I'm the kind of guy who LIKES commodity producers getting rich. WTF should some realtor or desk jockey make more money than a driller or a farmer? As far as an "emboldened" Iran. 1. I doubt it. 2. Who cares. Pakistan is the looming problem not one of these penny ante nations that no one other than Israel feels threatened by. When is the last time you've heard of Shiite sponsored terror against the West. Never. And YES the deficits suck but against the backdrop of the 2000-2003 recession Keynes would have said SPEND. Problem is by 2005 we should have STOPPED spending.
Agreed. Nobody serves in the government or in government-protected corporations such as the Fed, unless they are both smart enough to follow directions while avoiding explanations and twisted enough to make the prescribed agenda happen at any cost.
And who are they going to sell to? Right now, unless you have really good credit, a downpayment and good documentation, its tough getting a loan. This was never about rates, which I stated at the time of the rate cuts. Bear Sterns didn't go under because rates were too high. The secondary mortgage market has "cratered". Until readily available financing returns, housing will just go sideways, imo. Mortgage Rates Climbing Again As Secondary Mortgage Markets Collapse (FNM, FRE) Jonathan Kennedy | Aug 13, 08 7:36 AM As the U.S. economy continues to weaken, secondary credit markets, which play a large role in supporting consumer lending, are showing further signs of distress. Even with the Fed pumping billions of dollars of credit into the economy with loan auctions and low interest rates, lenders are continuing to tighten standars and raise rates. One part of the problem is a near total collapse in confidence in the market for securitized mortgages and loans. NYT: [T]he market for securitization, through which mortgages and other debts are packaged and sold as securities, has become sclerotic and almost totally dependent on government support. The problems, intensified by bond investors who have grown leery of these instruments, have been a drag on the economy and have persisted despite the exercise of extraordinary regulatory powers by policy makers. âThe mortgage finance system in the United States has been badly damaged,â said Anthony Lembke, co-head of investments at MKP Capital Management, a hedge fund firm that is a big investor in mortgages. âThere is definitely some reinvention that will need to occur, and that will include some explicit involvement by the government.â Private securitizations have cratered. Data from Thomson Reuters says lenders securitized only $131 billion in loans in the first half of 08, down from $1 trillion in the same period last year. As a result, mortgage rates have crept up, which will keep the pressure on the housing market: Credit is also tightening despite support in secondary markets from GSEs like Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). Fannie and Freddie have securitized $692 billion worth of mortgages so far this year, about the same as last year. But secondary buyers are now harder to come by, and Freddie and Fannie's desperate attempts to save themselves will now reduce their own buying and selling. Freddie Mac, for example, announced yesterday that it would stop buying subprime mortgages in New York. The two companies, which reported big losses last week, have said that they might reduce or slow the amount of large loans they buy from banks, a signal that two giants that had been big buyers might become sellers. If so, that would lower the price of mortgage securities even more, raising the cost of borrowing for home buyers. So the credit picture is still getting worse, not better. This is in part why those calling a bottom on financial stocks are probably jumping the gun. Until the housing and mortgage markets shows signs of stabilization, a sustained rally in financials is unlikely. See Also: Freddie Mac To New Yorkers: Not Buying Anymore Of Your Mortgage Junk Thank God Subprime Is Over. What's An "Alt-A?" Subscribe to ClusterStock: RSS, email newsletter (no spam) http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/8/...-again-as-secondary-mortgage-markets-collapse
Wow. I don't even have to respond to Pabst now because you said everything I was about to. Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave. These newfangled GOP bastards ruined the Republican Party Reagan revived and nursed back to health.
We need Newt Gingrich and some "fiscally conservative Republicans", not these fat cat Republicans that we have now, to take back Congress and get spending under control.