Does he mean it?

Hank Paulson, for the first time in memory, has said something I agree with.

"A correction was inevitable and the sooner we work through it, with a minimum of disorder, the sooner we will see home values stabilize, more buyers return to the housing market, and housing will again contribute to economic growth," he said. Despite calls to "do something about housing," the focus should be on "choosing policies that minimize the impact of -- but do not slow -- the housing correction," Paulson said.

First McCain says screw you idiot home "owner" morons. Now Paulson says this. Could the GOP actually be growing a backbone and standing up to the socialism proposed by Hill-a-bama? Could the party actually be going back to its roots of limited government?

Is this all one big April Fool's hoax?

All together now......AWWWWWHHHH

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (CNNMoney.com) -- Kent and Mysti Cope met and fell in love working for one of the nation's top subprime lenders. Now, their life has been turned upside down after the sudden implosion of the subprime mortgage industry.

No I double checked this was not an Onion article.

Today, they're trying to get by on his unemployment benefits of about $450 a week, which covers only about an eighth of the basic payments they owe every month.

But since they were high flying mortgage brokers making $200Kish a year each, they were prudent and put some $$ aside for just this kind of situation right? And they didn't go crazy spending on useless shit or a vastly inflated house right?

Their home equity line, mortgage, health and life insurance premiums alone cost about $10,000 a month. Still, they are trying to hang onto what they call their dream home with a view of the Pacific Ocean where they live with Mysti's 11-year old son.

Kent estimates the mountainside home in San Clemente, Calif., which they bought in 2005, is worth 20% less than it was a year ago. And in the current market, he said he's not sure he could sell it for even that amount.

So if he estimates 20%, it's really about 30% and falling like a rock. If anyone on the planet should have known better than to buy a house in 2005 it was a mortgage broker. But no, he bought at the absolute peak of the market in California. Insurance is maybe $1000 a month for the whole family. So that means they spend $9000 a month on their mortgage. $9000 a month. I can't begin to fathom that. I am willing to bet anything they could rent that house for under $4000 a month.

And yet the MSM once again portrays them as victims in need of Obamaesque bailouts.

The Copes are just two of many in Orange County, formerly the center of the nation's subprime lending industry, now trying to move on. Nearly 9,000 jobs have been lost there in the past year, with more than 4,000 alone in Irvine, where New Century was based.

And those jobs ain't never coming back. And that is a good thing. These people were nothing but middlemen. They provided no service other than paper shuffling. The need for a mortgage broker went away long ago, as did the need for a stock broker and a travel agent. Sure there are still a few around here and there, but they are the exception to the rule. Mortgage brokers along with realtors will go the same route.

Get used to it Kent and Mysti. Your glory days are well behind you. Had you been smart you would have stuffed every dime you made into the proverbial bank. You could walk away now with seven figures and never looked back. Instead you took the greedy, gotta have the oceanfront house, the luxury cars, the Fiji trips all financed by a HELOC route. Kent is 60 years old and has a $9000 a month mortgage with no income and spent savings. If t hat is not the definition of moron, I don't know what is.

They were stupid. They were greedy. And they deserve the years of pain that is coming down the road. Mysti is easy on the eyes. If she really wants to keep that 'dream house' of hers there is always the strip club by the airport route.

Senor McCain is that you?

Anyone who has been reading my rants for any period of time is familiar with my disliek of Senor errr Senator John McCain. He was and is Mr. Amnesty. He voted against cutting taxes 'for the rich', he was the McCain in McCain-Feingold and he was the founding member of the Gang of 14.

Ever since he won the primary about 2 months ago the punditry has been saying he needs to reach out to (cue evil music) conservatives. How could he do it asked the liberals in the MSM? Talk about abortion since we all know every conservative is a bible thumping abortion nut they said. Say we'll stay in Iraq for 100 years since we all know ever redneck red-stater out there wants to kills as many of them MOO-SLIMS as possible they said.

Turns out all he had to do was say government is not there to bail out dolts, crackheads, drifters, grifters and yokels. In other words the American home "buying" public too stupid to read a simple contract. While Hill-a-bama was out tripping over itself with bigger, costlier and complex bailout plans, McCain laid it out nice and clearly. You fucked up, now deal with it.

I'm not saying I'm getting out the checkbook and sending him money any time soon. But if for the next few months he keeps with this, I might reconsider. Then again he is what, 92 years old and could very well have forgotten everything he said.

Senile Home Builders

Housing is crashing. Homes are not selling. You are a builder with inventory is sitting for month after month after month, year after year. So what do you do? Increase the price of course. This is a new (well 3 year old new now) house for sale in East Cobb. On the market for over 800 days and counting.

3406 NIRMAL CT, Marietta, GA 30068

Price Increased: 04/05/06 -- $835,000 to $869,000
Price Reduced: 08/09/06 -- $869,000 to $835,000
Price Increased: 01/10/07 -- $835,000 to $889,900
Price Increased: 03/30/07 -- $889,900 to $954,000
Price Reduced: 06/16/07 -- $954,000 to $884,000

Another one just down the road, on the market for 700+ days.

1185 HAILEY SPRINGS CT, Marietta, GA 30062

Price Reduced: 08/18/07 -- $799,900 to $749,900
Price Increased: 01/03/08 -- $749,900 to $799,900

Good luck with all that guys.

I'm turning on all my lights at 8

In case you haven't been watching TV or reading the MSM propaganda today is turn out your lights and pretend like it's 1708 day. This is yet a new low in the stupidity of this movement led by Al Gore and his fellow band of travelers. In a show of support for fighting global warming, err climate change (since now global warming includes global cooling) the far left is encouraging us all to turn out the lights for an hour. That's a new one. I knew driving a car made me worse than Hitler. But using electricity? Wow I never knew that was now on the do it and you are an asshole list. What the fuck's next? The don't flush your toilet day?

This is what the so-called enviro movement is all about. Has nothing to do with the environment. It has everything to do with destroying the modern, western, capitalist system. Stop people from driving. Stop people from using electricity. Stop people from using all forms of technology until we are fulfilling some kind of Stalinesque dream of collectivist farming.

I will be turning on every light in the house during the anointed hour and telling Al and the rest of his minions a big fat fuck you and thank you very much.

Joke Of The Day

From Yahoo Finance:

A key inflation gauge that is tied to consumer spending showed a minuscule 0.1 percent gain in February, after excluding energy and food. Over the past 12 months, this gauge, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, is up by 2 percent, putting it back within the Fed's 1 percent to 2 percent comfort zone for core inflation.

If you believe inflation is between 1 and 2 %, then I have some lovely beach front property to show you in Idaho.

Oh wait I see now, this is excluding energy and food. Phew! Since I never eat, or drive, or heat or cool my home, I guess there's nothing to worry about.

Obama Marx

"According to John McCain he said the best thing for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen.”
- the MESSIAH OBAMA 3/27/08

And what is exactly is wrong with that approach Mr. O? This is a much better approach than what you propose which is classic socialism. Spend $30B to prop up prices. Yeah like $30B will do much for a market where TRILLIONS of dollars are in play. And just to sound like a total bafoon he suggested on CNBC that the government should put a floor on housing prices. Uhm you mean like when Jimmah Cahtah tried to put a price ceiling on things in the 1970s? How did all that work out?

How would he propose this floor be enforced? Would we have a new bureaucracy called the Home Evaluation Department?. Would the HED would come to every home in the land and assign a value to it. Then anyone trying to sell their house for lower than the assigned HED value would be what...fined, imprisoned? What if I want to sell my house below the HED floor? Will I need to get a permit? Would my buyer need a permit? Would I have to pay the difference in some sort of tax? And would my the value of teh house have to be re-evaluated every year? Every 2 years? It is ludicrous to even suggest the idea of a government imposed floor on anything, let alone something as complex as housing. This is the kind of supposed new thinking that's coming from the Obama camp.

People like the MESSIAH OBAMA just don't get it. If you fuck with the free market in order to do X, the opposite of X happens. The classic example is rent control. NYC has had rent control for decades. And it has the most expensive rents in the country. Assigning a floor to housing will only guarantee that housing values will fall twice as fast in the long run.

