Economy/Credit?Housing Issues Ping List
If you want on or off this list let me know.
What I want to know is: Where is the unused credit going? The majority of US households are not directly affected by this, so they continue to contribute to their IRA’s, pension funds, and insurance policies. Where are those institutions putting their money now, since real estate was a huge placement component of those funds in the past? Clearly they’re not going to sit on it.
>>Falling real estate prices, massive bank write-downs and a quickening drumbeat of slashed credit ratings adds up to one thing: The credit crunch has only just begun. <<
No SH**, Sherlock! What, did these guys just climb out from under a rock?
This is unrelated, but I saw the most amazing thing on television the other day. It was essentially a “business talk show” that was staged in a bar. What are these people thinking? First they put that moron, Cramer, on TV who presents stock picks with all the seriousness of a carnival barker, then they host a business show in a ginmill.
The really, really scary thing is that folks watch these shows and believe they are getting information they can actually use.
bump
Get back to me when a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 500 sq. ft. home in Monterey "falls" to below 500,000 dollars.
This is being reported by CNBC...most of the negative stories I’ve seen are from the AP, NBC, Barron’s (Bearons, etc.
The MSM has been attempting to “talk” this economy into recessions since Bush took office. Every article has been “spun” into the negative.
Yes, oil is high. But why? The price has increase much more than the increase in demand.
There’s a credit crunch...in housing. I have a regional bank as a client. We are aggressively seeking business loans, home equity loans and mortgages.
The bubble may be bad in California, but they made their own problems. In Missouri, it’s not so bad.
Many of the “doom and gloomers” here on FR sound like a bunch of whining liberals.
Short gold and oil. Buy the dollar.
Flame on!
On the other hand, those of us that bought homes and knew better than to take out an ARM, didn’t get a second mortgage so as to pretend we were something we were not, are doing just fine.
My home, and some commercial property I’ve acquired since 2000 has appreciated dramatically, to the point I’m now actively considering getting into real estate here in Ohio as another ‘hobby’.
The Bush administration started going after businesses that had played fast and loose with accounting practices and got away with it under the Clinton administration.
Lots of companies took that opportunity to restate earnings and write off lots of debt.
The market stuttered for a bit, but kept chugging along.
The whole time we were hearing about how we were facing a horrible recession and people would never trust businesses to tell them the truth again in the financial reports, and the result was going to be catastrophic.
Credit will be tight for a while. We are also likely to face some inflation due to the weak dollar. However, we will recover, and it shouldn't take more than a year before we are back on track.
Oh, Travis... Paging McGee...
Perfect slot for your Von Mises quote about credit expansion.
The FED can’t do anything to fix the credit crisis. It has to work through the system. The toxic paper has to find its way to balance sheets. There is no other option, except for the government to take it all off the hands of the Financials.
Of course the liquidity crisis goes on and on. The Financials still have no clue how much toxic paper they are saddle with. The confidence crisis is still the problem. Credit is tight and is not going to loosen up no matter how many inflation-spurring rate cuts Bernanke allows. Nothing but time and pain are going to unwind this credit mess, and the economy is going to have to take its hit. Then, we rebuild, maybe more responsibly than before.
Anybody else tired of these gloom and doom lies besides me?