patrick.net

Money laundering is a symptom of people acting in their own best interests, which is not always to the ultimate gain of society. It's also a result of imbalances between various countries, and the method of smaller countries who try to exploit their relative size by becoming parasites.

The Greenspan Put... and where exactly has that gotten us? Just another get rich quick scheme.

America needs to return to its fundamental roots. This is a nation where anyone can become rich with ingenuity and hard work. Our new idols seem to be hedge fund managers who made easy money. It appeals to people a lot more than the experiences of guys like Steve Jobs, who lived like a bum on somebody's dorm room floor until he spent the rest of his life building a company. The hedge fund sort of fast wealth contributes absolutely nothing to society.

Maybe we should tax the living hell out of stock gains and then massively cut corporate taxes. We want our smartest citizens to build productive businesses that bring employment and an improved standard of living to the nation. That's why capitalism benefits a republic. It would also point J6P away from trying to "double down" on risky stocks. Once the "little guy" starts playing in games beyond his control, the masses will eventually start lobbying the government for all sorts of "guarantees" about the stock market. Look at the way the Fed cut interest rates---how many times was it to boost the stock market and reverse losses? Is that sort of manipulation really capitalist? It's just a sign that J6P is trying to manipulate a game that he doesn't even remotely understand, and probably should not be playing in. Heck, most people don't even vote their proxies! Is J6P really trying to buy a slice of ownership in a company that's been carefully researched, one in which he wishes to participate, or is J6P just trying to accidentally strike gold by throwing $1000 darts at a ticker tape?

>> Maybe we should tax the living hell out of stock gains and then massively cut corporate taxes.

I support this policy as well as taxing dead people 80%.

The Chinese $600B stimulus plan is only the first stage.

There is a much bigger one coming earlier next year, which they are working on. It is rumored to be over $1T. Reminder, they have a total of $2T USD reserve. Just a side note, they won't be adding that much USD reserve this year because unfortunately we cannot afford to send too much USD that way because our consumers just went on strike.

Now the question is, who is going to buy our $500T new T offerings to plug the deficit hole of next year? Either our Fed just need to go straight to raw printing, or we will have to default...

Oops, I meant $500B, maybe very soon we will be talking about $500T deficits if Ben gets his way

“Hmm, let’s tax those Gen-X slackers for our retirements.”

Hear, hear! :)

Now all you slackers get back to work.

It's not the boomers that are causing the problems: it's members of the so-called "greatest generation" (the boomers' parents) who are the leaches draining this country's reserves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/10gm.html?hp

The so-called "greatest generation" raped their own children - the boomers - to fund an unwarranted lavish retirement via high taxes all through the boomers lives.

boo hoo. We have to trade one free health plan with another free health plan. waaaaahhhh.

Try paying $500/month like me.

The so-called “greatest generation” raped their own children - the boomers - to fund an unwarranted lavish retirement via high taxes all through the boomers lives.

See... FDR's fault!

A social safety net is a huge moral hazard. Once people realize that they can't fall below a certain point, they have every incentive to attempt a super-dangerous stunt like betting their entire 401(k) in company stock. America has acquired a lotto mindset---success is attributed more to luck than to hard work.

The problem, of course, is that the safety net is designed to catch a small percentage of the trapeeze artists. If they all bail into the net at the same time, the whole structure will collapse.

How about a law that says if you drew any Social Security, the difference between what you paid in and what got paid out will be deducted from your estate prior to passing it on to your heirs? The system would thus guarantee that the penniless cannot die in the street, but it forces people to use their savings, pensions and retirement accounts to fund their retirement (or else pay it all back anyway).

How's this proposal as part of our new financial system... Confiscate individual retirement funds, 401K, 403B, 457, IRA etc. and put them under the benevolent care of the Social Security Administration.

http://www.carolinajournal.com/articles/display_story.html

This larger issue is freedom. Property rights are critical to the basic freedoms we enjoy in the English-speaking world. We're sliding into a bog called socialism, or enslavement by its real name. The end game is to enslave the population. Property rights and freedom cannot be separated.

I'm in moderation. Was it the word socialism? Not an epithet or offensive sobriquet in my modest comment.

I just saw this note on a HUD foreclosure listing:

HUD WILL PAY UP TO 5% COMMISSION ON ACCEPTED & CLOSED BID. NEW $100 Down payment Incentive is available for Owner Occupants who submit FULL Price Offers on FHA Eligible Properties (utilizing FHA financing). Visit URL above for additional information.

Can I possibly be reading that right? A $100 downpayment?

Or are they just offering an extra $100 if you supply a downpayment? Please be that.

Brand, could you post the link, I'd like to look at it. Maybe I can make some sense of it.

Actually I just found that on Atlanta homes. It seems pretty clear that it is a $100 downpayment. Remember that the FHA loans have closing costs but you may be reading it correctly. It seems on the site I found it has to be a HUD listed home, my link doesn't say anything about it being a full price offer. Evidently different areas may have different guidelines.

http://www.hmbireo.com/view.php?id=140

Just type HUD $100 down payment into a search engine. It seems like it is definitely a real program. In MN, they are offering $500 to agents who get a full-price offer and again the $100 doesn't seem contingent on a full-price offer.

It seems like a conflict of interest to offer a $500 bonus to an agent to get a full price offer. Why would a buyer do that? What would the agent say? "Dude, you need to pay full price so that I can get an extra $500." Or "Hurry, this house is going to go quick, I suggest you write a full price offer."

The lotto mindset does not originate from the belief that one cannot fall below a certain point, but rather that one cannot rise naturally above a certain point.