With rent control what happens is builders stop building. If they know the rent they can get is capped, they won't build since it is not profitable. So supply goes down and a sever shortage of housing appears. If you have ever tried to find an apartment in NYC you know what I am talking about.

With Obama's plan the reverse would happen. Builders would overbuild. If you as a builder know that no matter what, you will sell a house for $300K, and it costs you less than $300K to build, you will build 24/7/365. Every house you build is automatically profitable. Doesn't matter the quality, doesn't matter if it's a house anyone needs, you build since you know there is a floor on pricing and the govt will buy that house from you. Instead of having 3-4 million empty homes now, there will be 6-8 million empty homes. Then in order to solve the 'empty homes crisis' the government will lift the floor, causing prices to drop to much lower levels than when the floor was imposed.

It is Econ 101 and is guaranteed to happen every time.

I think it may finally start dawning on people what I have been saying for a long time. Despite all the pleasant speeches, the smiles, the hope, the change, the audacity of hope, the MESSIAH OBAMA is nothing more than a far-left liberal socialist. For crying out loud, this man is considered to the left of Ted Kennedy. I didn't think that was even possible.

Given that most Americans don't have a clue about anything, they are easily swindled by the smooth polished looks of Obama. He's young, he's smart, he speaks well and he makes guys like Chris Matthews get a funny tingle up his leg. So he is a great con man when it comes right down to it. He says nothing yet says it well.

That can only work for so long. Eventually even the densest of our fellow citizens will start asking questions. Simple questions, like what does this guy stand for. And when the answer is tax anything that moves, spend more money, tax anything that moves again and spend even more money, some people will start having second thoughts.

The bailout of idiots, also known as the bailout of home "owners" may be the catalyst. Polls show that the country is about 50/50 on whether to bail out the idiots or not. The way I see it of the 50 percent that favors, 49.99% will vote Democrat no matter what. After all the Democrat vote is comprised of the very same idiots who need a government handout. The other 50% are the 50% that keep things moving in this country. This group comprises a lot of 'gee wouldn't it be neat-o benito to have a black prez'. But when they find out their tax dollars will be used to bail out idiots, they won't like him as much. And the same when they find out he wants to spend hundreds of billions on foreign aid. Or when they find ou that when the MESSIAH OBAMA says 'tax the rich' he really means tax the middle class.

Hillary talks a lot of the same talk as the MESSIAH OBAMA. The difference is that he actually means what he says. She sounds like a leftist loon during the primaries but she, like Bill, will govern from the center with the occasional Welfare Bill thrown in there for good measure.

VIKAS BAJAJ of the NY Times says:

Little by little, millions of Americans surrendered equity in their homes in recent ears. Lulled by good times, they borrowed — sometimes heavily — against the roofs over their heads. Now the bill is coming due. As the housing market spirals onward, home equity loans, which turn home sweet home into cash sweet cash, are becoming the next flash point in the mortgage crisis. Americans owe a staggering $1.1 trillion on home equity loans — and banks are increasingly worried they may not get some of that money back.

It is a remarkable turnabout for the many Americans who have come to regard a home as an A.T.M. with three bedrooms and 1.5 baths. When times were good, they borrowed against their homes to pay for all sorts of things, from new cars to college educations to a home theater. Lenders also encouraged many aspiring homeowners to take out not one but two mortgages simultaneously — ordinary ones plus “piggyback” loans — to avoid putting any cash down.

I think someone's been reading this and other blogs. About damn time you lazy reporters in the MSM clued in to this. I and other have been saying this for years.

I love the line 'banks are increasingly worried'. Uhm you mean the same banks who can't get the deadbeat slackers to pay their 1st mortgage are surprised that the deadbeats can't and won't pay back the 2nd?

But fear not, I'm sure as I type this a politician is coming up with a solution to the...cue scary music...crisis. Everything is a crisis these days. Gas crisis. Mortgage crisis. Health care crisis. Education crisis. American Idol voted off Chekeezii Weezie crisis.

And what's this? Americans owe a "staggering" $1.1T? Why is that so staggering Vikas? The federal gubermint owes $10T. Jorge W. along with his good pal Alan Greenspan encouraged anyone with a pulse to borrow as much as they could to fund the 'American Dream' of home ownership. I'm surprised it's only $1.1T myself. Compared to the recklessness of the US government, American home"owners" have behaved quite responsibly.

And Vikas, what in the world do you mean the housing crash is spiralling downward? I read just this week that realtors are saying all is well and we should all go out and buy a house. Many expert economists are saying the same thing. So either you are wrong and the housing market is fine, in which case we don't need a bailout and all this mortgage crisis business will go away on its own. Or the so-called experts are lying through their teeth and the worst is yet to come.

I know I am asking a lot of an MSM reporter to digest Vikas. I am asking for analysis in your writing and not merely a regurgitation of the last press release.

Who are these people?

Lennar came out with bad numbers today. No surprise there. Sales down 60%. Big, big losses, etc. Although the losses were better than some had predicted, meaning a 5% rally today for home builders. Glad I got in and out of those KBH puts quickly. Bought for $1.30, sold for $1.70. Gotta love a 30% return in less than 48 hours.

But this is the part I don't get. Lennar's sales didn't frop by 100%. Which means that during the last quarter there were people who bought homes from this company. People willingly bought a new house in the midst of the worst housing crash in known memory. So my question is who are these people? How low does one's IQ have to be to buy a house for $X when you very well know that house will be worth less than $X tomorrow? Are these people stupid or do they not know any better? Do they not watch the news? Are they so brainwashed by 'HOUSING NEVER GOES DOWN' that they throw all common sense away?

I suspect a lot of these people are single womyn who as we've been told by the MSM are empowering themselves by drowning in debt. And many more of these purchases, I suspect are by couples, where the womyn of the family demands the McMansion in order to impress the friends. So what if the husband has to work 70 hours and spend another 20 hours a week commuting? Gotta have da bling to show off to the girls. Can't have your friends rolling up to a rental. UGH.

As I see it during the boom/mania, guys wanted in on the action to make money. They didn't give a shit about owning a house, they figured, there's money to be made, let's do it. I know I'm speaking from experience. When I bought my house, I didn't really want one. I was perfectly content living in my very nice 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment, 5 minutes from work that cost $950 a month in rent including utilities. It had a fireplace, 11' ceilings, a balcony overlooking a courtyard, 3 pools in the complex. But I figured hell, if I buy a house I can make a killing. I bought and I did, as I also knew when to sell it.

If I were single today, I would want nothing to do with owning a house. Now that the gold has run out of the mine, I suspect lots of men folk, especially the youngens couldn't give a shit about owning the 'American Dream'. As long as there is cold beer in the apartment fridge, life is just fine.

Yeah I know I am stereotyping and being a sexist pig. But you know it's true.

Bailout Bingo

The Fed opened up one big as can of Pandora's Box whoopass with the Bear Sterns bailout. Having given idiot billionaires on Wall St. a $30B handout, the far left is now - rightfully - calling for a similar bailout for idiot home "owners". Barney Frank (the Dem Rep. from Mass who likes to hang with gay hookers, and unlike Larry Craig is cheered on by his fellow Dems) and failed presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd have come up with one hell of a bailout. Essentially the government will buy up all mortgages from people who can't afford them. Then they will re-issue those mortgages at 20, 30, 40, 50% off to home "owners" who can now live in the 4500 sq. ft McMansion on $25K a year. The cost of this is unknown but given that potentially $2 TRILLION worth of mortgages could become unaffordable, well you can do the math.

So thanks to the idiocy of the Fed, people who bought 6 houses with $0 down will get to keep those houses. People who refinanced and went on massive shopping sprees with the windfall, will not have to pay the money back. People who outright lied on their loan applications and committed fraud will not only not get prosecuted, they will be rewarded with a 40% decrease in their mortgage payments.

And eventually when the housing market goes to the next boom - and it will happen some day - all these home "owners" will do the exact same thing again.

So for anyone out there who was stupid enough to live within your means over the last few years Frank/Dodd says HA-HA-HA sucker!

To anyone out there who bought a reasonable house that you could afford Frank/Dodd says, "YOU IDIOT".

