Is it just me or does this:
Preserving confidence, even when that confidence is false, has been near the top of the S.E.C.’s agenda.

sound just as stupid as spending our way out of a credit bubble? I think Obama’s stimulus plans will have marginal short term value and terrible long term ramifications.

Even this incredibly irresponsible journalist appears to “get it” as he writes his Pollyanna article about 2009. To wit, he last sentence of his points #4 & #5:

(on the stimulus) Will some of that money be wasted? Of course. But the sums involved are so huge that there’s a good chance someone, somewhere, will benefit.

(on not increasing taxes) The United States may have led the world into this crisis, but the world now seems more than willing to lend us unlimited amounts of money to lead the way out.

This, too, is unsustainable. A reckoning will come. But that’s a problem for 2010 and beyond.

RE, I think we’ve found your soul mate!

Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces — with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

This is from nomadic‘s article in #83. So, since Putin really will rear in Sarah Palin’s airspace after all, why can’t the RBA be one of the six pieces?

California will form the nucleus of what he calls “The Californian Republic,” and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of “The Texas Republic,” a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an “Atlantic America” that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls “The Central North American Republic.” Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.

“It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time.” A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. “It’s not there for no reason,” he says with a sly grin.

No way! Cupertino is NOT taking Oakland or Newark!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html
There’s a kernel of truth in this line: In it, he reiterated his theory, called U.S. foreign debt “a pyramid scheme,” and predicted China and Russia would usurp Washington’s role as a global financial regulator.

They have the same policy at most stores, Target – etc. Since 1999 I think.

I know dozens of people living on $3K/mo living expenses when you exclude rent/mortgage. It is just incredible that this woman on welfare nets $3K/mo and manages to blow through that while taking out $150K in home equity which also disappears in a cloud of smoke. Stories like this are the reason welfare is constantly under attack for reform, although the payouts seem notoriously stingy to me for people that actually need help and are trying to get on their feet.

Short version:

WG: I think the craigslist house you brought up is
1107 Boranda Ave, mountain view, ca

Zestimate is $1.5K, so you save $26K/year renting instead of buying.

Last bought in 06 for $1.2K, 0 down (www.icocinvestigation.com/property/RGERes.pdf)

Maybe someone can do the math and tell me if $5K/mo rent covers their mortgage payments or not. This may be a flip gone bad.

Ms. Halterman hasn’t had a job for about 13 years, she says. She receives about $3,000 a month from welfare programs, food stamps and disability payments related to a back injury.

In early 2007, she asked Integrity for help, Mr. Rybicki’s records show. This time, Integrity itself provided a $103,000, 30-year mortgage. It had an adjustable rate that started at 9.25% and was capped at 15.25%, according to loan documents.</I?

http://failblog.org/2008/10/26/bank-fail-2/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123093614987850083.html

This one is actually more stupid than the strawberry pickers buying the $700k house in Salinas.

We already have a self-appointed moderator, and that’s RealEstater. There can be only one.

I know all of you would love that!

Real estate investing is not about appreciation. It is about getting somebody’s RENT to apply to your mortgage. Appreciation is just a cherry, but personally I think it will come back from these levels soon enough. But appreciation is not the point in RE investing.