still renting

Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave in Market Headlines

I'll call your "hope" and raise you "change"!

Why Has the Dollar Rebounded - And When Will It Correct?

Gold is up about $115 in a little over a week.

Just sayin'...

The Downfall of Keynesian Economics and the U.S. (Part 3 of 3)

I've been watching gold drop for a while now. It hit about $704 here a few days ago. I then saw a slow see-saw recovery until today.
www.bloomberg.com/mark...

Scroll down and check it out for yourself. As I type this it is up about $55 for the day.

It was nice while it lasted...

The Downfall of Keynesian Economics and the U.S. (Part 1 of 3)

"The price tag, along with casualties, continued to pile up at a very uncomfortable pace. Quite similar to the war in Iraq today…"

Sorry. You lost me right there. There is no comparison between the two, casualty-wise. And frankly, in many other ways.

Dollar Soars as FOMC Minutes Trigger Liquidation

What if the new frugality snowballs, and we see it in the black Friday numbers? There are a lot of wild cards here.

Home Buyers in Southern California Ignore Bad Financial News

There are dead cat bounces in real estate too. California IS on the bleeding edge so it is possible that when it comes back it will come back there first. We'll see how this works for these new buyers when the economy REALLY tanks next year.

I am extremely interested in seeing the post-Thanksgiving retail numbers this year.

Why This Isn't Financial Armageddon

So much to puncture here. I will pick just one, from fairly early in the article: "The first major difference between now and the worst economic period of the 20th century is the level of positive government interventions."

The author seems to be saying, with a straight face, that this is a GOOD THING!

It isn't. And I disagree with pretty much every other position. Isaiah was "negative". So was Jonah. So was Noah. It doesn't mean they were wrong and it doesn't mean one was wrong to ignore their advice.

Sometimes the sky really IS falling, and one would be wise to listen to the advice offered by the source of that information.

The Gnomes of Zurich Will Have Their Revenge

Let's build a moon base!

Isn't Deflation a Good Thing?

How much cash is being printed doesn't concern me. I don't use hard cash any more. When the bums downtown ask me for "spare change", my response is always the same: Do you take plastic?

Also, I believe it would take quite a while for the presses to print enough hard currency to actually back all the "virtual money" created by the credit bubble, even AFTER it crashes. If this is true, the amount of money being printed is but a drop in the bucket regarding real money supply. I could be off on this though.

S&P 500 Looks Ready to Bow Out

If a stock does not pay dividends, it's only value is what others are willing to pay for it. It's price survives solely on sentiment. It is not so much self fulfilling prophecy that depresses these stocks. Rather, it is sentiment that there may not be "greater fools".

And pendulums never stop at equilibrium.

S&P 500 Looks Ready to Bow Out

Well, the day ended and now we know. Closed at 806.

770 here we come?

The Economics and Ethics of Mortgage Default

As you can see by my pseudonym, this does not please me.

The 28-33% Mortgage Payment Rule: Confronting Reality

Markham, you said, "Individuals who fit in the latter category would be better served if they were provided assistance that would help them to move on to a more sustainable housing situation, as opposed to trying to enable them to stay in their homes at all costs."

I firmly agree and actually have a phrase for enabling them to stay in their homes at all costs: Indentured slavery

The 28-33% Mortgage Payment Rule: Confronting Reality

My wife was a real estate agent at the time when they threw out this rule. She came home that day and told me about it. I said that would flood the market with newly manufactured buyers, totally tilting the supply and demand equation and inflating prices.

Funny thing is, that was only the very beginning of the irresponsible changes that put us where we are. It was clear back then. In september of 2006 I said on another site that this could lead to a depression as bad or worse than the GD. I was villified for saying it.

Time does always seem to tell though...

Would We Even Recognize a Depression if We Had One?

"one day this is going to bite us."

In a 21st century depression, that day could be today. Maybe soon after January 20th, 2009.