[carlsbadworker]

[quote=briansd1]
But it’s good for society to spend for the general well-being of the population, to spur and encourage investments and innovation.
[/quote]

Why it has to be consumption? Why saving money is not helping the economy? Unless you put your money under the mattress, where do you think the community bank got its core capital allows it to lend and stimulate the economy?

The US has under-saving issue that forces it to have the trade deficit, while China has over-saving issue that forces it to have the trade surplus. Therefore, China helps to lower our treasury rates and in return makes it more attractive to have debt and less saving, and the vicious cycle goes on and on until it is completely unsustainable.

[carlsbadworker]

Yes, US price to income or price to rent in bubble days look so nice when you compare to China:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_property_bubble

But it is a different animal, buyers are actually not going to default in drove. Instead, it will be builders, local governments in default and forces bank runs. GDP growth in China depends on 50% investment, but hot money is going to leave its border while its internal money is also being transferred outside because the leadership change next year makes many government officers and businessmen nervous.

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=flu]
I already stocked up on them 3 years ago when they were free after rebates :)[/quote]

Me too. And I think I over-stocked them. Hardly used any in the last few years.

[carlsbadworker]

Black Friday is dated. I shop Small Business Saturday where American Express paid me $100 (I have four AMEX cards) to shop at local grocery store and restaurant.

[carlsbadworker]

Pat & Oscar’s filed for bankruptcy:

http://www.nctimes.com/business/fb33a04b-8f0d-5f06-93d6-24285e2c206d.html

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=flu]HP over the past year fit the mold. I can only thing of one company that foobared even greater than HP…. Netflix….. And damn that would have been a pretty short….[/quote]

I disagree when you put Netflix into the same category as HP. What Netflix did wrong in their strategy? They have to increase price and they have to separate DVD and streaming. Maybe they didn’t handle it nicely but it is just short-term pain for long-term gain.

The most crucial difference is that for HP, they have many competitors around to take over their market shares. I don’t think it is the case for Netflix. What are the consumers options?

Redbox? If you have one near you AND you don’t mind the limited selection AND you don’t mind waiting in the line with someone before you procrastinating for half an hour.

Amazon? If you don’t mind their even poorer streaming selection. And the content providers are hating Netflix for $8/month streaming, how much are they going to love Amazon streaming when it is thrown out for free when you sign up prime shipping?

Apple? Do they even offer the Netflix model when you have unlimited streaming for a fixed price?

DISH’s blockbuster? $10/month for 4,000 streaming titles and you have to be a DISH subscriber?

Hulu Plus? Do they even have movies?

Besides, most of the in-home entertainment devices (TV, Blu-ray player, gaming devices) are Netflix ready, making it harder for people to switch to other no-name providers. I think the negative blast on Netflix is overdone. Just like Netflix has been saying that 1/3 of their churned customer returns within a year. I don’t think the customers have any other choices except more expensive cable/satellite TV, VOD, etc at the moment…and they eventually have to come back, if the Netflix can use its increased cash reserve to license more streaming content.

The only stupid thing that Netflix did was to use cash to buy back stock and the other issue with Netflix is its stock price was over-valued. Now it is close to the right pricing and may soon become a very attractive pricing for the long-term investors.

[carlsbadworker]

It is apparent that at HP, the board needs to be fired rather than the CEOs.

[carlsbadworker]

I was curious if people who has solar panel installed, do they got outage as well? And why nuclear power plant also has to be shutdown when you need them.

[carlsbadworker]

Yes, what you didn’t know is that fannie/Freddie can ask banks to buy back the loan if the borrower didn’t meet the qualification standard. It actually happens pretty often, so sometimes bank enforces tougher standard than required to limit their risks. Also, not everyone in government works for Obama, sometimes they have different political backing and goals.

[carlsbadworker]

Agree with CAR. The reason deadbeats use their houses as ATM is because they have no where else to get money for consumption. Productivity growth has been high since early 80s yet almost all economic gains went to corporations rather than workers. It should come as no surprise that we are facing weak demand. Asking the nation to have more debts either through the private sector or through the public sector is not a solution. On the contrary, we need to provide workers more income to pay off their debt. Well, I know it is easy to say than to be done, but help and encourage savings is the only way to get out of this mess.

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=JohnAlt91941]New buyers get nothing from this except probably less inventory to pick from.[/quote]

Exactly. I couldn’t understand how “letting price drop more so that new buyers can spend less on housing” is not the best long-term policy. As we have said here numerous of times, foreclosure is not the problem, foreclosure is the solution.
If the government claimed that foreclosure will hurt the banking system, and thus hurt the real economy. We already solved that with market-to-fantasy accounting for the banks and massive FED/government holding of non-performing asset. Why we still need to save those sorry-ass with renters’ money?

Remember, the government does not create wealth. It merely re-distributes wealth.

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=JohnAlt91941]New buyers get nothing from this except probably less inventory to pick from.[/quote]

Exactly. I couldn’t understand how “letting price drop more so that new buyers can spend less on housing” is not the best long-term policy. As we have said here numerous of times, foreclosure is not the problem, foreclosure is the solution.
If the government claimed that foreclosure will hurt the banking system, and thus hurt the real economy. We already solved that with market-to-fantasy accounting for the banks and massive FED/government holding of non-performing asset. Why we still need to save those sorry-ass with renters’ money?

Remember, the government does not create wealth. It merely re-distributes wealth.

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=JohnAlt91941]New buyers get nothing from this except probably less inventory to pick from.[/quote]

Exactly. I couldn’t understand how “letting price drop more so that new buyers can spend less on housing” is not the best long-term policy. As we have said here numerous of times, foreclosure is not the problem, foreclosure is the solution.
If the government claimed that foreclosure will hurt the banking system, and thus hurt the real economy. We already solved that with market-to-fantasy accounting for the banks and massive FED/government holding of non-performing asset. Why we still need to save those sorry-ass with renters’ money?

Remember, the government does not create wealth. It merely re-distributes wealth.

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=JohnAlt91941]New buyers get nothing from this except probably less inventory to pick from.[/quote]

Exactly. I couldn’t understand how “letting price drop more so that new buyers can spend less on housing” is not the best long-term policy. As we have said here numerous of times, foreclosure is not the problem, foreclosure is the solution.
If the government claimed that foreclosure will hurt the banking system, and thus hurt the real economy. We already solved that with market-to-fantasy accounting for the banks and massive FED/government holding of non-performing asset. Why we still need to save those sorry-ass with renters’ money?

Remember, the government does not create wealth. It merely re-distributes wealth.

[carlsbadworker]

[quote=JohnAlt91941]New buyers get nothing from this except probably less inventory to pick from.[/quote]

Exactly. I couldn’t understand how “letting price drop more so that new buyers can spend less on housing” is not the best long-term policy. As we have said here numerous of times, foreclosure is not the problem, foreclosure is the solution.
If the government claimed that foreclosure will hurt the banking system, and thus hurt the real economy. We already solved that with market-to-fantasy accounting for the banks and massive FED/government holding of non-performing asset. Why we still need to save those sorry-ass with renters’ money?

Remember, the government does not create wealth. It merely re-distributes wealth.

[Author]

Posts