Financial threads on FreeRepublic are almost completely worthless.
Most homeowners here think the RE market has bottomed and prices won’t be affected.
Most renters here think the bottom will fall out of the market and they were brilliant not to own real estate.
People in equities see only a bull market ahead once the Fed cuts interest rates later this year.
People in cash on the sidelines see a coming recession they are buffered from and will get great deals in stocks and real estate when both investments crash.
The fact is, these threads are ridiculous. If there are a handful of intelligent, knowledgeable and reasonable people on this forum, their voices are certainly drowned out by all of us who only see what we want to see.
I am a renter with cash and so I see a false US economy supported only by consumer confidence built upon debt and see it all unraveling into recession and a subsequent deep correction on Wall Street. I am looking to get deals when the long, drawn recession drags on. I am looking to buy a house when property values plunge in Sacramento and I think housing is going to continue tanking until 2010 and flatten until 2015.
I am no economic expert. I’m just seeing what I want to see and believing what I want to believe. But at least I am willing to admit it.
People in cash on the sidelines see a coming recession they are buffered from and will get great deals in stocks and real estate when both investments crash.
Put me down as none of the above. I have some debt, some cash, some equities, some gold, some energy trusts. I don't know what is going to happen but I do know what Bernanke has said he would do. To avoid deflationary recession, he will inflate. Read his remarks for yourself: Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke November 21, 2002
After you read it, think about how things you might do with your cash to avoid having it inflated away. One conservative strategy I would recommend is utility stocks.