tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post2488241722382780023..comments2024-02-26T05:51:17.859-05:00Comments on Economic Disconnect: Just Say What You MeanEconomicDisconnecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02802078645713106743noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-72006220313258802812009-02-05T15:10:00.000-05:002009-02-05T15:10:00.000-05:00Great post btw. Just saw this on bloomberg"""Gross...Great post btw. <BR/><BR/><BR/>Just saw this on bloomberg<BR/><BR/>"""Gross Says U.S. Must Spend Trillions to Avoid Entering `Mini Depression' """<BR/><BR/><BR/>more of the same ...just more of the same!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-60291921020602159632009-02-05T12:11:00.000-05:002009-02-05T12:11:00.000-05:00Back to 1997 So how far will the price of your hom...Back to 1997 <BR/><BR/>So how far will the price of your home on the range fall? Citing historical data and trends, Talbott concludes that real prices should return to their average 1997 levels, adjusted for inflation. Why 1997? A 120-year historical graph shows that real home prices in the U.S. stayed relatively flat for 100 years, then began rising in 1981 and surged from 1997 to 2006. <BR/><BR/>A return to 1997 prices “would get us out of the heady, crazy days from 1997 to 2006 in which banks were lending large amounts of money under poor supervision and aggressive terms.” <BR/><BR/>How did we get into this mess? Talbott blames everyone from average Americans who caught “the greed bug” to hedge funds and credit-default swaps. The single biggest error, he says, was for U.S. citizens to allow their national politicians to take large campaign contributions from big business and Wall Street -- a theme Kevin Phillips developed in “Bad Money.” <BR/><BR/>‘No Accident’ <BR/><BR/>“This crisis was no accident,” he says. It began, in Talbot’s view, because the U.S. government was “co-opted” into deregulating the financial industry. Politicians were “paid to deregulate industry,” taking billions of dollars each year in campaign contributions. <BR/><BR/>His investment advice for this prolonged recession: Hang on to cash and invest in gold or Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS. If he had to invest in stocks, he would put his money in China. <BR/>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=a8mdg7z0u7Dw&refer=home<BR/><BR/>Winner, winner, chicken dinner.<BR/>KevinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-29533892288793092542009-02-05T09:13:00.000-05:002009-02-05T09:13:00.000-05:00"I can see the bottom."I love that one. Why don't ..."I can see the bottom."<BR/><BR/>I love that one. Why don't you just say, "I can see the pit and it's bottomless."<BR/><BR/>Mexico is in the news again. Mish has an interesting post on currency interventions around the globe, from Russia to Japan, Indonesia to Kazakhstan, Poland to Hungary, and Mexico, where the peso is at a record low. This is not good.<BR/><BR/>I remember back in 1982 when the peso devalued from roughly 10-to-1 to about 50-to-1 against the dollar. It was an economic disaster. In South Texas there were over 44,000 foreclosures, most of them owned by Mexican nationals, in the first month alone. 1/3 of the real estate companies went bankrupt and disappeared in 90 days. (This was when my mother started selling repossessed homes; she not only survived the crisis but prospered.)<BR/><BR/>How long was it before the economy of this area finally recovered and started growing again? 25 years.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and on a side note, I went to a board meeting the other day, and the association was complaining that we lost 300 dues paying Realtors over the last year. Too bad, so sad. Fewer than 1/5 of Realtors work with repossessed homes--it's too much work and most don't have the capital to make utilities deposits, cleaning, maintenance and repairs costs. But that's great for us--lots of work, little competition. My mother and I listed and sold over 100 homes last year, everything from dumps to mansions, and we currently have more homes on the market now than at any time in the 35 year history of our company. Repos are the only homes that sell in a down market, so I'm looking forward to the next several years.<BR/><BR/>Anyone who thinks we are anywhere near the bottom of this current crap hole is deluded on sewage. I'm looking at a long, severe recession, possibly a global depression. And we're probably years away from the bottom of that.<BR/><BR/>"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you."<BR/><BR/>I love that one too. Why don't you just say, "I'm a corrupt politican, and I'm here for your money."<BR/><BR/>Oh, right, because that won't work.GawainsGhosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16719480047404817864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-30209528272543218862009-02-05T00:33:00.000-05:002009-02-05T00:33:00.000-05:00Kevin,Would you like fries with that?What about ex...Kevin,<BR/><BR/>Would you like fries with that?<BR/>What about extra biggie size it?<BR/>Extra value meal?<BR/><BR/>So my leatherman setup came in the mail today and it's now nestled nicely in my belt line.<BR/><BR/>G <BR/><BR/>PS: Don't worry fearless leader your driveway will soon be clear of frozen H20 and it will be time to grill again! ;)-<Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-70842741344451144032009-02-04T23:07:00.000-05:002009-02-04T23:07:00.000-05:00Mcdonald's Corp (MCD.N), the world's largest fast-...Mcdonald's Corp (MCD.N), the world's largest fast-food chain, has cut some prices by as much as a third in China where once booming economic growth has slumped amid the global financial crisis.<BR/><BR/>In what the company calls "the best ever value meal combination" in China, McDonald's cut about 40 percent of prices, the company said. Fifty percent of its products were now selling at the same level as 10 years ago or lower<BR/>http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE5140MA20090205<BR/><BR/>It's deleverageing, it's deflationary, it's delicious.<BR/><BR/>KevinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-13065394271632865612009-02-04T22:03:00.000-05:002009-02-04T22:03:00.000-05:00Anyone else miss Hanky Paulson?Bye bye Hanky we wi...Anyone else miss Hanky Paulson?<BR/><BR/>Bye bye Hanky we will miss your bumbling stuttering!<BR/><BR/>and last but not lease...<BR/><BR/>Hello TIMMAY GUIDNER!<BR/><BR/>TIMMAY!<BR/><BR/>GAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-40434859680257002642009-02-04T21:32:00.000-05:002009-02-04T21:32:00.000-05:00GYSCMy favoriteBut the U.S. government has a techn...GYSC<BR/>My favorite<BR/><BR/>But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation. <BR/><BR/>BOJ offers to buy Y275 bln JGBs outright from Feb. 10<BR/>http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUST517220090205<BR/><BR/>Alrighty then.<BR/><BR/>KevinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-43201139270817076392009-02-04T20:38:00.000-05:002009-02-04T20:38:00.000-05:00"We have to act immediately"Translation; ...while ..."We have to act immediately"<BR/><BR/>Translation; ...while you are still bent over.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1207581886255094115.post-46359482089847716792009-02-04T20:06:00.000-05:002009-02-04T20:06:00.000-05:00Great post, absolutely great!Great post, absolutely great!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com