Smoke em if you got em

I saw what may well be the most disgusting TV commercial I have ever seen. I don't watch much TV so this may have been on for a long time and I missed it. But I did see see it last night and thought are you kidding me? It was a commercial for Chase Bank visa. Couple is at home watching a beat up old TV which has seen better days. The wife gives the sign that yes he can buy a new TV. That in and of itself is offensive in the 'stupid childish man, smart mature woman' media paradigm of the 21st century. Like when the dumb Homer Simpson type tries to fix a leaky faucet, causes a flood and the wife, with that LOOK has to call the plumber. But I digress.

The disgusting part is that the man now goes to the big box store. He looks at the plethora of plasma and LCDs. He is in man heaven. Then he pulls out his phone and through the magic of the interwebs, checks his Chase credit card balance to make sure he has enough on it. I couldn't believe that shit.

These very imbeciles who need to check their credit card balance to buy a TV are the ones foreclosing on their house and crying to Hill-a-bama about how awful it is. The very same cretins who go on TV and talk about how tough life is. And then turn around and spend $3K on a freakin' TV at 18% APR. This is part of the greater pattern of if you have a dollar you must spend a dollar mentality prevalent in society. Hell, even if you don't have a dollar, if you can borrow a dollar, borrow it and spend it. It is reinforced in more subtle ways as well. Ask a so-called expert how much car you should buy and they will say 15% of your gross income. So if I make $100K, you mean I should buy a $15K car? No silly. 15% of your gross income as a monthly payment which means a nice new shiny $80K+ BMW or Range Rover. Buying a car with cash is so 1952 thinking. And besides your neighbor just bought that shiny new BMW, how are you going to look driving in that 4 year old Honda? Think of the children!

Buying a $15K car, if you can in theory, afford a $40K car make you a loser. Same with a house. If you can in theory, afford a $3000 mortgage, buying a house with a $1500 mortgage make you a loser again. And I say in theory because these ratios are arbitrary and made up by lenders/manufacturers/home builders/mortgage brokers, etc. The so called conventional wisdom of how much house or car you should buy was created by people who want to sell you a house or a car. And of course their "standard" is designed to get you to buy as much as possible, regardless of whether you need it or not. It's never about how much should you spend in order to fulfill your housing or transportation needs. It's always what is the maximum monthly payment I can make in order to go further into debt and pay interest for something I don't need. The whole notion is to keep people right at the edge. Spend every dime you earn. Get a $1000 raise, spend $1000 more. Get a $10,000 raise, spend $10,000 more. Find $100,000 on the street, spend $100,0000. It truly is financial slavery.

And now that we are in the midst of the recession the MSM is trotting out sob story after sob story of people worried about their jobs. Oh no, I may lose my job and if I do I'll be sleeping on a park bench because I can't make my payments. Help me Hillary! Here's a hint people: instead of buying a $3K TV at 18%, take that $3K and put in in the bank. Ditto for the $600 phone, the daily $5 Starbucks mocha. And how about you downgrade from the $700 a month BMW lease to a fully paid off $7K 2002 Camry which will get you from A to B just as effectively? Do this for a year or two and accumulate some savings (look up the word if you have never heard of it). Then if you are unemployed temporarily it's not that big a deal. You don't have to freak out. You don't have to panic. You don't have to to run to Hill-a-bama and ask for help like a street beggar. In other words you can be a responsible adult.

There was a story that 1 in 10 people in Ohio are on food stamps. Boo fucking hoo. What I would love to see is a survey of these poor, poor people. I would like to know the value of their cars and TVs. I would love to see the average cable and cell phone bills of these desperate down and out victims of capitalism and globalization. I'd be willing to bet some worthless US dollars that for many of those questions their number would be much higher than mine. Yet I have to pay 1/3 of my income in taxes so these worthless pieces of filth can keep up their lifestyle.

WHAAA???

Hold up. I was reassured by many,many experts on Monday that the worst of the 'credit crisis' was over. Affter all Bear Sterns only lost 75% of its value instead of 95%. And housing sales in February were 2% higher than in January, as has happened since the Jan/Feb after Columbus sailed the ocean blue. The stock market orgasmed to the moon. Happy times were here once again.

Except reality has a habit of slapping these happy optimists in the face.

Here comes word from Goldman Sachs today:

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street banks, brokerages and hedge funds may report $460 billion in credit losses from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, or almost four times the amount already disclosed, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Profits will continue to wane, other analysts said.

If they are saying $460B, then the real number is about $900B. And this is supposedly 4 times more than what was disclosed? Let's analyze what that says.

First off that means that lenders and bankers were either lying when they did the initial disclosure or simply have no clue what the number is and are making shit up as they go along. I think it's more b than a myself, but who knows?

Second if 1/4 of what has been disclosed has led to the mess we're in now, how can quadrupling that amount do anything but vastly expand the mess? How can any sane human being look at this data and say the bottom is here?

My only regret today is that I didn't buy more homebuilder puts.

I'm gonna git you SUCKA

So yesterday looking at the old ticker I thought to myself, wow nasdaq up over 3%. Home sales surging. Goodness, must me time to get out of Dodge once again. So I sold pretty much everything I owned. This was the last of what I bought before the last suckers rally in January. And since I saw the KB Homes went up 9% yesterday I doubled down and bought KBH $25 April puts. If that company survives through 2008 I will be surprised. They build garbage homes in S. California and Las Vegas primarily. Their customers are the people who can't afford houses but bought anyway. Go to a KB neighborhood in Las Vegas and try to find 5 families who have a a valid SSN in the household.

This morning I see futures are down quite a bit. Which means that the euphoria of the fake 'housing crash is over' pronouncement is starting to sink in. The suckers fell for it once again and now they will be slaughtered, once again. The shills in the media are still sticking to the 'housing crash is over because as happens every year, Feb sales were higher than Jan sales' story. Hoping for just a few more pigs to make a move to the slaughter house before the button is pushed.

Lazy

That is the only word to describe the MSM today. Well that and maybe moronic.

As you all read/heard/watched reporters have mini-orgasms about housing sales going up 2.9% in Feb. In the many stories I saw/watched/heard, not one said up 2.9% compared to what. If I told you March 24th's average temperature was 2.9% warmer than Feb 24th's average temperature, would that get you all hot and bothered? Of course not. This is because March is always warmer than Feb (assuming you live north of the equator).

This is exactly what happened and what was reported. And what will happen for the next 2 months. February sales are always higher than January sales. Every year this is the case. And March is higher than February and April is higher than March every year. I have said this before and will say it until I am blue in the face....comparing month to month is meaningless. Comparing year over year is what counts. Do you see ski resorts coming out and saying hey check this out December's revenue was 98% higher than November's revenue, let's party. No and there is a reason for that. Yet the NAR releases this meaningless month over month number and every incompetent "reporter" regurgitates it like a mindless drone.

What the MSM failed to say was that comparing Feb 07 to Feb 08 shows a 24% DECLINE in sales. And given the fact that February 2008 has an extra day, it is closer to 30% lower than February 2007. And 2007 was lower than 2006 which was lower than 2005.

But why let all those pesky facts get in the way of a good suckers rally on Wall St?

closing up shop

So long everyone. My work is done. It seems the recession is over, housing is on fire once again, and the good times are back. I guess George Bush really did know what he was doing after all. Sending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to billionaires was a good idea after all.

Home sales went up in Feb (even though the median price dropped by the sharpest amount since 1999 and when comparing Feb '08 to Feb '07 the number of sales is down 20%). And so the great housing crash is over and 25% a year appreciation is back. Yeah baby!

And stocks are up because instead of Bear Sterns losing 95% of its value, it will only lose 75% of its value. Therefore the doom and gloom of last week has been replaced with unbridled euphoria. Makes sense to me.

So thanks for reading everyone, it's been fun. I'm off to borrow $800K to buy a $700K house and use the remaining $100K to buy KB Home stock on margin.

Ain't life grand?

Experts

In the late 90s as .com fever was sweeping the nation, seemed like every 2nd show on TV was about investing. In the mid 00s every 2nd show on TV was (and for some reason still is) about flipping homes. Now that the recession is upon us, seems like every 2nd show on TV and radio is about money management. The two current gurus on this subject are Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey. Both have syndicated TV and radio shows and sell gajillions of books. Dave brings in the 'Jesus is leading me down the righteous path' angle for those in need of some preaching to go along with their finance advice.

