Real Estate Market / Inflation / Recession / Depression (economics, considered, exam, value)

[multitrak]

for jpm...we'll see if the system collapses...markets tend to disappoint the most pessimistic and the most optimistic participants...more likely it will be business as usual after the 1q ends and there aren't any more big surprises...now, back to my hoops bracket and hoping that ou won't be one and done...

JPMorgan to buy Bear for $2 a share - Yahoo! News (broken link)

[USAEconomy]

Not to mention the .25 rate cut two days before the Fed meets on Tuesday.

The world markets are not going to like this.

--Bob from down south

Agreed, gold was over $1014 off the bat. Everyone's fleeing fiat money looking for a safe haven in something that can't be printed at will by the Fed.

[Mike from back east]

Wow. Holy crap-a-rama Batman, the poo hit the fan today, Bear Stearns selling for $2 a share. Suuuuuu-weeeeee.

Old saying: Bulls and Bears make money - Hogs get slaughtered.

Fitting Justice?

Our esteemed leader was in NYC on Friday to reassure us that "all is well."

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Our esteemed leader was in NYC on Friday to reassure us that "all is well."

And don't forget my favorite: "I favor a strong dollar." If I hear that from W or HP one more time I might just have to puke.

The real test now is whether the Fed can keep this from exploding into a contagion. Right now Lehman looks way too much like BSC, especially in leveraged exposure, for its investors to not be thinking about sneaking out the back door with their equity tomorrow morning before the line starts to form. They may well find that the line has already formed at the back door...

I just love the posts that always show up on the mainstream financial sites like CNNMoney advising people to "Keep your cool in a dangerous market." That advice is great for normal dips and swings...but when faced with a once-in-a-generation disaster like what's unfolding before us, not doing anything may result in flying straight into the side of a mountain. I wonder how many near-retirement boomers are going to be working at McDonalds into their 80s because they "kept their cool" this time...

[MKyz]

I usually get my Denver quarterly from dqnews.com, but I'm still waiting on them to post 4th quarter. Anyone know where I could find this information (without paying or having to a realtor)? Or a webpage that has something more recent, such as last months sales.

[Bob from down south]

European (British) reaction to the Fed/BSC bailout.

US losing confidence vote as investors flee - Telegraph

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by Bob from down south

I wonder how many near-retirement boomers are going to be working at McDonalds into their 80s because they "kept their cool" this time...

This is a fallacy IMO, because a real recession/depression will cause fast food to be un-needed. Fast food depends on lots of working people with money in their pocket but without time to cook at home. Don't count on flipping burgers for a living if things really go south. The less fortunate (and there may be many) will be competing for harvesting jobs now done by illegals and any other work that they can find.

[Shuffler]

it seems like we've got the perfect storm for a major crisis...rising fuel costs and a tanking dollar. That said, what are you all doing to prepare, and pare your losses?

[Bideshi]

I believe cash will be king. If you own stocks, sell on rallies. Buy gold/silver on dips. A plot of land with it's own water is treasure. Of course, I could be dead wrong... It's so inconvenient not being able to see the future.

[jazzlover]

One week ago--that's ONE WEEK, folks--Bear Stearns was trading at about $67 a share. JP Morgan is buying it--with a big government (read: taxpayer--did you feel that?) guarantee for $2 a share. In other words, approximately 97% of Bear Stearns' value a week ago apparently was pure speculative hot air. An approximately 75 year company history and accumulation of value down the toilet in a week. How much more hot air is out there? My guess is plenty. The Fed has fully tipped its hand now--it is going to bail out this drunken decade-long binge in speculative lunacy, no matter what the cost in debased currency and inflation. A commentator on CNBC this morning chortled that the decline in the dollar hasn't been a bad thing, since foreigners are now flocking in to buy US real estate. So, I guess we should think that it is a good thing that people who often have no sympathy or interest in the welfare of the US people can now buy our land, farms, homes, offices, and factories for pennies on the dollar. I think what that makes us is something called a "colony." Seems we had a revolution about that a couple centuries back . . .

Good ol' Mr. Kunstler has jumped on this in his Monday (March 17th) blog. I'm not even going to quote it here--people should read the whole thing ( James Howard Kunstler ). A lot of people (me included) have thought that he is way "out there" on some of his theories. You have to wonder about that now. Predictions he made way over a year ago are coming to fruition with regularity now. How much more is he going to be right about?

Nor is he alone. Bill Fleckenstein, an MSN contributor also sees the Fed sham for what it is ( Fed's latest giveaway won't work - MSN Money ). Buried amongst all of this news is the fact that rates on Treasuries have now sunk so low (with bank CD's following their lead) that their "real" interest rates (nominal interest rate minus inflation) are now negative. That means that responsible Americans actually trying to save some money in insured bank accounts and US treasury securities are now actually losing money having those funds invested there. Just another way the responsible people in this country now get to bail out the irresponsible. That kind of ****, if it goes on for very long, is the kind of stuff that starts revolts.