is dead for a decade. People will stop thinking of houses as an investment for a few years. The non-credit-worthy won't be able to get credit for quite a while.
Bad things: J6P and big businesses have learned that the government will bail them out - expect more of that in years to come. Congress has learned that (so far) trillion-dollar deficits are not a problem. The REIC and the federal government have learned that there is really no penalty for lying. J6P realizes that he understands nothing about the economy and will tune out any public discussion of it.
Nothing Will Change. People are/will soon get bored of reading the news. As long as unemployment stays under 10%, the food is in the grocery, and cable is still being broadcast nothing will change.
Nothing will change, it has'nt in 2000 years, why now?
One the great things that are going to come out of this,
is the downfall of Europe as we know it.
Europeans will be humbled from this truth forcing economic downturn.
Its going to get really ugly across the pond.
Here's a great episode of 20/20 that I was surprised to see on the cheerleading, fawning, sycophantic corporate media:
John Stossel's Politically Incorrect Special
It's nice to see at least one person in the media question the sanity of a country that puts so much faith in their leaders and government.
What ever happened to the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave?
Maybe we in the USA will KiLL derivatives. More important than jailing the authors of the crime, is to kill the crime. More at http://realestatecrashnow.blogspot.com
It remains to be seen what profound effects if any this whole experience will have on the United States and the world.
We will most likely see tighter regulations initially.
Eventually once a new bubble shows itself, we will all flock to it and government regulators will stand aside once again so they can "help" stimulate the economy faster than it would normally.
Then the bubble will burst, people will panic, jobs will be lost, another government bailout, blah blah blah.
Rinse and repeat every 5-10 years.
The rich will buy tons of houses cheap and the cycle will begin again, but worse for the average american.
Not seeing the changes yet here. Most everyone still has their job, their house, etc.
Feds are desperately trying muddle through on this with bailouts and stimulus. We'll see if it works or will we truly see a significant recession. One that you definitely notice. Jury is still out.
I HEARD A WHOPPER TODAY ON HOWARD STERN!!!
THIS BITCH THAT IS MISS HOWARD STERN IS . . . . DRUMROLL . . . . A REALTWHORE!!!!!!
ANY GUESS AT WHAT SHE USED TO BE????!!??
CLOSE BUT NO NOT A POLE SMOKER OR STRIPPER!!!!
A BARTENDER!!!!!
WHAT A JOKE!!! SHE DOESN'T EVEN DRIVE HER "CLIENTS" AROUND, IT JUST MEETS THEM AT THE OVERPRICED SHITBOXES!!!!!
YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP!!!
JINGLE MAIL, JINGLE MAIL TANGELO'S MAILBOX IS FULL!!!! LA LA LA LALA LA LA LA LALA LA LA LAAAAAA!!!
TOOLS!!!!
DOLTS!!!!
TARDS!!!!
DOPES!!!!
It will change for a while but it will be the same 'ol, same 'ol down the road.
All you have to do is read Kindleberger's Manias, Panics, and Crashes to understand this. The bubble cycles have continued throughout history...they will not end.
Working less and living more.
Socialism. ; P
Whatever it is, don't expect it to happen as quickly as we are trained to expect in our kneejerk society. I think the converging forces of overpopulation and competition for resources and food are leading to a very tough 21st century. As a parent I'm trying to prepare my kids for a life that is open to change, independent of superficial bullshit, self sufficient and quite frankly: miserly.
I still say retraining the Wall street con-men and gambling addicts to actually do something useful is damn near impossible. They are going to keep trying to spin straw into gold - which worked when the rest of the world thought that straw WAS gold (greenbacks). I fear the gig is up and now we're going to get a strong lobby to keep propping up parasitic crony capitalism.
Don't count on them. The answer is down at the community league, or in a friendship with your nextdoor neighbour. Help your friends, share stuff, watch other people's backs, walk an old lady across the street...
