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An Economic Pillar on the Verge of Collapse
Washington Post ^ | December 6, 2006 | Steven Pearlstein

Posted on 12/07/2006 8:52:46 AM PST by GodGunsGuts

An Economic Pillar on the Verge of Collapse

By Steven Pearlstein Wednesday, December 6, 2006; D01

It's been more than a year since we've heard from those who denied there was a housing bubble.

Since then, the industry boosters, along with the "soft-landing" crowd over at the Federal Reserve, have coalesced around the idea that maybe the market got a bit frothy after all, but now the correction is almost complete, the unsold inventory's been worked off and the worst is behind us.

But just when you're feeling hopeful again, you get reports like yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece reporting that delinquency rates are suddenly soaring on all those loosey-goosey subprime mortgages. They are starting to cause real heartburn for pension funds and other investors who bought securities backed by those mortgages on the theory that they were no more risky than a Treasury bond.

"We are a bit surprised by how fast this has unraveled," Thomas Zimmerman, head of asset-backed securities research at UBS, told the Journal, removing his head from the sand. Trust me, Tom, you ain't seen nothin' yet. After the subprime loans come the 100 percent, interest-only loans, followed by the meltdown in the overbuilt multi-family housing sector....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alasandalack; bubble; depression; despair; doom; dustbowl; eeyore; endoftheworld; goldbuggery; grapesofwrath; home; homeimprovement; housing; hysteria; improvement; joebtfsplk; theskyisfalling; woeisme
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To: GodGunsGuts; Toddsterpatriot
the real GDP is much lower

and the real CPI much higher

Are the markets acting like we're in a recession? Tell us again why it is that you and the bozos at Financial Sense know so much more than all the people in these markets.

101 posted on 12/08/2006 11:42:34 AM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Toddsterpatriot; Mase; RobRoy; expat_panama; remember; Pelham; djf; headsonpikes; ex-Texan

Here's another great read on the meaning of Christmas...err the downsizing of the CPI:

http://www.wordedge.org/199710/cpi/downsize.htm

And, I still recommend you read the following, Toddster. It's easy to follow, and stands on its own two feet. The CPI is understated, and this article proves it:

http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/2005/0624.html


102 posted on 12/08/2006 12:22:17 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
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To: GodGunsGuts
The CPI is understated, and this article proves it:

You'll have to cut and paste the proof, because I didn't see it. Is current CPI lower than the old measurement would show? Sure. That's not the same as proving the current number is understated.

103 posted on 12/08/2006 12:38:02 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: Mase

"While the Dow has been making record new highs,
when compared to gold, it has been steadily falling
since its peak in 2000. What this means is that the
average stock investor with no exposure to gold has
been duped into thinking that he or she is getting
ahead when what they are really experiencing
is a simple case of paper asset inflation. They are
in reality losing purchasing power when compared
to a constant store of true value, i.e, gold.
For this chart to actually show a turnaround and
demonstrate an uptrend, either the gold price would
have to plummet or the price of equities would have
to show a huge percentage increase -something
highly unlikely at this stage of the game with a slowing
economy and an inverted yield curve signaling
a recession ahead."

See for yourself:

http://www.jsmineset.com/cwsimages/Miscfiles/3863_Chart_for_11-30-2006_Dow-Gold_Ratio.pdf


104 posted on 12/08/2006 12:40:50 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
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To: Toddsterpatriot; expat_panama

I thought you guys might be interested in this to...

"While the Dow has been making record new highs,
when compared to gold, it has been steadily falling
since its peak in 2000. What this means is that the
average stock investor with no exposure to gold has
been duped into thinking that he or she is getting
ahead when what they are really experiencing
is a simple case of paper asset inflation. They are
in reality losing purchasing power when compared
to a constant store of true value, i.e, gold.
For this chart to actually show a turnaround and
demonstrate an uptrend, either the gold price would
have to plummet or the price of equities would have
to show a huge percentage increase -something
highly unlikely at this stage of the game with a slowing
economy and an inverted yield curve signaling
a recession ahead."

