I've always thought Bill Gross is a tool. This just confirms it. Bailing out homeowners - well the money has to come from somewhere. Since all AMericans are either homeowners or renters, that means homeowners will be bailing out themselves (i.e. a net benefit of zero, minus the administration costs, red tape, and market inefficiencies resulting, which will be huge), or renters will be bailing out homeowners. Renters are typically much poorer than homeowners. I would like to see the economic justification for some of the poorest people in society being forced - in the form of less affordable homes, higher taxes, and higher rents - to subsidise the well-off home-owning middle classes, landlords, and condo flip speculators, may of whom have committed outright fraud along with grossly irresponsible real estate gambling with other people's money. At best this would be a gargantuan waste of money, taking money from your pocket to put it back again, after a hefty haircut is charged for the privilege. At worst it would be the largest reverse-wealth redistribution in American history. What a f*cking tool, go back to class Mr Gross.
"Under capitalism we have unequal sharing of blessings, under socialism we have equal sharing of misery.â Winston Churchill
I didn't read the whole thread, but how much sewage is sitting on pimco's books at this time? Being a 5 star rated bond fund means reaching for yield. I would love to know how Dan Fuss is doing right now.
Pimco is clean, no subprime exposure. That's why their performance has been lagging to those of Dan Fuss the last couple years. However, I have a feeling that Gross will have the last laugh, as many managers grew their business on the backs of toxic paper in ABS and CDOs. Gross' writes a monthly opinion which is widely read. Unfortunately, people hang on to each word he says because of his reputation and position. I think when he is discussing investments, it's wise to pay attention to him. But when he is speaking of politics or whim, it should be read like a newspaper.
I just went and checked Loomis's web site, they are not putting monthly numbers up. I know he was huge into europe and S.A. so maybe he came out unscathed. He is a fucking magician when it comes to fixed income..Pimco is jv to this guy!
If Bill Gross wants the 20k a year income families bailed out of their $500k loans on their McMansions, why doesn't he walk down some streets & start writing checks to them out of his own personal account. Go ring some door bells Bill. Don't try to spend my tax money on people partying it up in a huge house they can't afford & then whining because their party can't continue.
He has a lot of skin in the cmo game. I didn't bother to check all of his funds, but this is his flag ship strategy and it has ~$100 billion across the various total return share classes. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hl?s=PTTRX
But I have a better idea: if your mortgage is about to be foreclosed, you apply to FEMA for help. Call it a 'natural disaster' ... FEMA then buys your mortgage as of whenever you went delinquent (or something, a little fuzzy here). Spread the pain around a bit by having the note holder, in exchange for a quick exit from the about-to-tank-loan (and I mean quick: EFT'd overnight or better), drop all the accumulated interest-on-interest and late fees "for the National Good" ... kind of a reverse War Bond Then have FEMA arrange for Freddie and Fannie to, with the help of the Fed's printing press, service the loan at a refinanced no-closing-cost, no credit check, 40-year fixed rate mortgage equal to the national average (which just dropped this week). Yes, some people will still default on this, but the big chunk of uncertainty and unmarketable loans would be gone overnight. And a big chunk of people who would otherwise default and lose their house get a 2nd chance. Ok, you'd have to get an agency that could process paperwork more quickly than FEMA. But still, what do you think of the idea? I bet it's cheaper than 6 months in Iraq.