"Europeans will be humbled from this truth forcing economic downturn"
I doubt it. The difference between Europeans and Americans is that although Americans aren't worldly, they can, in fact, work hard when prompted. So a great depression will simply turn the US back into a hard working agro-minerals society. Americans never assumed that their world has any contact with others, unless its about fighting the Nazis or the Communists. America, unlike western Europe, never had authentic overseas colonies, except for Samoa and Guam, so much of America's wealth was about surviving WWII and being the remaining place for the world to invest its money.
Europeans, however, have forgotten that they'd robbed the third world for their wealthy existence, from 1500 to 1900. They instead, attribute their high lifestyle to the age of enlightenment culture and/or some other superiority complex over Chinese, Indians, etc. They forget that people, like Tesla or VonNeuman, emigrated to the US to build its industries. They are the ones who'll really suffer when they see that cafes and sex clubs can be exported to emerging nations.
2004 was a good year for debt news, but do you have anything that's recent? Perhaps in the last week or so?
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
That's why our currency is now in the hands of the government. Look at your dollar. It says FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE. It is printed by the government (Treasury) and distributed by the Fed.
Before 1913, private banks issued currency. After 1913, only the government did.
Who did a better job?
The correct answer: Neither.
I doubt if any lessons have been learned. I expect the next big bubble will come in alternative energy stocks probably starting within the next 2 years.
Given the stock market losses of the housing/credit bubble the conditions will be more than ripe for this next bubble.
Like the dotcom bubble the masses will pour their money into companies that are little more than an idea on a cocktail napkin. Once again those who got in early, and sold at the right time, will make huge money while the rest of the country will suffer when the bubble bursts.
More, Sir.
Please Sir, I want some more.
I know exactly what will happen. Those with cash will buy up all the repo's (foreclosures) and the US and the UK will be back to where they were in the 1950s. There is nothing new - only cycles.
There will be no good thing that comes of this, just a steady march towards Armageddon.
Eat, drink and be merry...
Seems like some regulations would have been put it place before the "infinite" stimulus thing got running full speed ahead.
I wonder if some of the stimulus is getting re-routed to somewhere else?
If they do re-regulate eventually, is that going to keep commodities down so the banks and insurance companies won't bubble that up eventually again?
Since hedge funds were doing most of that and them being un-regulated, it would seem like the conduit for such speculation, if they were doing that before are they going to be at-it again once credit gets fixed?
I'd really like to know if gasoline is going to be really expensive soon because I want to buy a cheap house and move out of the city, where the cheap houses are.
ECONOMIST September 26, 2021
FINANCIAL authorities in America and Europe took sweeping powers yesterday to avert a financial crisis by imposing restrictions on markets. In their sights are a peculiar brand of speculators known as “long-buyers” who buy assets not to live off the income they generate but to profit from rising prices.
“Some of these people buy homes that they have no intention of living in,” said Lord Poohbah, chairman of Britain’s Financial Services Authority, “and others buy shares they plan to own for just days or weeks, rather than the prudent time period of several years.” Their actions force prices up above fundamental valuation levels, critics say, causing some British tabloid newspapers to call leading fund managers “greedy pigs”.
Particular criticism has been reserved for people dubbed “naked long-buyers”, those who try to buy homes without putting up a deposit. “Such people are in effect renters with a free call option on rising house prices,” said one financial analyst, “but they expect to be bailed out by taxpayers when house prices fall.”
Not only is this a clear case of moral hazard (the encouragement of irresponsible risk-taking) but their activities drive up house prices, putting them beyond the reach of hard-working families who have diligently saved up to put down a deposit. Also in the speculative category are “buy-to-letters” who buy a string of houses with borrowed money in the hope of making outsize gains.
Huge government. Woodstock-style activism. Appeasement. Encouragement of poverty as a legitimate lifestyle.
Good things: After ten to fifteen years of hell, people will finally realize FDR made matters worse not better. Microsoft will realize it was vulnerable after all.
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12305786
One thing that's coming is the death of strip malls. That's a good thing.
Here is a retail survey of Del Mar, a high-end Southern California beach town.
