patrick.net

You know what annoys me about the ECB?
If ametures like me can see the Balkanization ofthe ECBm why couldn;t the 'experts'? If idiots likeme can call for coordiated rate cuts when they could have made a difference, why can't the experts?
So where are we?
The next BA lay-off shoes to drop should be Cisco - the supplier of IT to the IBs. Junniper, Apple, Google, Yahoo.
New tax code in CA. (at a guess I would say 10.5% bracket starting at $150k)
State emplyee lay-offs.
Bleh.
As I said, prices will come down and no-one will care.

Wonder if Randy H still has those FXE puts?!

FXE options seem to have horrible spreads.

Have you guys looked into PHLX World Currency Options?

When do you guys think Euro will cease to exist as a currency?

For Euro, it is more than a banking problem. It is a econo-political problem. It surrounds a fragile union of historical enemies.

The "alternative" has never and will never go away. It is the human nature thing again.

Humanity needs a kick in the butt.

Not that OO needs any encouragement, but how about this quote:
"The action of central bankers globally is going to do two things for investors," Lutts explained. "It will debase the value of currency; and unleash — eventually — inflation."
"Not next month, not next quarter, but we think inflation is coming back."

There are very few economists who believe in the inflation story now.
Most of them believe it will be deflationary. Worst case it could be stagflation. The whole market is hoarding cash now ( deflationary).
i could never have imagined the kind of behaviour dollar is showing now ( getting stronger). Market behaves in wierd ways !

ofcourse i believe that dollar strengthening is temporary ( 1 -3 years) till we have this mess.

But gold is going up despite dollar strength. This is significant.

justme Says:
Any comments from Hank Paulson about this abuse of taxpayer money?

Paulson himself personifies abuse of taxpayer money, so I would not be surprised if he didn't care - besides, it wasn't even a Billion dollars.

There won't be inflation, as long as people's pay are not going up accordingly, there is no inflation.

There will be stagflation, because housing value and medical insurance and bogus education have lots of room to fall, so that food and energy can fill the void.

I read about the tuition lending being locked up for many smaller colleges, and when I look through the list of them (mostly in N.E.), I cannot identify anyone and I went to school around that area. Maybe there are too many "college" diploma mills that should have never existed in the first place.

So... no school money for boomer kids?

Lieberman is more Jew than American, he will send American soldiers to fight war for Israel even if it is not in American interest. It was a total mistake for Al Gore to have picked him as a running mate but I am glad he is showing his true colors.

McCain is no doubt patriotic, but patriotism is not the answer to lots of situations, or else we don't need career politicians. If Lieberman gets to dick around McCain's mind, that will be very scary.

The problem for the next decade is, we will already be on the edge because of the economic sh*t we will have to face, if someone is pushing towards war as an answer, nobody wins (except for the very rich very connected who sell armaments). Democrat, Republican, rich, poor, everyone loses.

Btw, Lieberman looks very much like Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).

This is from Patrick's links:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/why-we-should-let-housing-prices-keep-falling/?ei=5070&emc=eta1&ref=patrick.net

Someone commented:

Under Clinton, the entire federal government put massive pressure on banks to grant more mortgages to the poor and minorities. Clinton’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew Cuomo, investigated Fannie Mae for racial discrimination and proposed that 50 percent of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low- to moderate-income borrowers by the year 2001.

The mess was most definitely caused by a Democrat president.

OO, the world is definitely brewing something. Sometimes, wars are inevitable. If there is a next world war, I prefer to have a strong military leader that will not hesitate to annihilate the enemies.

The coming conflicts are not tea parties. I am not sure if Obama is up to it.

Peter P ,

The Fact that spain and other European countries are having huge “domestic” mortgage related toxic debt issues means that fannie mae/freddie mac in USA are just scape goats.The real problem was mortgage debt securitization.

Peter P,

but I don't want to fight other people's war, like this Iraq War. I fight for my own interest, I don't care for Israel either way, if they are acting as our agent in the Middle East, we can supply them with armaments (with a discount of course), and let them fight that war. Israel is only as important to the US as the oil reserve left in the Middle East, nothing more.

No, I will not dispatch American soldiers to fight a regional war for another country whom we are supposed to dick around.

