Darn, you are a smart cookie, gnome. It's easy to forget the few voices of logic amidst the throng of ET posters (as opposed to ET traders). Kudos for keeping your eyes open and not swallowing what the media sells the sheeple.
Well you're wrong and that's my hunch. The mortgage & bank fiasco had strategic events leading up to it from late 1990s. It's a volatile situation but it does accomplish a few key goals. And there are risks, such as an uprising. But that has been prepared for also. Some wildcards do exist but to say it's not under control is just silly. In fact, it's quite dissapointing to that there is so much control of the sheeple.
So you think the big rise in unemployment, slowdown in the economy, toxic assets, foreclosures, 50% drop in the stock market, etc, is "all under control"? Even if it is, it's still different from prior recessions...
When the game is fixed then yes, it's all under control. A month ago I through 2009 was going to be a very bad year but my mood has improved to "moderately bad". Let's see how good Ben's helicopter is.
It was intended and designed for, so yes, technically it is under control. At some point you have to stop deluding yourself that these are just unfortunate mistakes by idiots. The fact that these absurd bailouts are getting through, in spite of popular opposition shows control. It's sad and disheartening, really. It is of a greater magnitude but relatively the same. I think the Great Depression was also an experiment to see how get the population to liquidate real assets at dirt cheap prices on a large national scale. So looks like the current credit contraction is forcing people to dump assets while simultaneously creating an absurd money supply expansion that will hit the system and hyperinflate those same people away into total poverty. It is different in a sense that it is a dual pronged attack and also that it is on a global scale. Definitely unprecedented events.
Money is out there its going to be redirected. Cheap and frugal is the new thing. I am still not seeing it a the malls, i find it ghostly slow. But I agree, we are closer to a bottom and the western world is not going to end.
today this guy was saying how he bought his house for 260K with only 8K as down payment, when the value went up to around 340K, he took out a home equity loan of 80K, and now that his house is valued below 180K he is going to walk out on his mortgage + home equity
I have a neighbor that's planning to walk away too. This is definitely a problem that can be solved easily with legislation that makes the penalty very big. In europe this is impossible. If you walk away, your wages, or income is garnished for life until it's paid off, even if you don't live there.