Tuesday Open Thread
This is your open thread for today. Please post random links and off-topic discussions here.
Off-topic comment? Interesting link?
Head over to the forums, or click here for open threads.
Head over to the forums, or click here for open threads.
9 comments:
Don't know if this has been shared already: a February 2006 paper on mortgage rate resets.
Illuminating statistics on how many ARM loans are "at risk," and the current equity percentages for home purchasers by year.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/03/real_estate/real_estate_agents/index.htm?postversion=2006100312
A good article about people that quit their jobs to become RE agents during the boom, and finding that the well is running dry!
Trevor,
If the National Association of Realtors was a labor union, and we were union workers, you'd be a scab, my friend.
--- Marlow Harris
Seattle RE News
Things seem to be a little testy in the Realtor world. Apparently, Marlow Harris (of the Seattle PI RE Pro blog) thinks that anyone who isn't charging full price is a "scab" of the Realtor Union.
Funny, I didn't know they were on strike. No wonder sales are down. ;-)
Trevor,
If the National Association of Realtors was a labor union, and we were union workers, you'd be a scab, my friend.
--- Marlow Harris
I read this and it is getting testy.
As for scabs...
I am in a labor union. I do union work, and I wouldn't spit on a scab if he was on fire.
Undercutting your brethren isn't being a scab. It is annoying, detestable, and ultimately self-destructive, but it is NOT what makes you a scab.
Crossing a picket line and working for management, under a legal strike, makes you a scab.
I understand the frustration when some newbie undercuts the profession. The underlying vitriol can be quite caustic.
I had a conversation with a big-volume Realtor in the Dallas area, and she said many Realtors will not show a house that is not listed with the 6% crowd. I'm sure that is illegal/unethical, but it is a reality.
Just the same, I won't allow my family to fly on airlines that hire 200hour, zit-popping wonders. We either take my airline, pay to fly some reputable carrier, or drive.
A new(?) John Rubino interview mp3:
“It’s very possible a housing bust in 2007 turns into a general recession. You have the real danger of this snowballing into a serious, economy-wide, problem.”
Who here thinks the Fed is going to try and lower rates again to attempt to 'band-aid' the recession problem? Oh man...
Count me in.
Dollar bonfire is on the way.
crashcadia (that is the best bubble-blogger name for the PNW),
If I were the Supreme Despot of the FED, I would save the dollar. In fact, that is their mandate, but lately they have been running on the applause meter.
Recessions suck in the short term, but they are absolutely necessary for the long term health of the economy. Bad businesses get wiped out, bad debt gets extinguished, margins recover, and new ideas get a chance to flourish. Recessions also send a powerful message about risk and risk management, which tends to get drowned out by the go-go times of a raging bull market
Inflation is just poison for the long term health of the economy.
-Save the dollar
-Cease free-trade with slave/peasant nations
-Balance the federal budget
I think the Fed will have to react.
I admire your optimism.
My guess is the FED will cut at the first sign of real trouble. In fact, I think the recent pause and rhetoric is setting up the next round of cuts.
They will cut until the dollar gets in real trouble, and then it will be too late. The economy will be in a doozy of a recession, and their only option will be to hike and hike hard.
I think the FED is really worrying about how they get 77,000,000 Discoballers into retirement. A doozy of a recession in the next few years would just kill all the retirement dreams of the largest, and most ill-prepared generation in the history of Western Civ.
Imagine all the 401(k) plans getting crushed to 20%, or less. Housing will be lucky not to lose 2/3. You can raise taxes on GenX, but they won't have the spare income or assets to tax.
You can bet the latest crop of immigrants won't pay taxes to retire a bunch of old white people.
How much is the gov't in debt? That is why I think they will print and ultimately default.
A default would render all future treasury notes worthless. This would spell the end of the empire.
Default or monatization? Either one renders the holders of the bonds getting zero or next to zero in return.
The end of the empire came when we thought we could consume our way to wealth. Default is just playing out the hand.
We are "drawing dead."
Post a Comment