[gold_dredger_phd]

Mark S:
I can see the savers or prudent people of the country getting screwed by having to pay everyone else’s bills for the hookers and cocaine party that the Fed has thrown the last decade or so.

Those prudent people would be me and my parents and other like us who have lived within our means and not gone out on a “mortgage equity withdrawal” bender. I saw some of my neighbors buying all sorts of crap that they had to get a second mortgage for like new cars, expensive landscaping, $40,000 cherry-wood flooring and other crap just to ape what they see on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” They live in $1 million dollar tract homes, McMansions. And they dress them up like it’s some big estate.

Lower down on the food chain, the “mortgage equity withdrawal” bender is to buy boats, ATV’s, RV’s, etc. for all the recreation on the weekends and no doubt cruises and other expendables. I don’t think they are mortgaging their houses to pay for Johnnie’s Ivy League tuition or medical school.

Meanwhile, my parents, born during the Great Depression, seem to have a pathological trust of government and invest in tax-free municipal bonds and Fannie Mae and other socially engineered investments. They’ve lived in the same house for 30 years, paid off their mortgage, never bought a TV since the 1970’s (all the others were gifts from their kids or relatives), and never took expensive vacations. They are going to be screwed when the currency is debased more than it already is and when the municipalities choose to default on their bonds rather than face up to the municipal workers unions with their gold-plated pensions.

I’m putting my money in gold, overseas investments and foreign currencies and US blue chips. This train wreck will take decades to unwind.

Even the Wall Street Journal is admitting that there might be some losers with free trade. Like, maybe, the middle class? The rich will get returns on their capital and the poor will get government handouts. The middle class will not get Medicare, Social Security or government benefits in any meaningful amount and there will be higher taxes for Gen-X’ers and Millenials.

Get used to it, people. The American Century has ended!

[gold_dredger_phd]

Anything that causes the churning of houses is good for realtors. Today is the time to churn!

[gold_dredger_phd]

21109VC:

If you can’t afford a downpayment on your salary just have your mommy buy you a house like my friend’s ex-girlfriend’s mother did for her.

[gold_dredger_phd]

How was it that she had no money from a downpayment after selling her smaller home? She had zero equity in a smaller house and she was trading up?

She needs to get three room mates to pay her $700 each and then she can stay in the house. I know people back in Palo Alto that were renting out their houses for money even as far back as 1998 to make money.

Stories like this warm my heart. : D

[gold_dredger_phd]

They’ll all be driven bankrupt by their huge water bills when Lake Meade dries up.

[gold_dredger_phd]

Why are you astonished by this?

Don’t you know that government is the only institution that habitually rewards failure?

If you are a mega-loser, then the government will pay for your health care, food, shelter, clothing (if you chose to wear any around the trailer park) and even phone and entertainment.

I love hearing stories like this, it reaffirms my cynicism regarding the role of the welfare state in shaping people’s choices.

[gold_dredger_phd]

Here comes the secular religion again. Environmentalism replaces communism as the “ideology” of the left. No wonder you have so many journalists engaged in eco-boosterism. Children will be forced to convert to the “Church of the Warming Globe” as a condition of graduation.

My prediction is that global warming will result in massive famines, refugees from Mexico over-running lush golf courses and polo fields of southern California and we’ll be prohibited from using the flush toilets. Later, as the warming continues, crops will fail and those that cannot live on sand and sea water will be forced into cannabilism.

I would love it if we could just have gravel front yards. But the neighbors, especially in rich, snooty neighborhoods, would sue those who don’t have “a yard that blends well with the community.” I can’t wait for peoples’ water bills to reach $200 per month. More refugees would flee the “Golden State” for cheaper abodes.

Not everyone can live in California and this water crisis will insure that not everyone *will* live in California. Time to depopulate the state by driving up the cost of living even more.

[gold_dredger_phd]

That’s a really ominous sign as RV sales are a good leading indicator of the economy and the stock market. I think that RV sales peaked about 6-12 months before the tech bubble burst.

[gold_dredger_phd]

It’s the house and car.

When my parents lived in the Bay area in the late 60’s and early 70’s, they paid about 2-3 times my father’s income for their 4-bedroom house. This was for a new house.

When I live in San Diego today, I would have to pay at least 10 times my combined salary to live near my work. You can’t afford a house that costs 8-10 times your salary. No wonder people are broke.

[gold_dredger_phd]

This whole thread just shows ignorant people jumping to conspiracy theories when they cannot understand some facts or explain things.

Long ago, people had explained lightning by invoking “Lightning gods” and other imaginary entities. It is probable, though I am not an expert in lightning, that even today, we cannot explain all aspects of what creates lightning. There are still gaps in our knowledge. Accept the fact that there will always be gaps in our knowledge and there is no such thing as omniscience. An individual’s knowledge is very limited and so there are many things that they could not explain by themselves. That does not mean that they should jump to conspiracy theories if they cannot explain how +10,000 gallons of burning kerosene could weaken steel trusses supporting a floor and cause the trusses to collapse.

Accept the fact that skyscrapers are not built like bunkers and there is no building code that says that you must be able to burn 10,000 gallons of jet fuel on 3 or fewer floors without the building collapsing.

The jihadis tried to blow up the building from below and get one tower to crash into another back in 1993. If they were successful, I’m sure we would have seen all sorts of conspiracy theories about Clinton and the CIA, etc.

One of the proponents of a 9/11 conspiracy theory is a 47 year-old graduate student with too much time on his hands.

[gold_dredger_phd]

What’s the cost of the houses in your ‘hood?

Yeah, it’s nice to have two incomes in one household, but when divorce comes, it’s back to one income per “household.”

What’s worse yet is having just one income per household and then having a divorce, then it’s 1/2 income per household.

I guess all those home improvements did not improve their marriage or happiness. Better that they rented first to see if the marriage would last.

[gold_dredger_phd]

Conspiracy theories about 9/11 are just an outgrowth of Bush-hatred.

The liberals lack for any sort of positive ideology so they have to resort to rumors, enuendos, “Vote early and vote often”, and conspiracy theories.

The liberals (leftists) are just anti-American. What will they do when Bush leaves office? I predict they will become even more shrill.

[gold_dredger_phd]

This country could be saved if liberals just stopped having children.

[gold_dredger_phd]

“Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.”

No one made a fortune being short the market.

[gold_dredger_phd]

Of course the lender and real estate agent say, “Now’s the time to buy.” They’re looking for a quick commission and don’t care if you can stay in the house or you overpaid by $200K or whatever. They only care about their commissions.

Real estate cycles tend to be 15-20 years long. I’m waiting until at least 2009-2010.

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