Many people will have to give up the good life. They will have to move to more affordable, less affluent towns. They will have to give up their expensive possesions. They will have to find new jobs that probably less pay.
They will feel depressed, some will feel terrified.
For a while.
Angelo Mozillo must be arrested. That is not just for revenge, but for a sense of closure to this mess.
As long as these greedy A$$holes are allowed to walk free among the population, they stand as monuments of continued greed and corruption.
It would not surpise me that when Mozillo is arrested (I firmly believe it is coming) the stock market will rally. Trust is the problem right now, and until all that caused the trust to erode is dealt with (jailed), there will continue to be a lack of trust. And no, having the foxes watch the Hen House (Paulson - GS, Bair - FDIC, Cox - SEC) is not going to fix the trust.
Throw Cox out - period. That moron allowed corruption on Wall Street and over leverage on an EPIC scale. He needs an instant go-to-jail card. Paulson is just a crony, and is just doing the party line. Sheila Bair, while now seems to be doing some logical things, was COMPLETELY asleep at the wheel when the banks under her watch were taking on ENORMOUS risk, with no real backing. The way to fix a problem, is not have the problem in the first place.
Cox, Paulson and Bair were responsible in 2004 for "retooling" the financial system by removing safe guards in banking that have been around since the first depression. Now we are facing a second one, and the cause is exactly the same. What a big surprise, remove the safeguards that have been around for 70+ years, and the same things happen again. It should be a pre-requisite of all leaders to have to learn history, so they are not doomed to repeat it.
OK... Joe6Pack & JaneZinfandel, let's get this simple, no-brainer fact into that fried-burger brain, spaghetti-noodle head one more time.
Owning a house is not for every one in the planet Earth, particularly in the land of the Americano AKA the land of the Snapper Turtle. If a lone person, a married couple or a family of chumps are poor, ignorant, uneducated, illiterate, buck-teeth, hare lip, obese, fat, diabetic, plain ugly or just looking like a piece of human crap, then that entity or organism is not entitled to own a house, or allowing to think of owning a house, or even dreaming of owning a house. Got it ? A very simple truthful fact to internalize based on Charles Darwin's famous theory: "You don't own jack if you ain't got jack to show you've got the jack to jack with..."
Furthermore, if that particular Americano had voted for "Little Boy + Fat Man" AKA "Dubya Shrub + Penis Shooter" in the last 8 years, then homeboy and homegirl HillBilly and Homer Simpson all alike out there should not consider a house as a place to live in. His and/or her adobe is to be in the horse ban, the chicken shack, the ass stall, or more fittingly, the Snapper Turtle lodge.
So, Hicks and CrackerNutheads out there, the 64 millions Americano-devalued dollars question is:
"Is the Americano roasted yet, and if not, how long before the Americano will be roasted slowly, nicely and juicely like a snapper turtle skewered on a green Chinese bamboo stick from mouth to ass sizzling, fat popping, succulent marinated chunk of turtle meat oozing with aromatic tallow on a bed of white hot charcoal ?"
Are we there yet ? Is Joe6Pack still alive, breathing and kicking ???
In the next few years, baby boomers, spoiled brats as a generation on average, will be given a dose of reality. Gen Xers and Yers will be more able to afford housing. All Americans will be FORCED into living more w/i their means. Those who sold near the tops will have the opportunity to buy back in at 30% discounts.
The the greed cycle will repeat itself. It always does.
"... W.C. Varones said...Here is a retail survey of Del Mar..."
Thanks for that; I grew up there. That one Tudor on the corner of 15th was actually a boarding house in the late 60s. We bought some furniture from the old hotel across the street when it closed.
Used to be a gas station{gasp!} on SE corner; grubby diner next to it. Big Bear market/Zel's liquor/bank/realty NE where all the shi-shi restaurants are now.
Town's changed a little in 40 years. Will it go back to grubby like it did after the Crosby/racetrack heyday?
Here's the "change" that's coming -
http://tinyurl.com/5cw5zd
To the John Stossel linking anon:
John Stossel represents exactly why our leaders are worthless idiots. He encourages the masses to vote for people like themselves instead of electing SMART people who will work to improve society.
