Goodbye dollar. I'll sure miss ya.

By the way, it really sucks to be living in Europe making dollars and paying expenses in dollars when they're quickly becoming as worthless as German marks in 1923... Thank god for gold!

Come on helicopter Ben - keep those interest rates rising, otherwise, it's down down down for the dollar...

We really needed to start today with a chart of the almighty DOLLAR. We do not know what effect it will eventually have but we have our ideas.

Very simply, and as we have expected since its wicked breakdown 10 days ago, the DOLLAR is cratering...not just going lower...but cratering

We have been believers and have told you many times that our good buddy Greenspan sowed the seeds of this by keeping rates ridiculously too low for too long to protect our economy...when he should have just let things be.

Because of this, we are now dealing with a housing bubble, soaring commodities, soaring oil and a plunging dollar.

Ladies and gentleman, ultimately, this has the potential for a powderkeg. In the past week, the FED...now run by Big Ben Bernanke, almost said that the raising of rates on the short end could stall soon.

We would hate to see what would happen if Big Ben had to raise rates to defend the dollar.

South Florida condos: "Many of the sellers are investors looking to bail"

Folks, you're watching the implosion of the US Housing Bubble in real time. Sit back and watch as the spectacle unfolds.

Panic is now setting in in South Florida. It's Black Monday for investors and flippers there, to be followed by Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday, Black Thursday, ...

Proof of housing slowdown: 25% of condos at Lantana complex are for sale

More proof of the South Florida housing slowdown: roughly a quarter of the 379 condominiums at The Moorings in Lantana are for sale.

A real estate agent with a listing there says many of the sellers are investors looking to bail. The agent, who asked not to be identified, says most of the listings are in the mid-$300,000 range, but some people are asking more than $600,000.

Deerfield Beach housing analyst Jack McCabe doesn't have specifics on The Moorings but said some condo projects have even a larger percentage of units for sale.

Plenty of real estate speculators across the region are getting nervous because they can't afford the payments on these investment properties. The time may come when they'll have to dump the condos for a loss, he said.

"A lot of people are on the hot seat," McCabe said. "They got into real estate but were not that solvent."

A funny mix - the American Dream and $100 a barrel oil

Funny and sad - that nice new Hummer or Armada or Navigator or Land Rover in the driveway of that nice new Toll Brothers house in the far-flung suburbs, and then BAM! - your mortgage payments go up as your ARM adjusts, and your gas station visits feel like the proctologist's office.

So what do you do? Sit in your home with the power off, wondering how you'll afford this over-consumption disaster that you got yourself into.

New oil shock ahead as $100 spike looms

The growing international crisis over Iran's nuclear programme could trigger a catastrophic oil price spike, sending crude prices over $100 a barrel, senior Wall Street analysts are warning.

With prices already at around $72 a barrel, such an increase could mean drivers facing prices of 110p a litre on forecourts, according the the Petrol Retailers Association. Last week Lord Browne, chief executive of BP, warned that prices could rise to £1 as he unveiled bumper $5.27bn profits for the first quarter.

Shell is also expected to announce close to record numbers next week, with analysts expecting profits around $5.57bn, driven largely by the oil price.

A single political shock could be enough to send oil markets into panic, said Adam Sieminski, senior energy economist at Deutsche Bank in New York. 'If we have one more big problem we are going to have triple-digit oil prices.' Sieminski points to confrontation with Iran, a worsening of the situation in Iraq or a recurrence of devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico as potential catalysts for a major rise.

Fannie Mae's long, long way down

Ben, being a relatively smart dude, knows that the next great financial crisis for the US will be the implosion of Fannie Mae, and wants to get ahead of the shock wave.

Too late. The reckless lending sponsored by this quasi-governmental entity will shock future generations, and the congressional hearings in 2009.

The HUD home, Resolution Trust Corporation, Neil Bush, S&L Scandal, Charles Keating affair from the 1980's reinvented itself, as a little company called Fannie Mae.

Bernanke: Treasury should weigh GSE debt limit tool

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday said the U.S. Treasury Department should consider limiting the debt Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can sell if Congress fails to act.
Weighing in on the most contentious issue in the current debate over the companies' business and regulation, Bernanke said the Treasury Department has power to limit their debt issuance and perhaps power over terms and maturities of that debt.

"If we are unable to achieve progress through Congress, I don't think Treasury should abandon that power," Bernanke told the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

"I think it should consider using it if it believes that the systemic risks being generated by the portfolios greatly outweigh the benefits that are mandated by the affordable housing mandate," he said.

Latest Centex advertisement. Yup, those new home sales numbers are making sense now

It's called a firesale. Get out why you still can. Clear through dead inventory. Get some of your investment back before there's nothing left.

Oh, those recent Centex buyers sure have to be pissed. Losing $100,000 because you bought at the top, took the recommendation of your realtor and Centex salesperson, and then BAM - they screw you.

But... $100,000 will seem like childs play in a few more months.

So, any HP'ers go out and invest in gold over the past couple of months?

$654 an ounce last week, dollar crashing, Iran wigging out, gas prices at $3 per gallon, Helicopter Ben getting weak in the knees, inflation running amok, and yet, some still think gold is overvalued.

You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Gold May Gain for Eighth Week on Iran Standoff, Survey Says

Gold may rise for an eighth week, surpassing the highest prices since 1980, on speculation the escalating dispute over Iran's nuclear program will spark demand for bullion as a haven, a Bloomberg News survey shows.

Twenty-one of 32 traders, investors and analysts surveyed from Sydney to Chicago on April 27 and April 28 advised buying gold, which rose $19 to $654.50 an ounce last week in New York. Five advised selling. Six were neutral.

Gold climbed above $650 for the first time in 25 years after Iran failed to meet an April 28 deadline to cooperate with United Nations inspectors who are trying to determine if the country is making a nuclear bomb. Prices are up 21 percent since early January, when Iran resumed nuclear research

The end of the bubble - when some spoilsport whispers "pyramid scheme".

HP didn't cause the end of the bubble, but the critical mass that HP was part of did for sure.

Awareness, combined with desire to get out before the crash, is what causes the end of all bubbles. This one included. And now the mad dash to get out is underway (see Phoenix listings for an example). And think, we're just getting started.

It's a long, long, long way down.

If No One Whispered 'Housing Bubble,' There'd Be No Worry

A pyramid scheme, with each new round of players making earlier rounds richer, is a foolproof way to make money — until it isn't.

What is the breaking point? Probably about the time some spoilsport whispers "pyramid scheme," and there's a mad dash for the exits.

Echoes of housing prices? Not exactly, because you can't flee the housing market without living on the street. Still, an almost pyramid-like frenzy has engulfed some areas in recent years, with buyers paying ever-loftier prices for homes, convinced that within months they will find someone who will pay even more for them.

If there are whispers of a "housing bubble" — ominous words that could make check-writing hands distinctly shaky — most people still haven't heard them. As recently as a year ago, according to a survey by the Gallup Organization, just 23 percent of Americans were even moderately familiar with the term. In the latest survey, that jumped to 40 percent.

And 24 percent now say that a bubble is likely within a year — though, naturally, only 7 percent expect it in their own backyard