Ramsey is a life long real estate 'investor' and general REIC insider, so I wouldn't expect him to be anything but a shill for the industry. He still is telling his followers that real estate is a can't miss opportunity and this whole housing crash is a nothing to get worked up about. A tiny blip and of course the best time to buy.

Suze Orman on the other hand has it almost right. And I am glad someone is finally telling the great unwashed masses the was things are. She is right that 6 months from now r/e will be no better than today and most likely much worse. She is right that as prices are falling, 1st time buyers are benefiting. She's right in that making 50% off lowball offers costs you nothing and you shouldn't be afraid to insult anyone by doing so.

She is wrong however on the general nature and tone of the article. That is this kind of desperation to buy your first house. Buying a house only makes sense when one of two conditions are met. Home prices are rising or the cost to own is less than the cost of renting the same house. And when I mean the cost to own, I mean mortgage, taxes, maintenance, repairs, insurance, HOA and the lost monthly interest earned from a down payment. If at least one, and preferably two of those conditions are not met, then buying is a bad move. Doesn't matter how great a FICO score you have or how desperate builders are so that they throw in free tile floors. It's all just noise to drown out the fundamentals. And she never mentions this, sticking to the NAR (National Association of (Lying) Realtors) talking points. If a house that is worth $250K was selling for $500K last year, just because it is selling for $400K this doesn't mean you should run out and buy it.

It would be like giving someone advice on buying stocks. Sure company XYZ will decrease from $25 to $15 over the next 6 months. And sure you're better off putting your money in a 3.5% CD instead. But since the stock was at $40 at one point, and you've never owned stock before, you should buy anyway, because stocks are a good investment over 10 years. Sounds like insane advice, yet when the same advice is given with regards to house buying, people act on it and buy houses.

Edmumacated Red Staters

Top 15 High Schools in the country according to Newsweek


1 Talented and Gifted Dallas, TX
2 Science/Engineering Magnet Dallas, TX
3 Stanton College Prep Jacksonville FL
4 Jefferson County IBS Irondale, Alabama
5 Suncoast Community Riviera Beach FL
6 BASIS Charter Tucson, AZ
7 International Academy Bloomfield Hills, MI
8 Oxford Academy Cypress, CA
9 City Honors Buffalo, NY
10 Preuss UCSD La Jolla, CA
11 Academic Magnet North Charleston, SC
12 International School Bellevue, WA
13 H-B Woodlawn Arlington,VA
14 The Early College at Guilford, Greensboro, NC
15 North Hills School Irving, TX

Now I'm not usually one to get all worked up over the red/blue state thing. But nonetheless I was quite surprised to see that the top 6 schools were red. And Texas with the top 2? HUH? I thought Texas was nothing but crazy inbred cowboys. And #4 in Alabama? If I learned anything from the MSM it's that everyone in Alabama is married by the age of 13 and usually to a cousin.

And amazing as it may seem, Boston, San Fran, NYC and Los Angeles are not represented in the top 15. Such bastions of blue, educated, smart, voters and no good high schools to speak of. Yet redneck central Texas, NC, SC, N. Florida (aka South Georgia in the 'north is South and south is North' funkiness of Florida) and Alabama all represented.

How odd.

Londonistan is calling

Thanks to John Derbyshire at National Review for finding this cheery Easter story.

Kid in England joins the military. Goes to Iraq for 3 years. Comes back home, wants to join the Manchester police department. Only there's a problem. He has a 'racist' tattoo on his forearm and therefore his application for employment was denied by the Machester police department on the grounds that it will be offensive to the immigrant community of Manchester.

What is this racist tattoo you may be asking yourself? A swastika? The letters KKK? Nope. His 'racist' tattoo is the word England. Yes, in the year 2008, an English military man, born and raised in England who wants to be an English policeman can not have a tattoo of the word England on his forearm, lest he offend a non-English criminal when apprehending him.

Ehhh wacky Brits you may say. Well yes and no. The Brits are wacky and do some stupid things. But also remember that the next president of this once great land, the MESSIAH OBAMA often talks about making America more liked in the world. I don't think he's talking about Bolivia or Hungary when he says the world. He is talking about England, France and Germany.

The MESSIAH OBAMA wants to give us UK style "FREE" health care. He wants to give us UK style socialism. And he will no doubt want to give us UK style multiculturalism, where being even remotely patriotic is vilified and an automatic disqualification for a gubermint job.The MESSIAH OBAMA refuses to stand when the national anthem is played. He refuses to place his arm over his chest when the pledge of allegiance is read. No surprise there given he attends a virulently anti-American, anti-Semitic church. For Democrats this is nirvana of course and why is will be the nominee and eventually president.

Every union shop in the land is endorsing the MESSIAH OBAMA including police unions. I wonder how they will feel when the directive will come from 1600 Pennsylvania that US flags on uniforms are verbotten. And given how many cops are ex-military, I'm guessing more than a few have some 'racist' tattoos as well. Better start making appointments at the skin graf office boys.

But it's all good though, we will be getting HOPE AND CHANGE and that's all that matters.

I love the smell of recession in the morning

Last night me and the mrs went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner at Cumberland Mall in prestigious (I'm using Realtor speak here) Vinings area of Atlanta. Last time we were there was this past summer and we waited over an hour for a table. Last night the wait was less than 10 minutes, didn't even have a chance to finish my beer at the bar before getting seated.

Guess a lot of those 18% VISAs and MasterCards are starting to hit the limit. Without the HELOC funny money available either, those $8 pieces of cake and $9 margaritas aren't as attractive anymore to $30K millionaire set.

Sat outside and also noticed that unlike the previous visit, the $6 valet parking was rather slow. 4 valets sitting around doing not a hell of a lot. Compare this to last summer when the valet area was overflowing with the P.I.M.P.ed up Benzos, BMWs and of course the ever popular in Atlanta 11MPG Range Rovers (cost $75K, worth $35K 2 years later). I suspect once again that with $4 gas and the credit spigot shut off, the $30K Mil set is holding tight.

While I can see the cool factor of rolling up in the P.I.M.Ped up Rover to the club or fancy shmancy restaurant in the city, why would anyone care about doing so at a suburban mall? I parked about 100 feet from the entrance to the restaurant. I could see my car from where I was eating. When I was done, it took all of 2 minutes to walk to my car. Had I used the valet, it would have taken them 3 times as long for one of them to run to the car and bring it to me. All that with the added bonus of having an illegal alien, most likely with a fake driver licence, drive my car and take a quick look at my registration which has my name and address on it.

Danger, Danger, Danger, we have a full blown crash alert in Las Vegas

10532 Bardilino Street, Las Vegas, NV 89141

- Currently listed on the MLS for $214,000

Previous sales history for this home:

- November 2007 foreclosed upon

- August 2006 sold for $405,000

- July 2001 sold for $172,000

House has lost 48% of its value in less than 2 years, and that is of course assuming someone will pay the full asking price of $214,000.

Just for shits let me remind everyone what the so-called experts were saying around the time some poor sap paid $405,000 for this house:

Iidot #1: Tim Sullivan

"The much ballyhooed housing bubble isn't happening Las Vegas, a real estate consultant said Tuesday. At a housing seminar at the Four Seasons, Tim Sullivan, principal of San Diego-based Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, said a housing bubble would defy all fundamentals of the local market. "The market's not going to hell in a hand basket, and our safety net is California," he said. Sullivan said Las Vegas can't have a housing bubble with this kind of job growth and in-migration"

Idiot Runner Up: Larry Murphy

"Larry Murphy, president of SalesTraq, reported similar numbers. His median new home price was $297,289, up 6.4 percent from October 2004. He has existing home prices at $285,000, relatively flat from $284,500 in September, but up 14 percent from a year ago. Murphy said there is no housing bubble in Las Vegas, nor will there be one in the near future. "Frankly, the vaunted housing bubble is just like Y2K-- a scary proposition put forth by people who do not understand the real estate fundamentals of this market,"

Conflict of interest anyone?

