[Borat]

This has been discussed 100 times on this board. The US has no choice but to borrow money from overseas to finance its monstrous account deficit. If the yields don’t compensate for inflation, no one will buy the paper. If China, Japan et al start to take their money elsewhere, the rates MUST go up to bring the buyers back or the US govt goes bankrupt in a couple of days. It is that serious, no fooling. There is no money left in the federal kitty and the foreign money is the only thing left to keep it going. China and Japan demand will determine our interest rates, the federal reserve and US govt are prisoners at this point. Yes inflation is going up and yes rates are going to go up to match. That will drive home prices down as well as the cost of that extreme leverage gets expensive in a hurry as the rates go up. The savers still win as long as they buy short-term instruments (6-month CDs, etc…)

[Borat]

Sorry to hear about your trouble. The most important thing to do is to keep yourself occupied and away from her. If you can afford to take a long vacation, DO IT! Go to Australia or Asia for a couple of months and just relax. It’s time to make yourself more interesting and there’s no better time to do that than when you’re alone.

And no one’s insulting you — people are too wrapped up in their own game to worry about yours…

[Borat]

Lots of good points here. One thing that will be interesting is to see how many of those folks that are in good shape mortgage-wise (bought 2003 or earlier, fixed-rate mortgage, not too much heloc, etc…) have jobs that are dependent on the housing bubble. Finance, mortgage, banking, appraising, construction, etc… Although they weren’t irresponsible in their purchase or finance, they still may end up in a must-sell situation based on job loss or downsizing. Could take a while though especially if they raid their home equity or 401k to ride out the pain.

[Borat]

Also don’t forget if you have a $100K downpayment saved then you can get $5K/yr from a CD just sitting there. Of course that’s taxable but still that’s probably a couple hundred bucks a month for doing nothing that you lose if you buy the house.

[Borat]

I pay $1.2/sf per month in central SD. Very nice place, would probably sell for $800K+. I tried to get a longer lease but mgmt. co wouldn’t go for it — 1 yr. max.

[Borat]

If those prices remain at that level, I’ll be a renter until my income doubles. Fine by me.

[Borat]

The guy SHOT HIMSELF, so fear of being shot probably wouldn’t have much effect on him. He was BAT SH*T CRAZY. True, if someone around him had been packing he might have killed less people, but he probably still would have gone on a rampage anyway. Trying to analyze an insane person’s behavior is a waste of time.

[Borat]

You guys are all mesmerized by the magician’s waving fingers as he picks your pocket. The FBers are a pathetic sideshow and they deserve what they get, but the real crime is the money made at the top of companies like New Century and others. While many of these firm will end up in bankruptcy, the top pigs have all stashed their pockets with tons of money stolen from the MBS market by misrepresenting the quality of mortgages they sold into it. These comapnies will go bankrupt but their personal assets will remain intact and they will move on to the next scam, which will undoubtedly involve more of your money. Once these loans start defaulting in large numbers those MBSes are going to be revealed for the doo-doo they are and many pension funds are gonna be in deep trouble. Just because you and some of your friends made money speculating using ARMs doesn’t mean that you’re smart — just lucky enough to go along for the ride.

I am also angry at the FB speculators but the real criminals are at the top. They keep you distracted by focusing your attention on their victims while they move on to the next scam. Enron, Worldcom, New Century, welcome to the American e-CON-omy.

[Borat]

my portfolio is larely international diversified funds. Last years return was 20%, this year it’s already screaming. When the dollar drops in value these funds should do well.

Why? Weaker dollars mean more business for US exporters as consumers abroad switch to cheaper US alternatives (where available). A weak dollar will be good for any US exporter.

[Borat]

They now claim that they are not at fault, that they were preyed upon by the big bad mortgage brokers. They won’t learn and this pattern will repeat itself in another aspect of their lives in the future.

True, but the mortgage brokers are pinning the blame on the FBers, and they’re already a very successful at it based on the responses I’m reading here. This was a HUGE scam to STEAL money, and only some of it came from the FBers. The VAST MAJORITY of it came from the purchasers and holders of MBSes (probably 90% of us) that were tainted with toxic amounts of risk. When your pension goes bust or some of your 401K investments go t*ts-up under the weight of these doo-doo loans, I’ll bet a lot of you will be screaming that no one told you that those investments were risky! “You should have read the fine print — you deserve what you get!” will come the howls from the media.

[Borat]

There sure is a lot of anger towards the FBers. Are you guys as angry at the irresponsible business practices of the lenders who wrote these loans and then tossed off the liability to unknowing purchasers of MBSes (which probably includes all of us by way of 401K/pension investments). Many of these guys got very rich and will be working their next scam while we are all stuck picking up the tab. The FBers are screwed, period. They’re gonna lose their houses and many will go bankrupt. Yes they were stupid and deserve what they get but it is amazing to me to see how everyone on this board has already been manipulated by the media into giving the lenders a free pass and focusing all of their anger on the FBers. Those loans SHOULD HAVE BEEN ILLEGAL. PEOPLE SHOULD BE GOING TO PRISON but they’re not going to. Everything is going according to plan in this giant game of 3-card monty and we’re all getting conned.

[Borat]

These people move here without credit so I presume they are putting up a lot of cash to buy the homes they live in.

In case you haven’t noticed, they give home loans to ANYONE including illegal aliens. Basically, if you are a living mammal some crooked mortgage broker will probably loan you the money for a $600K home. This is stopping now but it has been the case for the last few years. Foreign money is keeping the home market afloat, just not in the way you think. Foreign money buys a lot of doo-doo loans packaged into MBS. Without buyers for these garbage loans the whole house of cards collapses.

[Borat]

People will look back and ask how they could have been so stupid. I just hope responsible taxpayers aren’t burdened with giving the stupid people more money they won’t be able to pay back.

I don’t disagree, but just notice how the media is manipulating you already to focus on the buyers; while you are distracted they will bail out the banks and lenders with your moolah and leave the FBers high and dry. That’s the 3-card-monty play. The same thing happened with the new bankruptcy law a couple of years back. Everyone talked about irresponsible borrowers while in the background citibank (who was already enormously profitable) got handed that piece of legislation that will allow them to be even more profitable and do even more shady predatory lending to even more vulnerable people. It is true that the borrowers are irresponsible but these usurers need to be brought to heel or this will just repeat again and again. We are witnessing the looting of our country.

[Borat]

Don’t forget that the mortgage companies are also victims of their own greed and stupidity. What did they think was going to happen when they made those loans? This is what happens when your country stops making things, it gets taken over by conmen who don’t know how to run an honest business.

[Borat]

Even if a loan officer tells someone a negAm is a good idea because home prices will appreciate it cannot be construed that he misled anyone because it is possible the loan officer is foolish enough to believe in perpetual appreciation himself!

Huh? So the homebuyer is to blame because they are stupid but the loan officer is NOT to blame because he is stupid? Sounds like somebody has been listening to talk radio. Everyone is to blame — borrowers, lenders, and whoever bought the MBSes. All of them are gonna ask uncle sam to bail them out. The media is setting you up right now to blame the homebuyers because the lenders and MBS holders want to get their bailout money from your tax $$$. As usual the little guys will get shafted and the big guys will get richer with your tax $$$.

[Author]

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