A smart President deploy other country's resources to fight for Americans, not to deploy American resources to fight for other country.

The real problem was mortgage debt securitization.

They are all part of the same problem. Securitization works if failed loans are allowed to be liquidated.

The problem is our unwillingness to let people fail.

If housing prices are too high for some, giving them toxic loans will not solve the problem.

If housing prices are crashing down with the entire financial industry, injecting excess liquidity will not help.

Most of the times, doing nothing IS the best thing a government can do.

A smart President deploy other country’s resources to fight for Americans, not to deploy American resources to fight for other country.

I totally agree.

But oil is too important. Besides, I doubt we are fighting for the benefit of other countries.

So long as Iraq remains an oil war, I have no objections over it.

If you ask me, the whole thing was intentional.

I won't be surprised either. It stops inflation. Who benefits from deflation?

OO says :
"A smart President deploy other country’s resources to fight for Americans, not to deploy American resources to fight for other country"

What if your country is in control of people who are from the other country.
Most of the important institutions in US like fed bank, news media, banking and white house is filled with people who are more than sympathetic to the other country.

Its not as simple as we think so.

Savers benefit from deflation, particularly the middle class or middle upper class savers who have relative job security.

Rich people don't care, they know investment well enough to hedge it both ways. But deflation is actually good for middle class savers with strong skill sets. That's why Japan has not fallen apart after more than a decade of deflation. Not going to happen here.

But deflation is actually good for middle class savers with strong skill sets.

If their banks are still around, that is. Moreover, they need a way to physically protect themselves.

In a deflation scenario, those in debt suffer the worst.

But in this Brave New World, those in debt are rewarded at the expense of the taxpayers.

In this upside-down society, those who have been the most responsible may end up hurting the most.

There is no way to explain the kind of support we are giving to israel.
There is no justification for the extent of support. Most of the hostility that the middel east terrorists have for us is because of our support to israel.I don't buy the crappy media spin that they hate us because of our belief in free markets, liberty..etc.
just cut the crap and admit that we have spent enough blood and money for somebody else cause. Lets fix our house first before helping out somebody else.

I'm quite surprised to see that the McCain 300B homeowner bailout proposal was brought up and just as quickly dropped on this site. I have to say if this was Obama's proposal there be literally dozens of posts regarding this.

I must say the omission of this being a big topic on the site today smacks to me of the height of hypocrisy with many of the fiscally conservative posters on this site.

I have already stated that McCain is a liberal. Both presidential candidates are clowns.

I miss Ron Paul. :(

TOB : "if there were no market for mid-east oil, Israel wouldn’t have any regional problems"

can you please eloborate. I always though that israel's problem was all about land occupation and not oil. I also though that there is not even a single drop of oil in israel or surrounding areas. am i missing something ?

regarding the McCain plan...

weren't there provisions for doing this exact thing in the $700 billion dollar bailout?

Can someone educate me on the difference?

TOB, are you related in someway to israel - religion wise or ancestry ?
just curious.

Dems are right in calling McCain erratic, first he states that he'd put a spending freeze on everything but defense, vet benefits and something else, then he turns around and proposes another 300B gov't bailout. anyone who votes for this old fucck is either a redneck, has some issue with obama's race, or is simply soft in the head.

TOB: I will take your silence as a yes.
BTW, I should have added "alledged" occupation.
I am not informed enough to make any conclusions on the issue.
I have many friends from israel so i don't have any animousity towards them.I am just questioning the extent of our support and how far are we willing to go. Is the willingness only in washington or is it also in the public?

TOB says : im not going to get into my background on a board like this.

you could have just said no. Ok , I'll assume you are a jew.
If you are right in your analysis, the electric car will solve the israel issue.
ateast there is light at the end of the tunnel now.

why don't you just say that you are not related. case closed

anyway, i don't want to put more pressure. its clear enough.

take it easy, dude. nobody is going to do anything to you , if you admit it.

jeez ! :-)

:-) OK just stop it now...you are embarassing yourself and your religion.
lets talk something else.

Who gives a shit what anybody is as long as they are decent people.

:-) ....man you are sounding childish now ..dude stop it please.

I agree with TOB,
Jews and thier descendants have thier allegiance to israel rather than US.