Cruddy rain for the next 3-4 days here. Cool and limited sun as well. Wonderful. Really should not complain, compared to the terrible flooding going on in the Midwest I have it perfect. I thought when major flooding occurred there was utter lawlessness and widespread looting? As far as I can gather from reports, there has been none of either. Makes you wonder.
Absolute Must Read
I will often excerpt or link to the best articles I come across if I fee; that the readers here would benefit from seeing the piece. Today there is an absolute MUST READ from the excellent site OC register. The post has a great slide show that investigates a bunch of SoCal foreclosure listings, as well as some interviews. Great stuff. Here is is, slide show is a bottom:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/article_2067427.php
While some at the FED would have you believe that you cannot spot a bubble until it bursts, common sense tells us that is retarded. Whenever fundamental value is ignored, or easy money is raging into any asset class, there is a good bet a bubble is afoot. Looking at the last sale price for many of the homes on the slide show it is clear that some serious delusion was going on.
Richard Fuld Takes Responsibility
Today LEH released their loss report, and it was what they had already said last week. The CEO Mr. Fuld, who last month saw the bottom, took responsibility for the mess LEH is in. I certainly respect his courage! Though his golden parachute probably adds to his bravado ability.
What this means is that when housing gets worse and LEH is still hemorrhaging cash this summer, you will see Mr. Fuld take a walk into the sunset. The big "change at the top" will be the new "bottom is in" call, but that bottom is going to be a myth.
CEO Pay Breaks Records as Their Incompetence Shatters Assumptions
I cannot even excerpt this sick piece, so just read it already:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080616/executive_compensation.html
Basically, as the financial companies have lost billions of dollars and have had to be recapitalized by the FED (through our tax dollars) the CEO's pay has gone up without a hitch. GM, yes that same company laying off workers and losing money like mad, that CEO pay went up too.
At a time when inflationary pressures are hitting the wallet through the gas, food, and medical expense routes, this kind of thing really rankles me. The FED is bending over for Wall Street and is being made a fool of. I would not care but you and I are going to be on the hook for this money. I say we go collect some back from these fellows, yes? Perhaps they could contribute to the recapitalization of the taxpayer instead?
Have a good night.
4 comments:
Great catch on those two links. So how much longer will this game go on?
I work a night job and make $11/hr. It takes $48.00 to fill my gas tank up. If I have to work almost 5 hours to fill my tank and I need two tanks a month just to work I have to spend roughly $96 per month which is almost 10 hours of my time at work just to get to work. So if my total hours spent at work is 160/hr a month then I have just spent 6.25% of my time working just to get there so I can work. Now here is the catch and my math might be wrong but at what point can I no longer afford to do this job?
$4.50/gal?
$5.00/gal?
Take a guess.
On the bright side I can surf the web now and work and read this blog.
On the bad side I don't get benefits and there are no raises. :(
So with no employers calling to hire I am stuck here just watching everything go to hell. The military career option is looking rather good at this point.
G
PS: Did you all miss me :)
I missed you G.
This is what the FED and CONgress are bringing to America, the same crap that Japan got with it's lost decade. Wipe out the poor and middle class with high inflation of necessities, wages stagnate as employment rises, cost of consumer good fall as demand shrinks, and the downward spiral begins. No amount of rate cuts or helicopter rains is going to fix this and in fact it will only make matters worse.
Kevin
Hang in there G, hopefully something better will open up for you.
After my wife and I were married it took 7 years for me to find a decent job here where I live. Things were tight at the beginning of our marriage but at least we didn't have $4.00 a gallon gas and rising food prices like they are now.
I will hang in there. I have no other choice.
G
PS: I appreciate the support.
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