Ben Bernake's house is down $250K in value.

It was worth around $1.1M and now is down to $840K, right at what he bought it for in 2004. And since these valuations are done by realtors and are inflated by at least 10%, it is safe to say his home is worth somewhere south of $800K. Which means he, like millions of others are underwater. And DC is one of the areas that is due for a hell of a lot more price depreciation. His house could very well be worth half of what he paid. Now Benny B is well off. But still, losing $400K has to sting.

Which begs an interesting question? How much of his actions are being undertaken in the name of helping the economy (in his eyes anyway) vs. helping himself? Does he really think destroying the dollar is in the country's best interest? Or does he think, fuck it, I have a $800K loan that will be a lot easier to pay off in 1.60EURO dollars instead of 1.15EURO dollars. I'm inflating my way out of my mess and to hell with everyone else.

And the same goes for the rest of these clowns. Chuck Shumer, Chris Dodd, Hillbama all have sizable amounts of their money tied to real estate. You hear all the talk about Cheney and Haliburton and what a conflict of interest that is. OK fair enough. But what about the multi-million dollar pads in NY, Chicago and DC that the esteemed leaders of the Democratic party own? Where's the conflict of interest outrage when these very same people are trying to use tax payer dollars to for a housing bailout? Mum's the word in the MSM of course. You'd think at least Fox News would say something about it, not even there.

And speaking of the MSM, uber clowns like Katie Kouric, Wolfie Blitzer, Neil Cavuto and the rest....ya think they're taking a hit on their real estate holdings? Of course they are. And what better way to try and minimize that hit than to tell the unwashed masses that everything is A-OK and now is the best time to buy ever.

It's all the same shell game, Dem, Rep, CNN, Fox. All the same bullshit perpetrated by the same group of people.

OH NO! Lenders have stanards

Goodness me. I was horrified to read that the meanie bankers actually have standards again. Before you read further, make sure no child under the age of 16 is around as it may be too scary for them

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just when consumers and the U.S. economy need banks to lend more freely, the mortgage industry is making it harder to borrow -- even for those with good credit. Mortgage insurers, whose backing is required for borrowers who can't afford the traditional 20 percent down payment on a home, have already flagged nearly a quarter of the nation's ZIP codes where they refuse to insure some home loans

The Horror! The Horror! My god somebody please, do something for the sake of the children.

It gets worse:

Banks that have lost billions because of bad bets during the housing boom are now reverting to strict lending standards not seen in nearly 20 years, according to industry data and interviews with lenders.

What is this word they keep mentioning...s-t-a-n-d-a-r-d? I thought since real estate never went down and it was everyone's constitutional right to own the American Dream, there were no standards. Got a pulse? OK here's your $500K loan.

And here is the witty analysis of the MSM peon writing this brilliance:

Lenders' growing leeriness threatens to dampen sellers' already soggy prospects for the spring home-buying season -- and that means more pain for the already battered housing sector and the broader economy

No, no,no. You have it all wrong. I read just this week that many experts are saying the worst is over for housing and now is a great time to buy. I also saw a varierty of talking heads on CNBC say that Benny B saved the day and now is a great time to buy stocks and all this talk of recession is nonsense. How in the world could all that be happening while the spring selling season sees soggy prospects?

But what about those super duper smart guys who think now is the best time ever to buy, will they be hurt? You betcha!

Don Brekke, an equipment operator from Colorado Springs, Colo., tried to buy a bank-owned 1950s ranch home for $113,000. At first he couldn't get a loan because the house was in a potentially declining market, and lenders required a 10 percent down payment, more than he could afford.

Hey Donnie, here's a friendly tip. If you don't have $11,300 available on hand, you have absolutely 0 business being a real estate investor. I mean holy shit people, have you learned nothing from the past 2 years? At least it's good to see lenders have smartened up and no longer throw money around to people like Donnie.

Nope spokse too soon. The government gave him the loan after all with your tax dollars:

Ultimately, he was able to qualify for a 100 percent loan from Colorado's state financing authority, and he plans to close in the coming days. "It was a bunch of headaches -- going around and around to get this done," Brekke said.

Anyone wanna take bets how long before Donnie is crying for bailout #2 because he can't make the payments? Stories like this prove what a mess 50 years of government run schools have created. People can't think critically anymore. They are on auto pilot and their first instinct is I want government shit for free. I want a free house, "FREE" health care, "FREE" retirement, etc. Never mind that you are a worthless deadbeat piece of shit who couldn't make it 3 days on your own without a government lifeline. Never mind that 100 years ago you would have starved to death on the side of a road due to your utter incompetence and lack of intelligence. Forget all that. In the USSA - United Socialist States of America, you qualify for a 100% loan on a house that will be worth 25% less in 2 years, just because you are you, and you are as special as a snowflake, and your self-esteem is the most precious gift out there.

Desperate Seller of the Week

3644 BLAKEFORD WAY, Marietta, GA 30062

Price Reduced: 03/07/07 -- $474,900 to $449,900
Price Reduced: 03/26/07 -- $449,900 to $434,900
Price Reduced: 05/07/07 -- $434,900 to $419,900
Price Reduced: 07/03/07 -- $419,900 to $399,900
Price Reduced: 10/01/07 -- $399,900 to $389,900
Price Reduced: 10/08/07 -- $389,900 to $379,900
Price Reduced: 02/27/08 -- $379,900 to $349,900

On the market for 421 days and no sale even with a 27% reduction in asking price. And lest you think think this is some shithole in a bad part of town, it's not. It's in precious East Cobb where I believe people's shit really does smell like roses. Not as sweet smelling as the shit of those in Buckhead or Alpharetta perhaps, but sweet nonetheless.

Bbbb bbb bbbbut housing is solid in Atlanta, just ask a so-called expert and he'll tell you all is well and homedebtors here have nothing to worry about. Now is the spring selling season and all these houses will be sold super duper fast.

Or so goes the new spin. For you see the 100,000+ houses that didn't sell last spring season will magically find buyers this year. 100,000 new people are suddenly in the market for overpriced houses that weren't in the market last year. And given that this year it is twice as hard to get a mortgage as it was last year, that theory will hold water, I'm sure.

And these sellers will continue to cling to the hope that their house really is special and their $200K house really is worth $400K or $500K or god knows what they think anymore. They will continue to watch CNBC talking heads say the bottom is here. They will continue to see NAR (National Association of (LYING) Realtors) commercials talk about how all this talk of a housing crash is just a bunch of doomers and gloomers. They will watch HGTV and those flip shows and think gee my house is better and damn it it's worth $800K because I say so.

Eventually, they will lower the price to$200K or the bank will do it for them once the foreclosure is complete. Either way, I'll be sitting here on the sidelines, buttering up my popcorn and watching this train wreck continue to happen in super-slo-mo.

Cry me a river part 552716

It's official. Every idiot home "owner" making $20K who bought a $700K house is now

1. A victim
2. "troubled"
3. needs government help ASAP

More troubled borrowers getting left behind

Many homeowners who were subject to predatory lending practices - including brokers who misrepresented payments - are trying to rework their loans. Few are having any luck.

HARTFORD, CT. (CNN) -- Yolanda Cruz knew soon after she refinanced her home two and a half years ago she had a problem. She thought the $1,478 monthly payment quoted by her mortgage broker included taxes and insurance. In fact, Cruz says she asked the broker repeatedly if those costs were included and was reassured they were.

"We just took his word for it, and unfortunately that's not what it was," Cruz said. Soon, she began receiving tax bills from her town of East Windsor, Connecticut. She couldn't afford to pay them."I feel I was taken advantage of," Cruz said.

Everyone all together now.... AWWWWHHHHH. She is so full of shit I don't even know where to begin. When I bought my house lo these many years ago, I remember the day of closing. I was at the title company for what seemed like decades signing papers. Along the way I was told over and over, this is the loan you are signing up for. There was one page that clearly spelled out the details of the loan in plain English. The interest rate, the number of payments, the monthly payment, etc. And also it clearly spelled out it did NOT INCLUDE TAX PAYMENTS which would be my responsibility, along with SID payments which is another word for tax in Las Vegas, only called by another rose.

