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?
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How the hell are we going to keep from going down for the count? /// Well, quite simply==we aren’t going to avoid what has been put in place. Yes, more defaults and bailouts followed by massive inflation all in the context of global economics “flattening out” === aka, USA becoming more poor.
Being able to predict the future allows for but does not necessarily avoid it. We do reap what we sow and what have we been sowing for the last 30-40 years?
No energy program. Offshoring manufacturing. Korea sells 100k cars in USA but USA only allowed to sell 8K cars there, and still tax incentives are provided to move USA jobs oversees.
Tiny Silver Fish
Facing Upstream
Going Downstream
In clear, swift water.
Words and music by Eric Idle
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…
If life seems jolly rotten
There’s something you’ve forgotten
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps
Don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle – that’s the thing.
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…
For life is quite absurd
And death’s the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin – give the audience a grin
Enjoy it – it’s your last chance anyhow.
So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath
Life’s a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true.
You’ll see it’s all a show
Keep ’em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the right side of life…
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the bright side of life…
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life…
(I mean – what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing – you’re going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life…
Above all, blame someone else. Did you vote for deregulators? Did you ever question if your state government allowed unlicensed storefront mortgage companies? Did you applaud invading Iraq – or question the Pentagon budget for the past decades?
Did you “Buy American” at all costs? Are you a patriot?
Do you confuse sophistry with skepticism?
Dogbert the financial advisor – has it right.
http://www.dilbert.com/2008-12-13/
Dilbert
Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened;)
Wow.
#3–as if the voter controls or influences anything. The entire system of two party corporate controlled pay to play is corrupt from top to bottom. The ONLY EFFECTIVE vote is to vote all incumbents out of office. Is that what you meant?
#4–Dogbert is wrong. Diversification is by far the best approach to investments. Silly to throw that key concept out because of widespread corruption in certain sectors.
#5–Smile because “what” happened?
3 comments in a row having it exactly ass-backwards. What hope for the kiddies?
Did you vote for deregulators?
Yes, I did. Unfortunately, they regulated anyway. That’s part of the reason why the federal budget is $2.8T.
There are over 100 federal agencies and commissions, including the IRS, FRB, FDIC, SEC, CFTC, NIH, DEA, BATF, EEOC, INS, OSHA, CAA, FAA, FEMA, FERC, FCC, FTC and NLRB (to mention a few). In the last 12 years there have been over 51,000 new regulations. The Federal Register last year contained 73,000 pages of regulations. The cost of administering and complying with these regulations is estimated at over a $1 trillion.
Is this de-regulation?
http://tinyurl.com/5bw99t
“#3–as if the voter controls or influences anything. The entire system of two party corporate controlled pay to play is corrupt from top to bottom. The ONLY EFFECTIVE vote is to vote all incumbents out of office. Is that what you meant?”
Correct!
#4–Dogbert is wrong. Diversification is by far the best approach to investments. Silly to throw that key concept out because of widespread corruption in certain sectors.
Incorrect. See your #3. Same reason, corporations. The Wall Street game is severely rigged which becomes clearly apparent when it becomes a dog eat dog bear market like it is now.
A very few in the mainstream financial press have finally gotten that (or have, at least, PUBLICLY admitted that) repeating what many in the financial forums have been saying for months now. The stock market is MANIPULATED (so easy for huge hedge funds since there are only 30 stocks included in the DJIA). No more wondering why the market is acting so strangely (UP on _really_ bad news, DOWN on not so bad news). Watch the video:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=960246441
It’s pump and dump by the BIG money.
There are too many ways the small guy can lose and too few ways to win. Insider trading, post-dated options, crooked CEOs, complicit boards, regulators who do not regulate, post-Great Depression regulations eliminated by bought and paid for politicians, and misleading corporate balance sheets are only a few examples. It’s not investing, it’s gambling, and the odds are with the house. For us mortals, anyway. Now for the ones who KNOW which horse will win, which number will fall or which card is next or how the stock / market will move, different story.
