What if the "stimulus" package is exactly opposite of what is needed? I ask myself: if all we need to do is spend our way out of this recession, why are we still bogged down? It's not like Americans haven't been spending just about everything that they earn. We've tapped our credit card lines...

02/26/2009

Without Savings, There Can't Be Credit

4 Comments

I listened to President Obama yesterday and I heard him say that credit was the life blood of the economy. All we needed was to have banks start lending out money so people can start buying things again. It sounds like such an easy fix. The one thing that he didn't explain was where the credi...

02/25/2009

Economic Blackmail by the Chinese? It Might Explain A Lot of Things

2 Comments

What if last September the Chinese threatened economic warfare with the US? What if the Chinese threatened to stop buying our Treasury Bonds if we didn't bailout all of the toxic assets that they got stuck holding? Could this be the reason for the emergency meeting in September that Paulson and ...

02/24/2009

We Need to Start "The Bank for Innocent Bystanders"

18 Comments

Many say that we need to bailout "all" struggling homeowners or else "Innocent Bystanders" who did the right thing will get clobbered due to foreclosures bringing down the value of everyone's homes. This has been a troubling conundrum for me and I think I have a good compromise. We need to start ...

02/20/2009

Rick Santelli Tells It Like It Is. Get Ready for the Chicago Tea Party

5 Comments

Rick Santelli on CNBC this morning went off on a rant about the new foreclosure plan put out yesterday by President Obama. Wow!! He was on a roll. He reports from the floor of the Chicago Exchange right there amongst the traders. It sounded like many on the floor agreed with what he said. This ...

02/19/2009

Just Walk Away and Forget About It?

5 Comments

I received a call from a guy in Connecticut. He wanted to move down to Atlanta and buy a home for $150,000 in cash. He has a home in Connecticut that he bought a few years ago for $500,000 that is now only worth $350,000. He figures that it's just not worth continuing to make payments on a home...

02/17/2009

Illiquid Assets. An Explanation Even a Caveman Can Understand

2 Comments

Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker explains the reason we have illiquid assets. Even a caveman can understand it. Very simply, illiquid assets are created when a buyer and seller can't come to an agreement on price. The gap between the bid and ask price is just too large. What's creating this g...

02/16/2009

I Really Was Hoping for Change. What Happened?

8 Comments

I always look for opportunities for teachable moments that I can share with my kids. This is one of them. Promises made during campaigns usually don't pan out as anticipated. I'll let the words speak for themselves. "When there's a tax bill being debated in Congress, you will know the names of...

02/15/2009

Put as Little Down As Possible, Just in Case

3 Comments

Lately, it seems that the consensus opinion is that buyers should be encouraged to put 20% down. I disagree. With uncertain times, I think it would be prudent to keep as much of your cash in liquid form as possible. Brian Brady's featured post today touched on this topic and I wanted to share...

02/14/2009

Insider Update About the Passing of the Stimulus Bill

6 Comments

Here's an update from Ron Paul on the Stimulus Bill. No one had access to the final bill until midnight last night. No one really had time to read it. Many items were leaked to the press ahead of time by various staffers so it ended up that some of the media people knew about key provisions be...

02/13/2009