And even if it had not been clearly spelled out to me I knew what was going on. Why? Because I have an IQ above 50 and would never sign any document on the promise of some guy I just met because I trusted him. You took his word for it? Are you insane woman? People will sit at a new car dealership for hours negotiating over $500 in the price of the car. Yet they will sign on the dotted line to buy a $500K house without giving it a second thought.

This is now the official party line. Borrowers weren't stupid and greedy. They didn't fall prey to the age old demon called greed. No. They fell prey to EVIL LENDING PRACTICES and BIG LENDING. I'm sure Haliburton is connected somehow too.

And here is what the far-leftists have to say on the matter:

"The payments in this kind of workout are unaffordable to the homeowner," said Diane Cipollone of the National Fair Housing Alliance. "And sometimes homeowners sign it anyway. They don't know what to do. They know that if they don't agree their home will go right into foreclosure. But soon they default on the repayment plan, and that's counterproductive."

No shit the payments are unaffordable. That's because they bought too much damned house. It should never have been affordable and foreclosure is the correct and logical end point of this debacle.

And here is the money shot, which of course the MSM tool writing the article completely misses.

"She was basically deceived," said Karen Nigol of the Housing Education Resource Center in Hartford. According to Nigol, Boykin would not have been able to afford the loan without earning more income than she did at the time of the loan application. Nigol says the mortgage broker listed Boykin as his employee on the application, even though she was unemployed.

Say what? She was unemployed yet she still bought a house? I had to read that twice to make sure I didn't miss something. So her income was $0 yet she still signed up for a monthly loan obligation of $1400+ and I'm supposed to feel sorry for her?


And finally the pithy, sad commentary by the MSM tool du jour:

With an apparent stalemate between lenders and borrowers, will people be forced to go into foreclosure or even to just walk away? "Yes," said Connecticut Fair Housing's Erin Kemple. "The simple answer is yes."

Oh so you mean when a deadbeat doesn't pay her loan, she doesn't get to keep the underlying asset? How mean of the lender. Why I tell you we need a new law right away making it illegal for these lenders to actually demand payment of the loans back. I mean come on, victims like Ms. Cruz deserve better. They are entitled to live the American Dream gosh darn it. So what if she willingly lied on her application? So what if she is obviously too stupid to walk and chew gum let alone manage her finances? As soon as Billabama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have unrestricted control, Senora Cruz will not only get to keep her home, she will not only get her $1500 "stimulus check" (even though she is unemployed), she'll probably get a shiny new BMW in the garage to go along with it.

Welcome to the USSA, the United Socialist States of America.

Up 400, down 250

How many times have we seen this in the past 6 months?

Step 1. Fed lowers rate.
Step 2. Suckers rally occurs with Dow/s&p rising by 2, 3 or even 4%.
Step 3. So-called experts on CNBC declare worst is over, now is the time to buy.
Step 4. MSM goes nutty telling everyone how awesome Benny B is for saving the day.
Step 5. Day after 1/2 of the rally fizzles away.
Step 6. Day after the day after the other 1/2 of the rally fizzles away.
Step 7. Week after the Dow is down 3% lower than when Step 1 started.
Step 8. Oil is $20 higher than than Step 1, dollar is 10% lower than Step 1.
Step 9. Go to Step 1, rinse and repeat.


Benny B is one or two cuts away from 0% rates. Then what do you do? Negative interest rates I guess. It has happened before. In the 70s Switzerland had a negative rate for a brief time. When that doesn't work, why not make it illegal to save. Anyone with a balance of more than $500 in a checking/savings account will be forced to go out and spend or face jail time. Sounds ludicrous right? Well it sounded pretty ludicrous for the federal government to confiscate gold from its citizens too. Yet that is what FDR did in the 1930s...not that you would ever heard about that in the gubermint skools that teach us FDR saved us from the great depression when in reality FDR took a 2 year recession and turned it into a 10 year depression. But why quibble with facts?

Point is the same kind of idiotic programs that were tried in the 30s are being tried now. Fiscal stimulus. A war on savers. And what is coming, yet nobody is mentioning is mucho protectionism as soon as Billabama takes power. Listen to the rhetoric of 2008 Democrats and it sounds like 1930 rhetoric preceding the Smoot-Hawley act. Scary shit indeed.

Cry me a river

From the 'look how awful thing are' file on cnn:

I work in Belmont, MA, which is in the Cambridge area. I am in LOVE with what I do -- I work for Belmont's Council on Aging. Friendships are formed with this community. Our staff is devoted to what we do, and we grow incredibly attached to the people we serve, as well as their families.

Sadly, my husband and I were priced out of this community when we decided to buy our first home almost two years ago. We decided to move to Lowell, about 10 minutes shy of the New Hampshire border.

We have grown to adore our new home and community and have forged great bonds with our neighbors. But I will most likely need to leave my wonderful job as program coordinator due to the rising cost of gas. It costs me about $250 a month to commute to work, and while I know my story is not unique, I am quite heartbroken about it.

Everyone all together now.....AWWWWWHHHHH! Quick someone get on the horn to Jorge W. and Nancy Pelosi. These people obviously need a $2000 check sent ASAP.

First off you freaking morons why did you buy a house 2 years ago? Anyone with an IQ over 70 should have know that buying a house in early 2006 was a bad idea with a capital b and a capital i. And in 2006 gas was well on its way to the $3 area. Again anyone with an IQ above 70 should have seen what was coming. But you ignored all that. All you cared about was living the 'AMERICAN DREAM' of home 'ownership'. You bought into the NAR lies and marketing. Renting was beneath you and you had to buy no matter what, even if that meant spending 4 hours a day in traffic commuting.

And now you are heartbroken. Well boo hoo lady, cry me a river. Life is a series of choices that one has to make. You made a poor choice and now you are stuck with it. Don't come crying to me about it, I have no sympathy for you. Next time you are tempted to fall for the lies and spin of realtors and the housing industry, take a second and think. Is it worth it for me to spend 4 hours a day and $250 a week in gas costs just so I can say I 'own' a home? If the answer is yes, then by all means go for it. If the answer is no, then don't make the same mistake again. In the meantime, do me a favor and quit crying about how unfair life is.

It is the new truth: if it's good for Wall St., it's bad for you.

Is what Anon posted as a comment yesterday. And he/she nailed it for the most part. And I hate that I agree with it. 10, or hell 5 years ago a statement like that would have been dismissed by me as some far-left, DailyKooklike statement of class envy, socialist bullshit. But it's not that.

I have no problem if someone makes billions of dollars. As long as they do it fairly, pay taxes on it and are not given an unfair advantage. That is not what is happening though. The Titans on Wall St. play in a risk less environment. They know that they can go ahead and bet billions on an outcome and they win either way. The outcome is realized, they win the bet. The outcome is not realized they win the bet anyway since Uncle Sam will be there with a bag full of money. It's like playing 21 and knowing that the Fed is next to you with a deck of cards to help you out should you ever need it. Dealer shows 19, you show 18, the Fed is there with a 3. You win yet again. Getting that card costs you nothing, it's a total freebie subsidy courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Iidot, aka the taxpayers of America.

And what is even more disgusting is that these very same people are the ones touting themselves as capitalists. They are not even remotely capitalist. They are socialists looking for the government to prop them up at the slightest sign of trouble. If Wall St. were run like anything remotely resembling capitalism, Bear Sterns' office furbiture would be at auction right now and the Dow would be at 9500. Capitalism has winners and losers. That is the way the system works. It is the only way it can work. Without short term losers you cannot have a long term winning system. People like Volker knew that. And that is why he created the 1981-1982 recession. It hurt a lot of people, caused a lot of pain. But it also set the stage for 20 years of incredible prosperity.

And the defense used by Fed supporters is total bullshit. "Well if they hadn't saved Bear Sterns there would have been an economic meltdown" goes the reasoning. OK, so what? So the DOW would have lost 1500 on Monday. So what? If it is truly worth the 12,500 it's at now, it would have bounced back to 12,500. If it is truly worth 9500, then the 3000 difference is nothing but an artificial subsidy being offered by the Fed. And where did we last see this kind of phenomenon at work? Why it was the housing market in 2002. A $200K house magically became a $400K house overnight due to 1% interest rates. How's that working out for you Mr. Greenspan? History repeats itself, but holy shit I didn't think it would repeat itself within a decade.