John Stossel is a jackass, I smell roasting snapper turtle.
None of the Above makes a good point. All you guys who are down on the Fed should read "A Nation of Counterfeiters" by Steven Hihm.
http://tinyurl.com/66m7xc
Ho,ho,ho. Santa is coming again. The great pusher to spend $$ we do not own yet..or will we ever. Like an addict looking for a fix there are too many pushers to "help".
The drug of choice today is liquitiy but the real cure is debt eradication thru productivity, real earnings and savings. My question to you is, is this "fun"? The addict will always claim his/her "right" to have fun.
Prices of houses will go down.
Prices of cars will go down.
Prices of education will go down.
Jobs will disappear.
One parent will now stay home to raise the kids. To me, that would be the best outcome.
You've heard of Silent Spring? Well, it was Silent Summer around here. All the parents at work. All the kids at day camp. NO kids in the neighborhood at all. I'm thinking of moving. My 6 year old kept asking where is everybody? (Well, sweetheart, their parents go to work and they send the kids away everyday.) We wanted to be in this neighborhood because of the families/kids. Well-to-do Parents/Poor Kids...a situation that does not bode well for our future.
I'd like to see parents raising their children.
*
When this tide goes out, Europe will be caught standing naked, with webbed chicken feet.
Over 2000 years of evil will oozing out of their sweat glands.
To the John Stossel linking anon:
John Stossel represents exactly why our leaders are worthless idiots. He encourages the masses to vote for people like themselves instead of electing SMART people who will work to improve society.
John Stossel is a jackass, I smell roasting snapper turtle.
No dumbass. He makes a very valid point that government does not solve our problems. If it did we'd just go all the way and have the government plan the entire economy and all of our lives. The USA was founded on the concept of freedom and small limited government. It was not founded on the concept of "democracy". The Founders loathed democracy. They founded a nation of laws not a nation of men.
Did you bother to watch the special? I doubt it because he never said people should vote for people like themselves instead of SMART people. What the hell are you on about? His whole point is that society is so complex that it doesn't matter if you have the most intelligent, well meaning people in power they can not possibly plan society because of complexity and unintended consequences.
Why is that so hard for morons to understand?
Read this article which proves my point:
Democracy: The Worst Form of Government Ever
I heard a radio advertisement for a "Rich Dad" seminar the other day.
Quote, "Learn why savers are losers"
Kieth:
There has not been any pain so no one has learned any lessons.
Well, it was fine to keep the working class wages at rock bottom (globalization), but put them in debt up to ears to keep the economy going (go shopping!). Well, yes, the payoff has arrived.
The behavior that will change is that consumerism will decline. It may even become socially frowned upon. How will the economy grow when that happens? Will there be a new or an underground economy in real things and skills? Is there a historical precedent? What happened during the depression? (Don't know much/enough about history.)
Everyone wants what we used to have. Sidewalks, safety, neighbors that we know and can count on and agree with on most values, communities, grocery stores and shopping we can walk to, jobs that are important to the community and country and maybe even produce something. Self sufficiency. Kids that are cared about. Families that spend time together. Everyone has wanted this for a long time, but it has gotten more and more difficult to do, given the circumstances of modern life. Maybe that will change now. BTW, sorry for the strange name - combination of nicknames. I am a female Patrat.
"Frank@Scottsdale-Sucks.com said...
Here's the "change" that's coming -
http://tinyurl.com/5cw5zd"
Nice, a paranoid screed by yet another semiliterate, self-published "marketing" book author. And he's from Arizona too.
Time to adjust your meds Frank.
What is it about you entrepreneur types that you all claim to have read and by implication pretend to have understood Atlas Shrugged or any the other writings of Ayn Rand? It's like you all read the book and came away thinking "Wow, if John Galt or Hank Reardon were alive today they would be writing get rich quick books. How do your books or those of Mr. Kennedy bring anything of value to this economy?
