Click pic for better view

That’s the Onion’s take on things. The stock markets around the world are a tad less certain. One French bank is saying $150 billion in value will disappear. Now we’re talkin’ serious money!

And will Countrywide, biggest lenders in the country, have to go bankrupt?

And people laughed when I moved to Vegas and decided to rent. Ha!



  1. Mister Mustard says:

    >>$150 billion in value will disappear. Now we’re talkin’
    >>serious money!

    Not really. For the $452,569,000,789.00 (U.S. costs to date) of Dumbya’s Trophy War in Iraq, we could have financed 3+ bailouts.

  2. Jägermeister says:

    Just borrow more money…. it seems to work for Bush.

  3. Don the duck says:

    How do the last 1% pay off theirs, win the lottery?

  4. dwright says:

    Unfortunately many have followed the example of their dear Uncle Sam. Trouble is, they print the money and they got the big guns.

  5. BHK says:

    $150 billion? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the value wiped out in the dot com bust.

    The real pain is going to be for the average person who has to pay higher prices due to the monetary inflation caused by the bailouts.

  6. KVolk says:

    They will just stop paying for it.

  7. Sounds The Alarm says:

    Mister Government – please oh please bail out companies that talk capitalism, but don’t want to take the consequences of their bad decisions through greed. Please oh please! Oh and I want my $200,000,000 CEO salery – but don’t tax me it would be anti-capitalistic!

  8. James Hill says:

    I’m now eternally grateful to my lender: Not for getting me good, solid loans, but for the phone call about a month ago telling me what was going down inside the industry. What triggered all of this was GMAC doing a complete 180 and not wanting anything to do with subprime paper. It just got worse from there.

    Personally, I’m glad this is happening now than a few years from now, when we’re due for another recession (I believe they’re cyclical, but that’s another topic for another day). The economy can handle this: Hell, my company’s stock was up today.

  9. ECA says:

    Here is a trick..

    You sell the property to 1 person that Pays, but cant pay it all,
    The next person, gets the property 10% less
    AND ends up STILL not paying for the property.
    The next person, gets the property at 20% less then the original price
    And STILL ends up not being bale to pay it off.
    AND SO ON…
    The bank gets ALL the interest, and Profit for RESELLING over and over and over again…
    It will probably get paid off by the second purchaser, but the bank dont take that into consideration, until 1 person can BUY it away from the bank.
    But, the prices on property and Living, are so high, its getting tough, and very hard to even BUY food.

  10. Misanthropic Scott says:

    Well, we could consider a government bailout. Of course, following long tradition, we’ll bail out the corporations. The induhviduals who took 120% LTV loans will have to declare bankruptcy, putting a glut of homes on the market and forcing the rest of us to have our homes revalued to realistic values. This just might hurt.

  11. Misanthropic Scott says:

    Oh, and for the red-staters out there, remember, this is what voting for Wall Street will get you. I work on the street as a geek. So, when the traders do well, I get a crumb or two. But, I do OK. Once in a while, perhaps the red-staters should vote with the latte drinking liberals instead of voting with the steak eating Wall Street bankers. [For those who are not aware, Democrats and liberals (small L since the party is gone here) are virtually non-existent on the floor (i.e. the trading floor).] It might do some good over there, and probably some good over here as well.

    If you think you’re getting anti-choice, pro-school-prayer, pro-family-values type legislation from the Republicans, make no mistake about it, you are voting for the Wall Street investment bankers, deregulation, “free market capitalism” (a.k.a. corporate welfare), Enron, Exxon, WorldCom, S&L scandals, etc. Vote for yourselves for a while. We’re doing alright here on the street. But, for those of you who can’t stomach voting for the left, thanks for my bonus last year.

    Sometimes we latte-drinking liberals think we care more about the heartland than those of you living there. Oh, and for the record, I drink my coffee black.

