This is from last night’s 60 Minutes. If these guy’s predictions are accurate, this is like being given a couple of low blows that the ref (Congress & regulators) said they never saw that’s got us seeing stars in the early rounds with the first mortgage crisis and the investment banks. Now here comes the one-two punch followed by a flurry of hits from credit cards, etc, etc. How the hell are we going to keep from going down for the count?
# 10 and 15 — Speaking of chickens, they are now coming home to roost.
Does anyone, anywhere, think there will be a soft landing? Unabashed greed run wild.
This is the last time I think it’s not possible to get any more depressed from financial news. I should have never watched that 60 Minutes segment.
Yeah, things are getting really bad out there, with major pay cuts announced:
“In another sign that the recession is deepening, the average employee at Goldman Sachs (GS) will make only $363,654 a drop of 45% from last year. In other words, that would still pay the salaries of ten school teachers. Goldman personnel made that money even though the firm lost $60 billion in market cap.”
Source:
http://www.247wallst.com/2008/12/worst-news-of-t.html
#19. Low mortgage housing.
I bought a house in Texas a couple of years ago, 20 minutes from Fort Worth, 20 minutes
from the airport, 35 minutes from Dallas, for $90,000 total. Payments are $850 / month on a 15 year loan. The house is small (there are only two of us), but is on an acre of land, has 7 full grown oak trees and no restriction on growing your own food and raising your own chickens. And to sweeten the deal up, it came with mineral rights and the gas company pays us $8500 every 4 years (plus 25% of the take)… so 20% of the house was paid by the house itself.
Texas has very low cost of living, where an income of $45,000 is the same as making $75,000 in California.
We should insist on public hanging for these unscrupulous lenders.
I have no sympathy for those who wouldn’t listen.
“The Philosopher’s Stone”
I love the comment at the 8:27 time mark. If this doesn’t show you how taxpayers are thought of, nothing will.
http://tinyurl.com/5ucz9l
#25 LibertyLover, as outrageous a comment as Knollenberg seemed to be making, I wish I could have heard the context and the explanation he was trying to give, instead of being shouted down by Neil Cavuto.
Maybe if he goes on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, he’ll get to finish his stupid sentence
Am I supposed to feel sorry for the acupuncturist who “got stuck in real estate”? What, was a banker holding her children hostage and making her take out loans? She was “too busy” too read the paperwork for the SIX properties she bought?
She was GREEDY, not “busy”. She invested recklessly, and now will surely be sticking her hand out for those of us who paid our one mortgage on time to help her out.
How is this anybody’s fault but hers? Is she supposed to be some sort of victim here?
Dan
#26, Ask and ye shall receive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZyAd_rJAx4
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/9251
I’ve listened to Knollenberg on other occasions. Any time a pol gets awards from special interests for spending taxpayer money on said special interests’ behalf, something is wrong with the system.
If you listen closely to what he is saying, he isn’t worried about the taxpayers, but the companies. He considers that money to belong to the companies and not the taxpayers.
And if you listen real close, you can hear him saying the bailout is for the credit and when Cavuto calls him on it, he flops and says it is to keep them from failing and has nothing to do with credit.
#10 Maybe real estate investors should re-invest in chickens, as they are surely coming home to roost.
Where did these guys get there figures! There are almost 20 million vacant homes in the US!
From Market Watch…
“The number of vacant homes in the United States rose by 1 million in the past year to a record 18.6 million, the Commerce Department said. Of those 18.6 million vacant homes, a record 2.3 million were for sale at the end of the first quarter, pushing the vacancy rate for owner-occupied units to a record 2.9%. Meanwhile, a record 4.1 million vacant homes are for rent, with the rental vacancy rate rising to 10.1%.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/record-number-homes-sitting-vacant/story.aspx?guid={190FFCB4-CF68-42AB-9396-60F2EBD2D439}
Thanks, LibertyLover! As it turns out, Knollenberg had the opportunity to defend his “It is not your money” statement, but never went near it after the original utterance. The rest of his argument was about as good as it could be for his position, but the thing is, there simply aren’t any guarantees of success for anything we throw at this problem.
It was always clear that Ron Paul had the best understanding of our fundamental flaws, but I was never really convinced that he had any effective solutions.
I’m going with 8. I may be planting more food next year than I have in decades and I don’t like to work that hard. The body is getting old.
When I heard about the “sub-prime” problem I said to a co-worker, ‘the house of cards is coming down.’
The Madoff debarcle is just the first of many, the entire system is going to collapse.
Don’t think it can’t happen, the Romans thought their empire would last forever too.
Surprise. More carnage as a result an irresponsible, incompetent government.
The Bush government policies of deregulating (more like complete lack of regulation) the critical financial industries has come to a head.
Leave 5 year old kids alone in a candy store. A week later, you open the door and find they gorged themselves and through up on your lap. That’s what we have here. SHAMEFUL.
#34, See #7.
Just curious:
Which regulations were removed that caused this problem?
Which regulations were shot down that caused this problem?
I keep hearing people talking about Bushco removing regulations but I haven’t heard what they were?
# 19 chuck –
Where can I get a mortgage on a house where the payments are only $1500 a month?
My mortgage is right at $250/month with another $250 for taxes and insurance per month.
Large corner lot and 2013sqft living space with two extra buildings.
It went on the market the first time at $125k.
I just pay on it and use it as a write off rental property.
#35 Libertylover: You seem to be in complete defense of the Bush government citing no specific regulation cited so, WTF is everyone complaining about? Let’s cut to the chase and kill the regulation red herring theme then.
Are you satisfied how your 8 year Bush government has been mindful of our critical financial system?
Are you aware that the Bush administration deliberately backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages YEARS before this mess happened? Is this not a form of regulation of the industry? Do you not think the financial system is a national security issue?
Perhaps you feel the executive office has no responsibility in this? Maybe that is the point of incomprehension why there is so much defense for this guy. Personally, I feel it is just innate in conservative thinking to never criticize those in charge. It’s astonishing to me.
#37, It was a serious question. From what I can gather from the news sources it was a combination of both parties shuckin’ and jivin’ to get what they wanted but I didn’t see any lists of “this regulation was passed” or “this regulation was removed” or “this regulation failed to pass” or anything like that. Even your post was nothing more than Bush Bashing with vague statements about his administration backed down on regulation. Who forced them to back down and what was the regulation?
What really happened?
Again, this is a serious question and I’m not trolling.
#38–LL==your serious questions were addressed in this blog a month or so ago when the fiasco started.
From memory, it really was about 3-4 major actions that brought this about “mostly” under Bush’s watch but each step having its congressional constituencies.
I’m sure if you googled the mess, the information is easily available.
I think Clinton increased the funding/influence of the Freddies. Then the republicans got Investment Houses into the Housing Mortgage Business while keeping them exempt from the Bank regulations that covered the same activities. Then another republican initiative allowed the Home Mortgages to be securitized again without much or adequate Federal Review.
Of note, as every crook says, as long as the housing market never experienced a down turn, the ponzi scheme could have continued. But all markets always go up and down. The notion that the markets will always go up is offered by people planning to get theirs while the getting is good and leave the suckers with the mess.
It always h as been this way, and always will be this way. Money corrupts.