If you aren’t a day trader in this market, you lose. Even if you are, you can still lose. But “buy and hold” is garbage, at least in the case of mutual funds or 401Ks which is how many invest.
And, no, I haven’t lost a fortune and am just bitter. I listened to the _very_ few smart people who predicted the current crisis 18 months ago and transitioned to cash before the fall.
#8,
I was really worried about becoming emotionally attached to the chickens… But that hasn’t really happened at all. Chickens have zero emotive potential, and even as a fairly sensitive guy… Killing them is no worse than killing fish. I think thats why rabbit eating never took off. A rabbit will at least figure out that you are the person that gives em the food.
It is also the darnedest thing… I was expecting home grown chicken and eggs to taste different somehow. And yet chickens taste pre-homogenized. Homegrown chicken tastes the same as store bought chicken.
My first year garden was a total disaster. OMG farming is hard stuff. I think next year I do it all hydroponically and just skip soil(garden area is former pine grove…). What I am learning though is that to grow enough food in your back yard to be self sustaining, you have to be willing to eat peas. All the other things are nice, but don’t really contain enough calories to live off of. Next year I am planning my garden for max calories.
#9–Winston. DIVERSIFY!!! Its like a mathematical certainty on the “odds.”
With my #2.50 in the bank, I had to laugh years ago listening to a financial expert “for the masses” recommending DIVERSIFY!!! Don’t invest in just the stock market. DIVERSIFY!!!! Go into bank accounts, bonds, commondities, gold etc. DIVERSIFY !!!! Don’t go into just bonds, go into taxable and tax free. DIVERSIFY!!!! Don’t go into just gold, go into silver and platinum as well.
That was his advice. $2.50 in the bank. Now these clowns like YOU, Dogbert, Mark and those with Multiple Millions with Madoff could have saved alot of money if they would only DIVERSIFY!!!
Dogbert is right thats its math, but he got the wrong formula. DIVERSIFY!!!!
I tried to do that with my marriage, but she won’t have any of it. Further proof it must be right.
I have lived in apartments my whole adult life but after all this crap unwinds I might actually be able to afford a home … if I keep my job that is.
#10, What I am learning though is that to grow enough food in your back yard to be self sustaining, you have to be willing to eat peas.
Laddie, ye need haggis, neeps, ‘n tatties. That’ll put a bulge in ye kilt!
What the problem stems from everyone including government wanting finacial institution to loan money to people who could barely afford it. Let’s face it the economy has been running in overdrive and now consumers are finally tapped out. If we avoid a depression it will surprise me. I would not be surprised to see us start out of this is maybe three years or more only to have us back in a recession soon after. Because I think wages are dropping and consumer buying power is going down the drain.
Even the so called wealthy are suffering and have lost a lot. Stands to reason these people will be caucious about rehiring people for some time to come.
#10
Well, it all depends on the chicken breed, the mass produced ones will taste the same. Try it with banty chickens.
“What the problem stems from everyone including government wanting finacial institution to loan money to people who could barely afford it.”
All of THAT being enabled by the Federal Reserve making money available to financial institutions at below the rate of inflation! Those who would rightfully scream bloody murder at any central planning of the US economy do not seem to realize that there IS central planning at the most FUNDAMENTAL level possible, the MONEY SUPPLY!
READ this outstanding book:
Greenspan’s Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve
http://tinyurl.com/6adu7t
The great “genius” is a “SAVANT IDIOT”:
http://tinyurl.com/5orgs3
#12 Improbus, just the opposite for me. I owned a home (two total) for almost my entire adult life. After selling last spring to avoid the continuing loss of value, I’m really enjoying how short my “to do” list has become. I’d long forgotten how liberating it feels to rent.
I meant to say “FAR below the rate of inflation” in my comment above.
Where can I get a mortgage on a house where the payments are only $1500 a month?
#19 Chuck – move to Quebec, Canada. Or New Brunswick, Canada.
Plenty of sub 200k$ homes around Montreal (not on the island), less than 1 hour from downtown, with great bus/train/metro transportation.
So convert that to US funds, and you’ve got a bargain.
Our wacky weather builds character.
# 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.