Aside from Mr. Kennedy's essay on the 50th anniversary of Atlas Shrugged wherein he proves beyond a doubt that he lacks the intellectual capacity to understand Ms. Rand's Masterpiece there is also the fact that at no point in his anti Obama screed does actually cite his sources. Saying a statement was in such and such magazine some time last year is not a citation.
But the coup de grace that proves Mr. Kennedy to be an intellectual fraud is that he posits the notion that a latter day Hitler could come to power in the USA but makes no mention of Leonard Peikoff's book Ominous Parallels. Now either he is unaware of Mr. Peikoff and this book or he is just a petty little second hander trying to steal the work of somebody else's mind and present it as his own. Since by his own admission Ayn Rand is such a huge influence on his life I tend to think he aware of the work of the man who describes himself as Ms. Rand's "intellectual heir." Which means that he must be a pathetic little second hander.
And as a final note: Anybody who claims that Atlas Shrugged is the most important book in their life and then rails against the purported lack of religious commitment of a politician is a true and complete imbecile and anybody who pays attention to his rantings might one day with medical help and a bit of occupational therapy achieve the level of imbecile.
Frank@Scottsdale-Sucks.com
OUTSTANDING LINK!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.
http://tiny.cc/bVYyU
TOOLS
DOLTS
DOPES
THIS IS THE FINAL NAIL.
Three words:
Chainsaw, Hatchet, Scalpel.
McCain got two thirds, Obama one third.
Europe will replace America as the world financial superpower. Britain, Denmark and Sweden will join the euro and all the European bourses will merge into the London Stock Exchange, making it the world's largest stock market by total capitalization.
The eurozone will be the world's largest economy and the euro will be the world's reserve currency.
US dollar will be destroyed by hyperinflation.
Out of style:
- credit
- living beyond your means
- hedge funds
- leveraged buyouts
- housing ATM
- house flipping & housing porn
- securitization of debt and any other financial schemes emerging from Wall Street
- buy now before you get priced out forever
- Ipods, Iphones, BMW, designer clothing, $5 Latte, etc.
In style:
- frugality
- saving money
- worrying about employment and one's ability to make end's meet.
- consignment stores
- coupon clipping
- 99c value meals
All that will last a few years until the economy picks back up and we'll go back to our evil ways.
Next disaster on the horizon is peak oil. We'll just borrow 700 billion barrels of oil from the future and we'll get over this little hump as well. The FED can create oil out of thin air, right?....RIGHT?!?
anon 10:24pm says:
"His whole point is that society is so complex that it doesn't matter if you have the most intelligent, well meaning people in power they can not possibly plan society because of complexity and unintended consequences."
On the other hand, if you have a bunch of idiots running the country outcomes may vary, see US from 2000 - 2008.
His whole point is that society is so complex that it doesn't matter if you have the most intelligent, well meaning people in power they can not possibly plan society because of complexity and unintended consequences.
Why is that so hard for morons to understand?
-------------------------------
It is a frightening concept to a lot of people that there isn't (or can't be) some "Wizard of Oz" controlling everything.
michael said...
ahhh...glad to see the government tit still so full.
suck little piggies...suck it.
_____
Ha, ha!
That's right...
Suck it good!
KAGUNGA!
Keith - don't get me wrong. I love that HP is focusing on issues like the broader economy and this pivotal election - but I feel like the focus on housing has slipped a bit. There is always new data on sales and starts, not to mention the new wave of legislative chatter on propping up home prices.
Why aren't more people screaming at the top of their lungs that prices need to come down, that it's inevitable and necessary? Why don't more economists stand up and speak the clear truth?
The ramen companies will make out alright
"You don't own jack if you ain't got jack to show you've got the jack to jack with..."
Wow. So true. Kind of suck it up time, for some.
if the people "saving" us from these financial "troubles" today had done their job of raising interest rate when housing price inflation came around and at times and years to 20 t0 30 percent in order to contain inflation the housing prices would have been stabilized but they changed the calculation methods in order to manipulate the economy to where it was/is today and created the debt as the basis of economic activity rather than production.......