And to add further insult to injury, in about 4 weeks time those vaunted stimulus checks will be coming. People who pay no taxes will get a $1200 tax rebate. Illegal aliens who file taxes with a plethora of stolen IDs will be getting a check for every ID they use, with mos of the money going to Mexico (I would love to see stats on money transfers to Mexico during the 3 weeks after the checks are sent, and I will bet it is at least a 40% spike over the same time period in 2007). On the other hand, people who dare make over $150K a year and pay more in taxes than many people gross, will be getting a big fat 'FUCK YOU' in the mail.

And that is the current state of things. Corporate welfare for billionaires on one end, regular old welfare for the poor and lazy on the other end. All paid for by those of us in the middle.

America, what a country.

Hey brother can you spare a Euro?

This shit is getting out of hand. I used to kinda joke about the destruction of the dollar. But now the word destruction seems more and more appropriate. What is happening in a nutshell is 99% of the population has been thrown under the bus in order to make billionaires on Wall St. happy.

Oil is up 1000% over the past 10 years. The dollar which in 2000 could buy about 1.2 Euors is now worth 0.63 Euros. And yet the Fed's #1 priority is making sure Wall St. has enough money to pay $50M bonuses. Ahh but the dow is up 400 and your 401k just make $1000. Today. Woo Hoo! Except that you lost $1100 in purchasing power today by the dollar's continued devaluation.

Fear not though American. American Idol is on tonight. George Bush is at the helm. Obama and Hillary are poised to take over. All is well.

New York, New York

NY real estate was the last hold out. It was different there said the experts. All that money sloshing around on Wall St made it immune from the crash. Well no longer. Today marks the beginning of the end of that charade. I'm not saying Park Ave. apartments will be going to $50K any time soon. But the insane, $2M for a shithole apartment in Manhattan days are over. Just like the $500K for an Inglewood home in L.A. days are over.

See there is always a silver lining.

It's all contained

So said Jorge W. So said Kudlow. So said the NAR. So said the so-called experts on CNBC. So said everybody. It's all contained. Housing won't affect the broader economy said the same so-called experts. Only doomsayers think so. How's all that working out for everyone?

And now we are supposed to listen to these same people tell us everything will be OK because the Fed is lowering rates. Yeah, OK. Rates could go to 0% and it won't make a damn bit of difference. The economy is in deep trouble due to a decade's worth of a bubble driven economy. We should have had a severe recession in 2001. We didn't because after the .com bubble, the Fed created the housing bubble. And that bubble was even bigger than the previous bubble. And now, in 2008 and 2009 we will have one hell of a recession.

The fact that this is happening during an election year will make things that much worse. If the government were to just let this thing run its course it would be over by the end of the year. But instead idiots from both parties will come up with bad idea after bad idea to solve an unsolvable problem. From the 'buy a house and we'll pay you $15K' idiocy of Georgia's 2 Senators to the Chris Dodd and Chuck Shumer let's bail out every homeowner no matter what, both parties are tripping over themselves.

As Ronald Reagan said, the scariest words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'.

Bear Sterns Bullhit

Jorge W. praised Bernanke for bailing out Bear Sterns, further showing the world what a complete imbecile he is. But not all that shocking. The new capitalism under Bush is privatize the rewards and socialize the risk. When Bear Sterns making billions in profit they get to keep it all. When Bear Sterns in on the verge of going under, they get billions in tax dollars which will never be paid back. And in a year or two or five when Bear Sterns is making billions in profit again, we (tax payers) won't get even a dime of that profit.

Once again Jeorge W. solidifies his place as the worst ever.

Average shmoes like me pay 20-25% of my total income in taxes. Yet a Bear Sterns fund manager, who makes 1000 times as much as I do, pays a top rate of 15% on his income. I have nothing against someone making all the money in the world. I do have a problem with my marginal income tax being twice as high as Mr. Moneypants on Wall St. who at the slightest hint of trouble makes a call to Benny B and asks for some cash. And that is exactly what is happening. Investment banks that made mney hand over fist during the 2001-2006 boom are now getting tens of billions of dollars in help. That help is coming in the form of increased money supply. Which in turn devalues the dollar, raises the price of oil and makes all of us poorer.

Politically our choices are now a Republican socialism for the rich or a Democrat socialism for the poor. The middle class is screwed no matter what.

Ron Paul was mocked when he raised these kinds of issues. Just a crank, a kook, an old senile man is how he was described when he talked about the dollar being devalued by the Fed. How's that working out for you McCain voters? Enjoy the $5 gas and $8 gallon of milk coming soon to a thater near you.

$4300 an hour hookers

The libertarian in me sees nothing inherently wrong with the whole thing. If women want to sell themselves and are adults, all the power to them. As could be predicted, all the talking heads when on auto pilot when discussing the story. The feminists were talking about women being objectified. The righties are out these screaming about how the children will be hurt.

What a load of shit. This woman is making $4000 an hour and she's being exploited? Give me a break. I mean granted she is a moron since she was making $4K an hour and is now broke since she spent $4K an hour as well. But exploited? Come on!

I don't fault Spitzer for doing what he did. I fault him for getting caught. You'd think a guy who was a DA and brought down prostitution rings would be a little more careful. Turns out this smart guy is kinda dumb. Maybe he and the ex-Gov of NJ can get together and swap stories. Maybe they can open up a consulting service for politicians on how not to get caught screwing around on your wife. If these boneheads are willing to pay $4300 an hour for a hooker, they'll pay twice that much not to get caught.


Spizter-McGreevy Inc


Think about it guys.

God Damn America!

ladies and gents I present to you the man who married the next president of the DAMNED United States:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4443230

No mortgage for you

For the past 12-18 months all we've been hearing in the MSM is about this 'subprime' crisis. See, housing was, is and always will be a great investment. Only a teenie, tint percentage of people - THE SUBPRIME - got in trouble. And as Larry Kudlow, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan said to us numerous times, it was all contained.

I have been saying the above is total and complete bullshit. It was not subprime. Subprime was the first symptom of the disease. The disease is and always was too much borrowing. That included prime, subprime, so-so prime. And it didn't just include mortgages. People bought more house than they could afford. But they also bought more car, more plasma, more iPhone, more exotic vacation, and more of everything else. People just borrowed and spent way too damn much.

And here is the result of all that supposed 'contained' problem:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The credit crunch has finally hit the traditional mortgage market.

Investors are now shunning mortgage-backed securities issued by government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been critical in keeping the real estate market from completely falling apart. Some fear this development will make it harder for people, even those with strong credit histories, to get a home loan.

"Even if you have good credit, you don't know if they are going to give you a loan or not," said Joseph Mason, a senior fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

You don't say. You mean to tell me when people borrow money and don't pay it tack, lenders are less likely to lend? Shocking. Absolutely shocking.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Foreclosure filings nationwide jumped 60% in February compared with the same month last year, but they decreased slightly versus January, according to a report released Thursday. RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties, said 223,651 homes got hit with foreclosure filings last month, which include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. 46,508 of those were lost to bank repossessions, which more than doubled over last year.

The report also indicated that foreclosure filings in February fell 4% compared with January, similar to a 6% decrease that occurred during the same time-span in 2007.

HA HA HA. Decreased 4% compared to Jan. Is the MSM really this dense? January has 31 days. February had 29 this year. That is a 6.4% decrease in days. Foreclosures decreased by 4%, meaning they actually increased on a foreclosure per day metric. Come on, MSM you cannot be this ignorant of even the number of days in a month.

And finally this week's most ridiculous MSM story award goes to:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mortgage rates rose across the board this week as lower home prices and mortgage rates contributed to a more affordable market for homebuyers, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

The government-sponsored loan buyer said 30-year fixed-rate loans averaged 6.13% for the week ending Thursday, up from 6.03% last week. Last year at this time, the 30-year rate averaged 6.14%, Freddie Mac said. "The combination of lower house prices and lower mortgage rates contributed to a more affordable market for homebuyers," said Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft in a statement Thursday.

If you tried you couldn't write a more ridiculous paragraph.