See for yourself:

http://www.jsmineset.com/cwsimages/Miscfiles/3863_Chart_for_11-30-2006_Dow-Gold_Ratio.pdf


105 posted on 12/08/2006 12:50:06 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
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To: Mase
Cneck out this chart, but imagine you can only see the first third or so. This one is fun too:
106 posted on 12/08/2006 12:56:30 PM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Naziism was in 1937.)
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To: RobRoy

Scary!

107 posted on 12/08/2006 1:02:16 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: GodGunsGuts
I thought you guys might be interested in this to...

No.

They are in reality losing purchasing power when compared to a constant store of true value, i.e, gold.

ROFLMAO!

108 posted on 12/08/2006 1:03:40 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

Your post confuses me. I always thought gold was shiny, but I never really thought it was funny.


109 posted on 12/08/2006 1:07:02 PM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Naziism was in 1937.)
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To: Toddsterpatriot
What's to laugh about. Gold has been considered a consistent store of value for millenia. Even Greenspan admitted to using gold to track inflation. The DOW/GOLD ratio is telling us that a significant portion of the rise in the stock market is but paper asset inflation...As are the TRADITIONAL CPI measures.
110 posted on 12/08/2006 1:14:57 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
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To: GodGunsGuts
What's to laugh about. Gold has been considered a consistent store of value for millenia

I agree, very consistent.

Only down 44% in 2 months. Is that what you meant by consistent?

111 posted on 12/08/2006 1:20:59 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: RobRoy
I always thought gold was shiny, but I never really thought it was funny.

Gold isn't funny, the idea that it's a constant store of true value is funny.

112 posted on 12/08/2006 1:23:23 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

Actually, gold instantly responded to Volcker's massive hike in interest rates.


113 posted on 12/08/2006 1:25:33 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
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To: Toddsterpatriot

Great gold chart!

These threads could be useful, if posters weren't so interested in impugning the economic wits of others.

There is a strong argument, overpowering even, for investing in metal miners and energy stocks, including uranium explorers, and this argument does not depend upon banker's conspiracies nor monetary theories nor any exotic variety of technical analysis, but simply age-old supply and demand. This is why the metals hedgers are not fully participating in the current bull market.

Why shouldn't commodities have their occasional day in the sun, especially when world-wide economic growth depends upon their discovery and extraction?

Go gold! ;^)


114 posted on 12/08/2006 1:26:05 PM PST by headsonpikes (Genocide is the highest sacrament of socialism.)
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To: GodGunsGuts

By dropping 44%. Not very consistent.


115 posted on 12/08/2006 1:27:32 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

Volcker removed inflation expectations, and gold dropped.


116 posted on 12/08/2006 1:30:58 PM PST by GodGunsGuts
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To: GodGunsGuts
Volcker removed inflation expectations, and gold dropped.

Yes, I know what happened. You said gold was consistent. The charts show that while gold is many things, consistent is not one of them.

117 posted on 12/08/2006 1:35:02 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
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To: RobRoy
Are you trying to prove that today is just like 1929? And your proof has been distilled into a couple of meaningless charts? Are the banks all of a sudden going to stop loaning money? How soon before we're all (all except those who own gold) going to be standing in a soup line?

You doomers just get goofier with every thread.

118 posted on 12/08/2006 1:43:07 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Lancey Howard
There are always a segment of buyers that for justifiable reasons, borrow at the very top of their comfort zone.

Reasons such as being in the neighborhood where the schools are better. Or, that extra bedroom and bath. Or opt for a townhouse instead of a garden condo unit.

They justify their purchase and decisions based upon their income potential, etc..

For example, two people buy together and then split up...now there's only one income to meet the monthly nut. Losing a job, poor health.

These people shouldn't be included as Darwin Award candidates.

Shiite happens.

119 posted on 12/08/2006 2:18:12 PM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: Mase

No, I am trying to prove that charts only show you the past.


120 posted on 12/08/2006 2:31:20 PM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Naziism was in 1937.)
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