What will Americans cut back on the most as the housing crash continues, the Housing ATM remains closed, incomes remain flat, and inflation roars?

1) Eating out at restaurants

2) Taking nice vacations

3) Entertainment (bowling, movies, clubs, etc)

4) Shopping (clothing, cars, electronics, etc)

5) Vices (strippers, gambling, drugs and hookers)

6) Other (_______)

Here's some raw footage from the food riots in Haiti - coming to a country near you

To go from Casey Serin buying up homes in California he couldn't pay for with liar's loans, to food riots in Haiti and rice shortages in Asia, who'd have thunk. But like six degrees of Kevin Bacon, you can get from A (housing bubble) to F (food riots) pretty quick if you work it through.

And remember, everytime you put ethanol in your SUV, you starve someone somewhere.

Yum! It's Ben Bernanke Credit Crunch for Breakfast Again! Free helicopter included!

Note to the MSM: We are not having a SUBPRIME PROBLEM. We are having a CREDIT PROBLEM as the smart people in the room and many on this blog point out.

SUBPRIME was just the start. Now we move into Alt-A, Option ARMs, Piggybacks, Prime loans, credit card loans, student loans, auto loans, commercial loans and every other credit instrument known to man.

Get those helicopters ready. And say goodbye to the American Dollar, thank you Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke.

Bank of England head Mervyn King warns of worldwide stock market crash

Well, there's something you don't see every day.

But then again, you don't see the biggest debt, credit and real estate bubbles in recorded human history go bust every day either.

You live in interesting times HP'ers. Just how interesting is still to be seen.

Markets poised for severe fall, says King

The Bank of England Governor has issued an extremely unusual warning on world stock markets, indicating that shares may be heading for a major fall.

Mervyn King said the full impact of the credit crunch had not yet been felt on equity markets in the West and in developing countries, saying that the possibility of share price falls were one of the biggest risks facing the world economy.

"It is very striking that despite the developments we've seen in the last three months , despite the stresses and strains in the banking sector , equity prices are higher now than they were in August," he said, unveiling the Bank's Inflation Report, which said the strength of share prices had been "surprising".

He added: "This is true around the world, and in emerging markets they're 20pc higher. There must be some downside risks there.

Ladies and Gentlemen I've found our new Casey Serin. A 24-year old kid with $300,000 in unsecured debt: Introducing "Debt Kid"

Hundreds of years from now when they study this brief period of debt stupidity (2001 - 2007), they might find Debt Kid (along with HousingPANIC of course).

Enjoy.

Or on second thought, be afraid. Be very afraid.

DebtKid.com
my journey to repay over 300K in unsecured debt…I am 24.

I got myself into 300K+ of unsecured debt. I recently avoided foreclosure by short selling my home. I've been trying to build my business income up. This while trying to deal with being over 300K in debt and now living in my office. Let's just say my life ain't boring.

A few things I need to decide this week:

#1. Should I consolidate my office into a “home office”? I’ve been in this building for over 2 years now. My office space is a good deal, but with only 2 full time employees (myself included) and one part-timer, shouldn’t I work from home? I’m looking at a place tomorrow that would be larger than my current office (yet also provide a “real” place to live. ahh….a real mattress!).

#2. Can I file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy? We are getting to crunch time now on the BK filing. If I’m going to do it (I have to at this point, it’s the only thing that makes sense all around) I need to get it all figured out this week. I made more progress on the paperwork today, but it’s difficult finding time when my employees are not around (and I have a friend visiting from out of town! yikes…)

#3. Can I win the contest at DCC? (go here to vote for me, please leave a comment too!) If I can win that contest I may just have enough money to get a place I’m looking at that could hold both myself and my business! (for only $200 more. IE, with no business lease @ $800/month this place would only cost me 1K/month, and allow a place for my business and personal life!). Obviously I’m hoping I can win this contest!

#4. Will I ever be back to my “old self”? I don’t think so. I don’t think I want to be. As I slowly shed every piece of my former life (big house, lots of crap, fake relationships, fancy office?), I’m feeling more and more genuine and real and honest…and it’s wonderful.

#5. Will I ever make it out of this hole? I don’t know. I’m still so right on the edge right now….

What do you think?

It's all over folks (in America). The housing bubble is a distant memory, the housing crash and mortgage meltdown will now go on and on and on and on

Except for Lawrence Yun and the NAR, and their lying deceiving on-commission ramen-eating realtor minions, is ANYONE still pumping housing (in the US)?

It's over. It's so pets.com. It's so tulip bulb.

Manias, Panics and Crashes told everyone everything they needed to know. Yet so many chose to deny the truth. Or just remain ignorant.

Too bad.

They should have listened.

And now, the housing crash goes country by country.

England - you're next.

BofA CEO: "We are close to a time when we'll look back and say we did some stupid things". Wells Fargo CEO: "this will blow up"

HousingPANIC to mortgage lenders and bank CEOs:


You did some really f*cking stupid things.


Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis said a so-called credit bubble is about to break after six years of historically low interest rates and relaxed lending criteria.


``We are close to a time when we'll look back and say we did some stupid things,'' Lewis said, speaking at a lunch at the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce in Zurich. ``We need a little more sanity in a period in which everyone feels invincible and thinks this is different.''

Lewis isn't the only U.S. bank executive who expects that credit conditions will change. Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive Officer Richard Kovacevich said in December that ``I am not a forecaster of the future; I'm a historian. And history says this will blow up. It always has. And there will be some blood on the street.''

Buy-to-let lenders in the UK absolutely lose their freaking minds

Ever watch someone with a cocaine addiction grab a hefty bag of the white stuff and jump in? That's what I feel like watching UK lenders go absolutely bonkers in the "buy-to-let" space, loans for would-be property barons (i.e. people who make $40,000 a year) to buy up millions of pounds worth of apartments ("flats").

You used to have to prove you had rental income that represented 130% of your interest payment. Since that's completely not possible these days, as rent covers just a fraction of carrying costs and every flat bought has significant negative cash flow, these brilliant lenders have just chucked the rule. Rent? Who needs rent! Because property values can only go up and up and up and up! Par-ty!

People of the world, I have a message for you: THE INEVITABLE DEBT BUBBLE CRASH IS GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL EVENT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN. GET READY.

Financial Times April 27 - Loan standards for buy-to-lets slide

Lenders are offering mortgages to buy-to-let landlords without requiring any minimum rental cover or proof of income, even though returns have sunk to record lows in the 10-year-old market.

Other lenders are offering buy-to-let mortgage loans of up to £20m to help people build up property empires, prompting fears of a bubble in the popular market.

Multi-million pound loans are being offered to people on modest salaries. Some lenders have begun to offer mortgages to people with poor credit histories, even considering those having just emerged from bankruptcy.

The relaxation of lending criteria comes as landlords struggle to cover their mortgage payments amid higher interest rates and rents that have lagged property prices in recent years.