If my entire house (along with all my possessions) was destroyed and I was fired from my job, I would feel.... liberated.
Before any of this hyperinflation US dollar destruction takes place the United States will pull a rabbit out of its ass.
That rabbit will be Al Qaeda and their poster boy Osama.
If the US Dollar reaches a threshold that the US government deems is unacceptable, invasion of easily manageable oil rich countries will take place under the guise of hunting for Al Qaeda and its allies. In comes the $$$.
Kuwait and Iraq were case studies for this master plan. Kuwait sized countries are easy, Iraq is downright impossible to control.
The powers that be(Carlyle Group and the other conglomorates that really control US global affairs of which Cheney and the Bushes are part of) most likely have a plan going forward to preserve the United States of America.
Worry not, we and our grandchildren are safe. The oil-rich world maybe screwed but the U.S. still has an ace up its sleeve.
Maybe some things will change.
I saw an edition of "House Hunters" last weekend, where a uber-bimbo, blonde giggly twenty-something went looking for her own cool pad in Vegas.
In the end she sobered up and decided now was *not* the time to buy property.
Maybe there is hope.
The hosts on Bloomberg radio this morning were discussing Japan, and they were flabbergasted that they have savings of something like $27Trillion.
They were just itching to get them to spend their money buying US stocks...
Like, "Are they crazy, gawd how can we get that money?!! They should "invest" in US stocks, oh gawwwwddd...."
All salivating and drooling blood suckers, it was disgusting.
So much for those high profile college degrees!
Andrew Lahde's $80m Los Angeles-based firm Lahde Capital Management in Los Angeles made a huge return last year by betting against subprime mortgages.
Yesterday the 37-year-old told his clients that he had hated the business and had only been in it for the money. And after declaring he would no longer manage money for other people, because he had enough of his own, Lahde said that instead he intended to repair his stress-damaged health; he made it clear he would not miss the financial world.
"The low-hanging fruit, ie idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking," he wrote. "These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government," he said.
"All of this behaviour supporting the aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America."...
So, Hicks and CrackerNutheads out there, the 64 millions Americano-devalued dollars question is:
"Is the Americano roasted yet, and if not, how long before the Americano will be roasted slowly, nicely and juicely like a snapper turtle skewered on a green Chinese bamboo stick from mouth to ass sizzling, fat popping, succulent marinated chunk of turtle meat oozing with aromatic tallow on a bed of white hot charcoal ?"
DUMB F*CK.
Nothing will bring change, especially from your pathetic Messiah.
The same people are just waiting for the next ponzi scheme to come by so they can jump right in. I think that you've been brainwashed by types like the idiot Olbermann and his angry lesbo, and the corner-of-the-mouth-spit-build up-Chris Matthews.
Seriously, I feel sorry for sheeple who believe that the Empty Suit Messiah will wave his magic teleprompter and somehow everything will be tip-top in America. Pullez, have you seen his list of campaign donors and the way his democratic Congress has been acting since 2006? Have you seen all the pork inside the bailout bill to groups like Acorn and La Raza? Oh, don't forget the 20 million illegals who are going to get an American citizenship next year and then will be dumped on welfare and Universal Healthcare for you idiots to pay. Just because all those pot smoker fools still live with their parents or in dorms, doesn't mean they won't have to pay to the nose for all the welfare/socialist orgy that's coming.
To see 100k sheep gathering to see an Empty Suit is prove enough that nothing will change. Americans are still stupid.
Keith,
Please go on record with some of your gem stock picks, so a year from now you can tell us that "A year ago I told your I was buying X, Y, and Z stocks" and prove your genius all over again.
I guess I see more bad things coming than good!
This whole mess is becoming the biggest unwinding, ponzi driven, economic downsizing, 401(k) obliterating, retail capsizing, auto industry collapse ever to hit the planet!
Way before we see any good to come we will see more scams, more graft, more I.D. theft, more asset selling and general theft.