Any genuine attempt to fairly distribute wealth will include measures to tax the wealth directly, NOT income. Progressive taxation is an attack on becoming rich. Entrepreneurial people in the Silicon Valley, take note!

This is the greatest financial myth of all time.

Progressive taxation supports people *becoming* rich. Otherwise the natural trend is for wealth to become more and more concentrated within the upper echelon of society.

Damn. I was hoping the $100 downpayment thing was some kind of bad dream. But Malcolm is right, here's a link to prove it: http://100dollarhudhomes.com/programinfo.htm

wtf does the government think it's doing by putting yet more underqualified people into fresh foreclosures? All this does is encourage NINJAs to get more creative, because once again you don't have to use a downpayment. The full price clause just artificially props up valuations, and if you're only putting down $100, then why not sign up for the full amount? It's not like the FHA is stringent anyway, thanks to ACORN and others.

Grh. Our tax dollars at work, folks... our tax dollars at work.

For now we will not have a T auction failure. As a perceived safe haven, US desire to buy alone s sufficient.
How long can we do this? As a $14T economy going to a $13T economy looking to deficit finance $1t per year for the next 2+ years. . .
I would say we have 2 years of only a modest rise in the cost of govt borrowing. Then a few years of owwie borrrowing. Then, if things have not improved, we are living in the world of Schiff. Failed auctions and no end of problems.
For now it is kinda an upside down world if you think aout it. We USED to buy stocks and bonds in companies. Now we buy T who then spend the money on, well, stocks and bonds in companies.

Kewp, well said about progressive taxation.

Did y'all notice the latest AIG shenanigans today?

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Fed-Treasury-revamp-support-insurer/story.aspx?guid=%7B0C948F5A%2D7E81%2D4349%2DBE47%2D0A3C7253827F%7D

Kewp, it never ceases to amaze me the number of people in this country who believe that the reason they are not rich is that the *government* is keeping them down.

Where is it they get these ideas, is it in the milk in kindergarten or something?

justme, maybe it's the fact that I give the government $60k a year, and get barely anything in return.

Do you know how much that $60k means to me and my quality of life?

justme, maybe it’s the fact that I give the government $60k a year, and get barely anything in return.

Well, hopefully President Obama will spent some of that money upgrading our infrastructure vs. waging endless war and bailing out hedge funds.

For now we will not have a T auction failure. As a perceived safe haven, US desire to buy alone s sufficient.

Last time I heard, there were numerous hedge funds from Cayman Islands that could buy treasuries for ever.

Well, hopefully President Obama will spent some of that money upgrading our infrastructure vs. waging endless war and bailing out hedge funds.

LOL!

Our infrastructure is just fine... just need some privatization.

It is quite likely that Obama will have to fight the Iran war.

Back to Topic: I don't think US wants to get involved in any kind of financial system till we get out of this mess. Getting involved will expose more issues over here.

Well, hopefully President Obama will spent some of that money upgrading our infrastructure vs. waging endless war and bailing out hedge funds.

Oh? Let's see if he really ends this war, and remember he voted FOR the bailout.

The 4 "third party" candidates (Libertarian, Constitution, Greens, and Independent) were the ones who ran on platforms of end the war and stop any Wall Street bailouts.

Brand, of course you are right in what you are saying. It is an attempt to get these houses off the books and to keep the property values up. If someone qualifies for the loan under normal conditions (real income with no more than a 35% payment) it is a good idea and may be a great way for some readers here to pick up a house that is easy to get in to.

Remember, it IS your tax dollars that are paying for the original defaulted loan, so the government is actually being smart trying to get top dollar for the houses. Now, like anything else, only buy one if the fundamentals make sense. It must be working though because when I put in my area, there are only a few homes available. That tells me they are actually selling. This program may account for that unexpected jump in sales activity that NAR recently reported.

I have had about enough of Mr. Mike Orange.

This is hilarious...

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081110/home_value_denial.html

I love the realtor's response... that people are in denial, that they think their home is special, they think housing only goes up. Except, oh yeah, that was the exact argument the realtor used to talk the person into buying it.

And now, the realtors are fucked because they can't break people off the beliefs that THEY instilled in them. Ahhh, justice.

And now, the realtors are fucked because they can’t break people off the beliefs that THEY instilled in them. Ahhh, justice.

You guys watched this, right? (From Patrick's links)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmcf4Y3lGM

Even Hitler is losing his shirt! LOL.

Hmmm... I thought this was interesting. Someone on socketsite posted that their minimum payment on their Alt-A loan is now more than the interest only payment due to the low rates (thank you Ben). While the minimum payment is still less than a 30 year amortization schedule, it does mean that payment shocks due to negative amortization caps (usually 110-115%) are less likely to happen. That said ARMageddon is delayed, not forgotten...

As usual, PJ O'Rourke cuts to the chase and kicks us in the ... whatever.

www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/791jsebl.asp

What will destroy our country and us is not the financial crisis but the fact that liberals think the free market is some kind of sect or cult, which conservatives have asked Americans to take on faith. That's not what the free market is. The free market is just a measurement, a device to tell us what people are willing to pay for any given thing at any given moment. The free market is a bathroom scale. You may hate what you see when you step on the scale. "Jeeze, 230 pounds!" But you can't pass a law making yourself weigh 185. Liberals think you can. And voters--all the voters, right up to the tippy-top corner office of Goldman Sachs--think so too.

Tom McClintock was against the bailout and he is currently leading Charlie Brown on a razor-thin margin in the 4th District race. Let's all pray for his victory.

He has a plan?

Now that housing has crashed, can I say that at work productivity will improve? I am saying this since for last eight years I have seen people neglecting work heavily to invest in housing (blogging, chatting etc).