Doin' the dead cat dance

Hey remember way back when, to like yesterday when all our woes were over? Benny B saved the day once again by printing an extra $200B. And the so-called experts said that housing was bottoming, no recession was coming and les bonnes temps were ready to roll again.

How quickly things change.

Today the dead cat is falling back down. Wachovia says housing is nowhere near finished crashing. The exact quote from the author, Don Truslow was "Using a baseball analogy I don't if the downturn is in the third, fourth or fifth inning. We're still before the seventh inning stretch." The crash started in mid 2006. If we're in the 4th or 5th inning we have until at least mid 2010 before the final out. And that's just when the bottom will be here, meaning house prices won't start going up until somewhere around the time the MESSIAH OBAMA will be campaigning in Iowa for the 2012 nomination. And I don't know what the method young Mr. Truslow used, but it's most likely too optimistic. He probably used the 1990 housing downturn as a barometer of things to come this time around. Except he probably didn't take into account the fact that this bubble was exponentially bigger and caused by an exponentially larger amount of fraud than the 80s bubble. And besides, since Wachovia is in the business of lending people money to buy a house, you gotta assume he won't want to tell potential buyers, wait for 10 years before buying.

In other news, oil bursts through $110 (and to think I thought it was overpriced at $100, silly me). The dollar bursts through $1.55. And what else, oh yea a survey of top CFOs released today says the consensus out there is we're not only heading to a recession, we're there and big time.

This is the 5th or 6th time this scenario has happened. Benny B prints money. Stocks soar. Next day even worse news comes along. Stocks sink. Rinse, repeat. You'd think the geniuses running investment banks would figure this pattern out after the 1st, 2nd or 3rd times.

Phew

It's OK everyone. No need to panic anymore. There will be no recession. All will be well. Oh and housing has bottomed. How do I know? A new report came out today, written by experts. And since we all know that experts are never wrong and are to be trusted without question, this means happy days are here again.

WOO HOO! I'm out the door to buy a $90K car and a 102" TV...all on credit of course.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080311/economic_forecast.html

Es tu Jorge?

Headline Today: Bush hopes Cheney's Mideast visit will rein in oil prices

OK Jorge, what's happening? Lemme spell it out for you since you and your army of supposed smart guy advisors can't grasp a simple concept.

For the past 8 years the loonie left has been accusing you of manipulating oil prices. You are from Texas and therefore in bed with B-I-G O-I-L. Cheney is from Wyoming, soon to be the new Dubai and therefore he is in bed with them too. Oil is at $108 because you are manipulating prices to make your buddies rich.

So how do you dispel this myth? By sending Cheney to the Mideast to try and manipulate oil prices.
Man you are dumber than I thought.

Why can't you or any politician just be honest for once? Have a press conference or even better a national televised speech that goes something like this:

My fellow Americans, oil is at $108. Gas is approaching $4. Here are the reasons:

1. You are greedy asswipes that are living way beyond your means. In order to do so you are borrowing a shitload of money from China and Europe. This is causing the dollar to collapse and oil, which is priced in dollars is surging as a result. Stop living beyond your means and this problem will self correct.

2. You like driving big, inefficient SUVs. I'm talking to you Ms. Soccer mom driving an 11 MPG Escalade to the grocery store. And I'm talking to you Mr. wannabe tough guy white collar employee driving an F-150 to the suburban office complex every morning at 15 MPH. Buy a god damned Corolla and watch as your gas bill is cut in half.

3. You live too far away from work. If you choose to live 45 miles from work so you can have the 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom 4000 sq ft McMansion, don't bitch about the cost of gas. Get a 2000 sq ft home 10 miles from work and watch as you gas bill is cut in half.

4. Shut the fuck up already. The government is not here to keep oil prices down or keep interest rates down or make sure you idiots who bought a $700K house on a $50K salary get to keep it. Now stop acting like whiny little bitches and start solving your own damned problems for once without looking to DC every time life throws you a curve ball.

What party does he belong to?

Try to find the word Democrat in this article below about the governor of NY - a Democrat of course - getting caught with his hand in the wrong cookie jar. Yet the word Republican is mentioned not once but twice. Does anyone for a second believe the same would apply any Republican governor caught doing the same?

Here is the very first sentence from a Washington Post article about, Sen. Vitter whow was caught with a hooker last year:

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) ended a week of seclusion yesterday to say he'll return to work in Washington, ending speculation that the Republican would resign after his telephone number appeared last week in the records of an alleged Washington prostitution ring.

Nope, no media bias. Not at all.


NEW YORK (AP) - Gov. Eliot Spitzer apologized to his family and the public on Monday, but did not not elaborate on a bombshell report that he has been involved in a prostitution ring.

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family ... my sense of right and wrong," he said at a news conference at his Manhattan office. "I must now dedicate some time to rededicate my trust to my family."

Spitzer's wife stood at his side, her hands behind her back and her eyes cast downward, as he made the statement.

The New York Times reported that a person with knowledge of the governor's role believes the governor is identified as a client in court papers. Four people allegedly connected to a high-end prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP were arrested last week.

The Web site of the Emperors Club VIP displays photographs of scantily clad women with their faces hidden. It also shows hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated with one diamond, the lowest ranking, or seven diamonds, the highest. The most highly ranked prostitutes cost $5,500 an hour, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the defendants arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris.

The Times reported that the governor's travel records show he was in Washington in mid-February, and that one of the clients arranged to meet with a prostitute on the night of Feb. 13.

The case is being handled by prosecutors in the Public Corruption unit of U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia's office. Garcia spokeswoman Yusill Scribner said the office had no comment.

Spitzer, 48, built his political legacy on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor's office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no- nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation's worst governments.

Time magazine had named him "Crusader of the Year" when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness."

But his stint as governor has been marred by several problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer's main Republican nemesis.

Spitzer had been expected to testify to the state Public Integrity Commission he had created to answer for his role in the scandal, in which his aides were accused of misusing state police to compile travel records to embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno.

Spitzer had served two terms as attorney general where he pursued criminal and civil cases and cracked down on misconduct and conflicts of interests on Wall Street and in corporate America. He had previously been a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, handling organized crime and white-collar crime cases.

His cases as state attorney general included a few criminal prosecutions of prostitution rings and into tourism involving prostitutes.

In 2004, he was part of an investigation of an escort service in New York City that resulted in the arrest of 18 people on charges of promoting prostitution and related charges.

Benny B, Oh Benny B

Oil is at $107. Gotta love it. Gas at $4 soon. Who's to blame? Evil oil companies of course. And also the fact that Bush and Cheney are helping out their "B-I-G O-I-L" buddies. Turn on CNN and it's all gas prices, all the time. Why people are having to resort to (GHASP) carpooling just to survive. H2 salesmen are getting second jobs since sales are non-existent.

Yet the MSM is missing out on the two main reasons for the expensive gas. First and foremost is the fact that the dollar has been devalued. Thanks to reckless cut in the fed rate after reckless cut due to a futile attempt by Benny B to solve the housing crash, the dollar is in free fall. Oil is priced in dollars. When dollars are worth less, it takes more of them to buy the same amount of oil as before. Chart the price of oil in Euros and the situation is not as dire. In January 2007 oil was at $50US. It is now at $107, change of 114%. In January 2007 oil was at 40 Euros, it's at 70 Euros today, change of 75%. Still a spike, but there are spikes and then there are spikes.

Second reason is the never ending demand of China and India. There are literally thousands of new people buying cars every day in China and India. More cars equals more demand for oil. More demand with the same supply equals higher prices. Unless we tell the Chinese and Indians to stop buying cars, that will not change anytime soon.

And yet on the campaign trail the MESSIAH OBAMA and Clinton are out there railing against high oil. About as much good as complaining about cold nights in North Dakota. And uhm, don't the Demos control Congress and the Senate? And aren't both Clinton and the MESSIAH OBAMA members of that Senate? If they have these wonderful solutions to bring gas back to $1.50, what the hell are they waiting for? Enact this magical legislation that will revive the dollar and quash demand in Asia.

Bah. Why ask these questions in the MSM? Much easier to go with Bush is from Texas, therefore oil prices are high. Easier for the masses to digest.