The gambling community of the world who needs high percentage returns has been hurt! They are looking for the next bubble with such anticipation that they are willing to take whatever risk necessary to keep on partying.
I suspect the real high rollers will be looking to Vegas, Atlantic City and other gambling meccas to fund their lifestyles.
Unfortunately, not all will be winners as the great housing, credit bubble ponzi scheme crashes the economies of the world.
Good luck to all!
The good thing to come, cash will be king! Debt will be scorned!
HEY JOHN GALT HATES YOU -
I edited one of your sentences to create a true statement:
. . . Mr. Peikoff . . . is just a petty little second hander . . .
I think "CrisisGuy" is right.
Right On, Rational Renter. It's too early to start wondering about what good might come out of the current "crisis in confidence" of delicate flower bankers and their enormous piles of cash. Here's the DC City Paper's funny blog on housing:
http://tinyurl.com/5c96mn
Keith, post up some of the dozens of relevant stories pouring out for comment. And bring back the humor, God knows we need it!
KEITH,
WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!?!?!?!
LOOK AT THE LINK I POSTED, IT WILL MAKE YOU THROW UP!!
YOU LIVE IN THE UK AND YOU DID NOT READ THIS?!?!?!?!
$70 BILLION OF THE $700 BILLION BAIL-OUT TO PAY BONUSES FOR WALL STREET BANKERS/STAFF PAID BY THE U.S. TAXPAYERS!!!!
WE ARE ALL
TOOLS
DOLTS
AND DOPES!!!
DOPES!!!
To follow up on the entire line of thinking about "recovery", there simply can't be a recovery while we insist on not correcting ANYTHING about what happened.
The bailouts are literally rewarding the guilty for their criminal acts. Each time a criminal is rewarded for his crime, he generally commits that crime again. But when the criminal is clearly rewarded for his crimes by the same people who should be PUNISHING him for it, then he becomes extremely EAGER to commit that crime again.
At present, there is ZERO indication that we're going to be systematically pursuing borrowers for mortgage fraud, or appraisers for appraisal fraud, or lenders for due-diligence fraud, and government officials for basic dereliction of duty. Since no particular punishments are forthcoming, then all the forces that acted to create the Great American Housing Bubble are just going to create another. It's certain to happen.
When crime becomes THIS lucrative and THIS easy to avoid being prosecuted over, then it becomes part of the culture in short order.
Lots changed.
First time in my life I will be voting for a Dem.
Buying a 5 year old 6 bed/3.5 bath w a pool in California under the calhfa program for $145,000! It last sold in 2003 for $475,000....BWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Cali is giving me special 5.5% because its on "the list" PLUS down Payment assistance, PLUS no PMI, PLUS $7500 from FED....I'm coming out of pocket for $3K and my payment is $817.
Thank you Helicopter Ben, the Demz and Ahhhnold.........
"So much for those high profile college degrees!"
Indeed! I am a 38-year old team lead in a software company with a high school diploma, leading people that have 1 or 2 master's degrees, and I make 1.5-2x as much.
They sit around trying to outdo each other all day, speaking in a very educated-sounding way. In the meantime they aren't producing output for the company! They will never understand it's all about the output! It doesn't help either that I occasionally Google what they are talking about and find them to be totally incorrect.
refuse to buy overpriced said...
HEY JOHN GALT HATES YOU -
I edited one of your sentences to create a true statement:
. . . Mr. Peikoff . . . is just a petty little second hander . . ."
Ominous Parallels is and interesting book but yes Peikoff is petty little second hander. The biggest joke is that Peikoff still thinks that when Ms. Rand said Peikoff was her "intellectual heir" he still thinks she meant it as a compliment.
..."At present, there is ZERO indication that we're going to be systematically pursuing borrowers for mortgage fraud, or appraisers for appraisal fraud, or lenders for due-diligence fraud, and government officials for basic dereliction of duty."..
______________
I think its coming only if Obama gets in, and the charge will be lead by Hillary! She could be more valuable to O being in the Senate than 2nd seat in this regard.
-hopeful.
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