  12. Misanthropic Scott says:

    Sorry for the prior rant. I’m halfway through a good book written by a Kansan. I’d recommend it to any that want to know more details about the reasons for my rant and why so many people are voting against their own self-interest.

    http://www.bestwebbuys.com/9780805077742

  13. ArianeB says:

    Government should NOT bail out companies and real estate investors. I would support new government guaranteed fixed rate loans for people who: 1) Own only one house, 2) live in the house they own, 3) have a family income at least $500 more per month than the minimum payment of the loan.
    Make the loan at the current appraised value (so in essence the government buys the house and sells the house back to the owner for the real value)

    Such a plan would benefit the homeowners who just wanted a place to live, rather than the multi house investors (who don’t deserve to be bailed out). It would benefit the banks as well by decreasing foreclosures, and should stabilize housing prices.

    Just an idea

  14. zaw says:

    A credit union won’t hire me because I have a loan with them.

  15. Scott says:

    Number 8 has it about right. I assume all of the companies holding this now worthless paper bought it without being forced to. They eat it. Their investors need to demand accountability and some folks who thought they were brilliant when the money was good, need to take responsibility. No one forced them to loan the money. No one forced anyone to buy the loans. Why the hell should I be forced to shield them from the consequences of the risks they took?

  16. Streaker says:

    Don’t worry, Uncle Dave, most of us are still laughing at you.

    As for the rest of you nail biters, isn’t it funny how those who are poor in wealth take such delight in the misfortune of others (if they are wealthy).

  17. Sounds The Alarm says:

    #14

    Not bad. I’d like to see more than $500 over the house payment though

  18. Sounds The Alarm says:

    #17.

    It is kinda of funny how that happens – particularly when the rich in this case are such assholes.

  19. Jerk-Face says:

    17. “isn’t it funny how those who are poor in wealth take such delight in the misfortune of others (if they are wealthy).”

    So today’s the day you finally discovered irony?! God, you’re an idiot.

  20. Mr. Fusion says:

    #19 & 20, Sounds & J-F

    Let’s not be too hard on #17, streaker. In the morning when he wakes up he will still be an idiot and an asshole. Show some empathy.

  21. joshua says:

    #14….actually….I could support that as well. But we will see the large bad loan buyers get bailed, just watch.

  22. ECA says:

    OK,

    THINk about it first…
    If the Gov bails them OUT…
    Who gets the land??
    Not the state, not the Gov….
    ITS STILL IN THE BANKS HANDS… they STILL get to sell the property…
    AND double their money…AT THE LEAST….

    I would LOVe to see a $1m house turned into a condo for Lower income..

  23. stew says:

    Thank You ECA. You seem to be the only one who realizes that there is a house or at least a piece of dirt backing this loan. To those that say bailout. I say you gonna pay my mortgage off? Of coarse I am not over my head but bought a house I can afford. This is a much needed correction in the market. Money for loans has been to easy to long. Time to raise interest rates so people will save. The reason people bet the farm was because someone would give them more then it was worth.

  24. Misanthropic Scott says:

    #24 – stew,

    And the reason someone gave them more than it was worth was because of deregulation that allowed it. The street made a fortune on this over the years. They’ve got a whole bunch of collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) by which the traders and investment banks got very wealthy. Always keep looking for the real power behind things. It’s usually associated with large piles of money.

  25. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #14 – Sometimes we latte-drinking liberals think we care more about the heartland than those of you living there.

    I live in “the Heartland” and I KNOW you care more about it than the natives. But just move who, you’ll stop caring about it right quick.

  26. Misanthropic Scott says:

    #26 – OFTLO,

    LOL. But, you can’t fool me. I know you care. I’ve read your posts. Spread the word in your area, a vote for the Reps is a vote for Wall St. If people there hate NY bankers as much as the rumors say, this should cause a landslide for the Dems. (Not that I’m so thrilled with Dems. They’re just a lot less bad than the Reps, even though they killed the Liberal party to avoid competition.)

  27. Yeah, they are all possible solutions but I guess the situation is not exactly easy to control. So the best thing we can do is keep accurate track of our mortgages and try to repair what goes wrong.


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