"American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage."~~Alan Greenspan, February 22, 2004
“The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions.”~~Alan Greenspan, May 2005
"We're not about to go into a situation where (real estate) prices will go down. There is no evidence home prices are going to collapse."~~Alan Greenspan, May 21, 2006
“The damage from the subprime market has been largely contained. Fortunately, the financial system and the economy are strong enough to weather this storm.”Richard Fisher, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President, Apr 4, 2007
"All that said, given the fundamental factors in place that should support the demand for housing, we believe the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will likely be limited, and we do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system."~~Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, May 17, 2007
Uh-oh
I’m not really that much of a violent guy, but if a bank denies me MY money for any reason that’s leap over the counter territory.
This article was on the WSJ front page or front page of the Money and Markets section......
On the same day there was an article how Nebraska farmers are getting rich off the food commodities boom. Blowing their new found big $$$$ on expensive Mercedes etc etc-——>>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120303832040070169.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
CASH CROP
Heartland Sees Boom
With Grains in Demand
By JULIE JARGON
February 15, 2008; Page A1
ALBION, Neb. — The U.S. economy may be teetering on the brink of recession. But there’s a bountiful harvest down on the farm.
Grain prices are surging to historic levels. Spring wheat, a variety often used in bread, hit a record $18.53 per bushel yesterday. Corn is trading above $5 and soybeans are bringing in more than $13, all 25% or more above their year-ago prices.
Net farm income is expected to hit $92.3 billion in 2008 — a 51% increase over the 10-year average of $61.1 billion. Across much of the Great Plains, unemployment rates are well below national figures and housing markets remain robust. Robert Moskow, a food industry analyst at Credit Suisse, has proclaimed this the “golden age” of agriculture.
The new era owes largely to a surge in crop demand from biofuels producers and the growing demand for grains in places like China and India. With inventories strained, “We’re not going to go back to $2.10 per bushel corn,” says Mike Helmar, director of industry services at Moody’s Economy.com.
While the boom is reversing decades of decline in U.S. rural areas at an otherwise vulnerable time, it’s also pushing global food costs higher. International wheat prices in January were up by 83% from a year ago, according to a new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Scarce and costly grains — especially staples like rice, wheat and corn — have caused riots in poor nations such as Senegal and Mexico, says the group.
Here in Albion, a central Nebraska farm town of fewer than 2,000, such problems seem worlds away.
People are building new, outsized homes or renovating existing ones. A new ethanol plant has created 55 jobs and a full-time dentist is on the way. A fine-jewelry store moved here in November and a coffee shop run by farmers’ wives — charging Starbucks prices in a town where coffee used to come in a Styrofoam cup — just celebrated its first anniversary.
“There’s a buzz in Albion,” says Brad Beckwith, a 55-year-old corn and soybean farmer. Although he now faces higher rents for land and higher prices for seed, fertilizer and fuel, he’s still turning a profit.
“Farmers have a lot of money to spend,” says Jerry Carder, a 49-year-old Albion corn and soybean farmer who recently bought a $40,000 2008 Mercedes-Benz ML350. Business for Mr. Carder has been steady in the past but has spiked in the past two years as grain prices have risen.
Still, rural America remains such a small slice of the U.S. population — and agricultural production just a sliver of the country’s output — that the strong farm economy can’t do much to offset weakness in the broader economy.
“The agricultural economy will help keep afloat some of the rural areas and it will spill over, to some extent, to the...manufacturing and service industries,” says David Oppedahl, a business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. “But it probably will not be large enough to cushion a recession in a broader setting.”
Money in Their Pockets
Many farmers are finding more money in their pockets at the same time that federal subsidies — historically a main source of their income — have remained largely in place. A new farm bill under consideration in Congress doesn’t call for any major overhauls, although it could place caps on subsidies that the nation’s wealthiest farmers receive
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Looks like the fund is working. The investors are now in debt.
I heard an interesting report today about somebody who had a chunk of change tied up in muni bonds.
There was some sort of deal going on and the person HAD to get the money out of the bonds before maturity. Had something like 200K into them.
There is a penalty for early withdrawal - the guy ended up getting fifty cents on the dollar!
Seems a lot like Enron.
Just saying...
You Cant Go Wrong with The Posturepedic National Bank.